Transfer Pump & Filtering

[ennismaple]

We currently use a 2" Honda gas powered pump with a 1.25" hose to transfer sap from our Zero tanks in the bush to the 525 gallon gathering tank on the wagon. Once we get the sap back to the sugar camp it drains by gravity through a bag filter and into the feed tank for the RO.

It can take quite a while for the gathering tank to drain by gravity. I'd like to use the gas pump to pump the sap back out of the gathering tank to speed up this process but it needs to get filtered or else I'll clog up the filter on the RO. I've tried pumping through the bag filter but the pressure just blows the filter off of the plastic base.

Is there a better way I can do this coarse filtering and still use the pump?

[Haynes Forest Products]

ennismaple
I fiter my sap from the bulk tank into my overhead fill tank and I use a Belston wholehouse filter from Home Depot. My transfer pump is a small cheap centifugal sump pump. It doesnt make alot of pressure and im able to run 6000 gallons sap each year and then throw the cartrage out and start over each year with a new one there cheap. Now what not to do only use the spun cotton type filter there made for getting the big and small chunks. Do not use the charcole type they will clog with in 25 gallons. I find if I use a honey filter from the sap hauler gravity into the stainless bulk tank and let it settle even for 10 min. then pump thru the cartrage filter things come out nice and clear. Having water at the sap shack makes it easy to spray out the bulk tank and start clean with every load. If you google Balston filters you will find alot of cool things. They have alot of sizes for your needs. Now if you wanted to you could go high pressure but that takes a gear or piston pump and a special high pressure filter canister with by pass. I would go with the simple sump pump BIG house filter.

[jrthe3]

i to use the whole house filter but i use a 1 inch 120 volt pump a got at harbor frieght for $19.99 i have had the pump for 5 years now with out a prob last season i got another one for a spare have not used it yet

[sapman]

Ennismaple,

What size hose are you using to empty the collection tank? I have a 2" hose draining ours, and I'd say it takes 5-10 minutes to drain 425 gal., without a filter. I also used to drain through one of those bag filters sold by Agzone, or somesuch, which worked well. Not sure what happened to that company. I assume they went out of business. But that would definitely slow the process when the bag started to get fouled. Can you come up with another way to attach the filter? I used hose clamps with the right size sch. 80 nipple.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would say your using to small of a micron filter for your filter of the bulk tank. I was using the disposable pre filters for syrup but they cloged up to fast and you had a hard time washing them with the hose. I went to the honey filter it is like a nylon stocking and i just tape it on with my food grade elec tape. My 300 gal. bulk tank emptys in about 10 min. with the 1 1/4 discharge hose

[maplecrest]

when pumping with my 2 inch gas powered pump that pumps 8400 gals per hour, i use milk socks for pipe line systems i use the 2 1/2 inch diameter. that are 20 dollars a box. i use two boxes a season. they work great until the slime starts. then i let settle and pump off top and dump the rest that you cannot filter.

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

The ring felt hat filters so to say that go onto the round sap disc heads can handle a flow of like 70+ GPM. I would assume that you know about them?

[Russell Lampron]

Those are called pop sap filters in the Bascom's catalog. I bend the wire on mine into an oval shape so that they fit into the cover of my bulk without falling in. Using my 1" Honda pump I can unload a tank of sap pretty fast without overflowing the filter.

[ennismaple]

The ring felt hat filters so to say that go onto the round sap disc heads can handle a flow of like 70+ GPM. I would assume that you know about them?

That's what we use now - the 30" long sock. We tried pumping into it once and it blew the sock right off the plastic base. Maybe I'll try wiring the head to the metal ring at the end of the sock.

[tuckermtn]

we use the honda wx10 pump running at idle, pushing through a 5 micon pop-on filter -fills a 115 gal feed tank in 1 minute give or take... never had a problem with it poping off...perhaps you need a new plastic "head" for the filter?

[sapman]

Eric,

Are you sure it's a 5 micron? The pop filters I've seen and have, usually say rated at about 50 micron nominal. Seems like 5 would foul up very quickly. If not, I'd be interested in getting one.

Tim

[Big maple]

It seems you would be able to use a swimming pool filter and housing but I don't know exatly how small of debris they can filter out.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The problem with hot tub or swimming pool filters is they dont work well when the get clogged up and the pressure buildes they tend to blow up if your using a high pressure pump.

[tuckermtn]

Yes- its a 5 micron pop on filter- you can get then in bulk from Grangier, etc...

we used three all last season (5000+ gals of sap) where as when we were using the 100 micon we were using one per season

[Maple Hill Sugarhouse]

post edited

[Maplewalnut]

To put it in persepctive, the unaided naked eye can see down to about 30 micron.

All depends what your intent is. If you are looking to remove 'bark and bugs' then not much benefit from a lower micron. If you are looking to remove some 'bacteria snot' that forms in your tubing now and again, a 1 micron would be a huge benefit.

[brookledge]

To add to maplewalnut's post, keep in mind that when using a lower micron rating like 1 micron,compared to one that only removes bugs and bark etc. the filter will become loaded with yeast and bacteria and will continue to multiply inside there fore you need to clean the filter or change it regularly.
And if your filter is only removing bark and bugs you can probably go a whole season or at least a week with out having to clean it.
Keith

[halfast tapper]

That's what we use now - the 30" long sock. We tried pumping into it once and it blew the sock right off the plastic base. Maybe I'll try wiring the head to the metal ring at the end of the sock.

We use the same thing with a 2 inch pump . We don't use the adapter, we just run the sock over the end of the hose and use a hose clamp and tighten it down to the hose. We run pump at about 1/4 to 1/2 throttle and it works great. We just leave that hose at the sugar house connected to the tank and have another hose that we take with us.

[danno]

5 microns and rings also available cheap on ebay

[ennismaple]

We've been suspending the base and bag filter from one of the cross supports on the tank. That means the filter is very heavy when it's full and unsupported. Do the rest of you lay it on the side/bottom of the tank or support it in any way? That may fix my problem with it popping off.

[tuckermtn]

ours is hung by a bungee on a rafter over our feed tank...flexes when its being filled..but never popped off...

[maplecrest]

those filters are made for gravity setups not for pumping thru with the finer microns.i saw a power filter at the maplerama put out by lapierre that will filter the way you want to. but pricey. call a pool sales place and ask about filtering systems. i dragged home a sand filter i am thinking about trying in snot filtering to see how that would work

[H. Walker]

I bought a Lapierre sap pressure filter last year. It was cheap at twice the price. I run it with a 5 micron prefilter and a 1 micron main filter. The 1 micron will last all day and only when the sap is very dirty do I have to change the 5 micron, that's at a 1000 - 1500 gal. run. They have to be cleaned daily to prevent bacteria build-up. I can pump 500 gal. through in aprox. 10 minutes.

As I understand pool sand filters WILL NOT work because, unless they are cleaned daily the bacteria will grow better than it does in your septic tank.