sap pump

[dano2840]

ive got a question i pump my sap about 500 ft up a hill and this year up into the top of my sugar house to the feed tank., i had my inlet 3/4" and my out let 3/4" should i have my inlet on my pump bigger than my outlet? or does it matter?
Thanks
Dan

[Haynes Forest Products]

Most of your loss is due to the head pressure not the restriction. Now if you have a 3/4 inlet and your pipe is 1" I would take the fitting off the discharge side.

[dano2840]

the in let/outlet on the pump is 3" but i have it reduced to 3/4" on both inlet and outlet. i dont want to change the outlet because i already have the 3/4" pump line that goes up the hill and dont want to buy a 1" line,

[Haynes Forest Products]

I woulnt change a thing if its working and keeps up with your needs. My understanding of pumps is they work better with a little restriction. What happens when the pump runs dry and the 3/4 line is full and the line is full does it go back into the tank or sacrificed to the ground. If you dump it you could calculate how long it takes to go from pump to tank and as the tank runs dry transfer to water for that time and save the sap.

[dano2840]

well no it goes over a little hill in the bush then downit and up the big pasture hill and down a gradual hill then up into the feed tank, but it takes 45min - hr to empty a 200gal tank with a 3.5hp farm pump rated for idk like 3000gph

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

A 1" line would empty that in about 1/2 that time and a 1.5" would be about 25% of that time. 1/4" don't sound like a lot, but it will make a big difference going from 3/4" to 1" or bigger.

[dano2840]

i will try a bigger line if money permits, my mom got let go today:( so idk how much i will be able to borrow we still have alot of $ left over from selling our old house though so we should be fine, cant wait to go get our new hearthstone stove so we can stop spending 800$ month on oil

[tom jr.]

Dano,
my neighbor used a gear pump to pump his sap from the woods. he had a 1'' outlet and pumped uphill at least 20 ft for a mile to his shack. he could pump an average of 800 gal per hour.

[dano2840]

i end up raising the sap up almost 75 ft of verticle lift maybe more, its alot of head to push sap up but it seemed to do it just verrryyyyy slowwwwlllyyy

[tom jr.]

Are you using a regular trash pump? if you are thats why it is pumping so slow. gear pumps are designed for high pressure (around 100 psi) it shouldnt have a problem at 75 feet of lift even if you used 3/4 pipe. lets see what the others have to say!

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

75 feet head im surprised its going that good for you

RICH

[dano2840]

i dont think its a trash pump its a 3.5hp b/s and a pacer pump, its not 75 straight up a hill it goes up and and down acouple times and it goes down about 15ft and then straight up to the feed tank, last year it didnt have to climb up into the feed tank but this year it will

[tom jr.]

Dano,
you could also try a roller pump, they work off of your tractor pto,and are rated around 2-300psi operating pressure. you can get them at tractor supply online for about $130.00 just dooing some research for you and me!

[dano2840]

i have looked in to that, do you think they would pump it 600ft though???? the only ones i have seen are for sprayers and dont have much gph, i will check

[Haynes Forest Products]

In your first post you said that its going up hill down hill and then up and over back down the big question is how much total rise do you have ? As the sap is going down hill thats a positive uphill is a negative so in the end its the total rise that counts best thing to do is see if the pump you have was ever going to overcome the head pressure. A good impeller type pump could be your ticket just dont run them dry.

[tom jr.]

I dont see why not, keep in mind that they are high pressure and thats what it takes to push sap up hill. the one I looked at was rated at 22 gal per min. x60=1320 gallons per hour at 300 psi but i dont see you having to run it that hard. I looked at pacer pumps they are mostly rated at 50 psi max.made mostly for moving mass volumes short distances quickly. I think pressure is your key to success!!!!!

[dano2840]

kk if there is money in the budget i will make it happen, the only thing is that i dont wantt to drive my tractor through the pasture every day and down to the bush
it will make a big mess of our pasture, the nieghbors tractors have to be parked on a hill to start most of them............. lol POS all of them
s o i couldnt borrow one just to leave down there
Thanks a bunch for the help its really appreciated!

[paul]

Dano

I`ve been useing a 3 1/2 hp pacer pump for 4 years now and they work just fine . we pump 1900' from the tank to the sugar house, it takes a little time to get there but whats the hurry. you don`t want sap coming in at 300psi you`ll have a mess for sure.

[tom jr.]

just a little fyi, pressure is ajustable.

[Dennis H.]

If your using a pump to push it to the sugar house what do you do about the sap still in the lines when the tank is empty.
If it doesn't empty completely I would be afraid that the line would freeze and break.
I can see if you are using a pump to pull the sap you should be able to get most of the line empty but not pushing the sap.

[paul]

when your done pumping you shut the valve on the line and tank, disconnect from pump and put the line in the tank and open it. let it drain back into the tank.If you hung your line right it wil empty and your ready for the next time you need to pump.

[dano2840]

never had a problem with it freezing, i whats in the line from the first little hill drain into the tank i leave the rest in it and wait till it thaws the next day it doesnt crack the pipe at all, never had a prroblem with it

[hard maple]

Dano
Off the subject...did you get your hearthstone stove?
We've had ours for the past 5 years and love it.
The soapstone radiates the heat nice and slow, so we don't get cooked out of our living room.