6" rise at releaser

[backyardsugarer]

I dug down today as far as I could and still have 1 bush that the sap will have to run up about 6" to the releaser. I can not lower it anymore. Anyone else have this and will it have a negative impact on my flow or will 18 - 20" of vac overcome it? thanks

Chris

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Back yard,
I have a couple of places where my lines come to the tank at a level below the releaser. I constructed a manifold for the sap to run into from the lines. I tilted the manifold slightly and in the lowest position I tapped a 1" hole. I attached from there to the releaser manifold with 1 inch plastic pipe. It raises the sap about 2 feet in one place and almost 4 in another. In each case I have 2 lines feeding my home made manifold. A 3/4" and a 1 and 1/4". I ran about 20" at the releaser last year and had 20" out on the lines.
You need to have the sap empty into something (in this case my home made manifold) so it does not form a trap and prevent the vacuum from being transferred out your lines.

[brookledge]

Chris
When your vac. is on that 6" will not be a problem, unless you find it is not giving good vac transfer. What you need to watch for is when the vac is off and sap collects at the low spot and freezes.
What I would recommend is a check valve bypass. So when your vac is off the sap can run through the check valve and directly into your holding tank.
Or if you are always around or it is close by you could do the same with a ball valve. When the vac is off open the valve that way the sap doen't need to climb the 6" then close it when the pump is on.
Keith