Pump discharge hose

[ronr]

I bought a small one inch Honda powered pump at Lowes (thanks again Buckethead!) and was wondering what the hot set-up is for discharge hose, It came with a suction hose that looks like it will work ok. It has a garden hose adapter for the discharge and while this will reduce the flow somewhat it looks like an easy way to do it. I have found drinking water approved hoses for RV use but was wondering what other people use.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would try a larger hose. The smaller the hose the higher the pressure and the harder it is to keep in tanks. I would stay away from the roll up type hoses like fire hose. They can be a royal pain when you try and lay them over truck bed rails in tanks they start to gallop and what I mean is the pressure builds and then shoots out then they kink and it starts over again. Home Depot has corrigated hose its cheap and even if its bigger than the discharge size you will get max flow and lower pressure and easer handling and it doesnt kink.

[hard maple]

Ron
I bought the same pump last year. I think I just cut the hose in half ( the one that came with the pump)
Bought some 1" camlocks for each end of each hose.
Those plastic fittings that come with the pump are probably not worth using.

[tuckermtn]

I agree with Haynes- we use about a 10 ft section of flexible 1" hose- with camlocks- when the pumps get going, the hoses tend to want to move around quite a bit. another suggestion- we tape two fiberglass sticks (the thin orange ones you use for driveway markers) to the far end of the suction line so you can reach in and get all the sap in the pick-up tanks

[mapleman3]

My ribbed suction hose already split on me.. it was cold and I unrolled it and it split at a rib... be careful with them.

Tractor supply here I come to buy some hose.

[Dave Y]

I use a flexable 1 1/4 hose with a barbed fitting at the pump. When pumping woods tanks I have a bulk head fitting at the top of my tank and attach the hose to it with a cam lock fitting and it doesnt go any where. when pumping into tanks I run the hose into a port in the top of the tank and we are good to go.

[hard maple]

When I pump out tanks that do not have a drain on the bottom, I took a 30" piece of 1" mainline put a cam on one end and cut a notch on the other end. This prevents the hose sticking to the bottom of the tank while under suction.

[Bucket Head]

Ron,

The suction hose that comes with all pumps is very weak. Mine have all split too. Like Mapleman3, I have replaced them with the TSC Store suction hose. I have plastic cable ties holding the hose to a piece of PVC pipe for inserting them in barrels. I have a check valve at the end also. The valve ends up being just a little shorter than the PVC so it does not get "stuck" to the bottom of the barrel. Take a look at my photobucket pictures.

For the discharge hose, I went to Grainger and bought their 1", black, industrial discharge hose, fifty feet long. Its very strong, and will not kink. It does not collapse. I think its on the back of my truck in one of the photos?? I use the same hose to fill my feed tank on the evaporator.

Their not cheap, but it will last a lifetime. I also use the cam-locks.

Steve

[DS Maple]

I use the plastic rib stuff from Bascom's, but I only count on it for a year or two. After that it starts cracking and sap sprays everywhere when pumping. I pushed the limit last year and whenever I transferred sap I had 5 gallon buckets everywhere catching the leaks. This year all the hose will be new! They also have more expenisive stuff, $5 per foot, that is supposed to be stronger and I may give it a try hoping for more than just a couple years. We'll have to see what the budget looks like though.

[maple flats]

I use TSC 1" suction hose for both suction and pressure on my 1" pump for sap. I have a 10' for suction with a 3' galv pipe screwed on, this reaches into tanks and stays put. For pressure i have 3-10' sections joined to reach the tank on my tractor or truck. I insert this hose into the tank and wrap the tank lid tether around the hose 2 or 3 times which holds it in place. Will need to look for cracks, I have used the same hose for 3 seasons already and never replaced any (correction, one got contaminated and I retired it and bought a new one)

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

This stuff is awesome and will last for many years. I have been using it for aprox 5 years and it is still like new. They only sell it in 10' intervals, and it works great as a suction or discharge hose and this company is great to deal with, US Plastics:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname=7513&product%5Fid=8742

[sapman]

Brandon, a friend gave me their catalog and that is exactly the hose I'm planning on buying.

Now my dilemma. I can use our 2" gas pump from work to pump my tank in the woods out (1600 gallon for 1000~ taps, not sure if it will ever fill). Should I get 2" hose to get the 150~gpm, or go down to 1.5" so it's more manageable, but probably only 70~gpm? I wonder if the 2" will be too much of a pain to deal with. Plus, a lot more sap left in the hose.

Tim

[Haynes Forest Products]

I see on alot of set up guys are putting the pump on the ground and doing thair pumping and then they must load the pump and go to the next tank. That is how you lose sap. I mounted my pump to the pallet that the tank sets on. I only pull the hose off the truck and do my pumping. I have a PVC pipe on the end with a check valve so I dont loose any sap and at the end of the night I hop up on the truck and hold it in the air higher than the pump and it all drains in to the tank.

[sapman]

In my case, this is a pretty heavy pump and will be staying in the building with the tank. It will be pumping around 100' to the truck, hence my issue of sap left in the pipe. I do plan to pump some water through at the end of each session.

Thanks,
Tim

[Haynes Forest Products]

Makes sence big producer in Wisc. has to pump his sap up hill 1/4 mile and I understand he pushes the sap with river water after each pumping and then lets the water drain back. Just count the seconds it takes to travel the 100ft

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Tim,
I pump a lot of sap a lot further than 100 feet. I use the 2 inch pumps and reduce to 1 inch. Can empty 275 gallons of sap in about 6 minutes pushing it over 1/2 mile. While it is pumping, I use the time to check for vacuum leaks in the vicinity of the pump.

[Russell Lampron]

I bought the 1" suction hose from Tractor Supply like Maple Flats did. It has nice brass fittings at each end that thread right on to the Honda pump. They were $21 each and I use it on both suction and discharge sides of the pump.

[wcproctor]

We use 1" suction and 3/4 discharge and it works great.You can get any size hose you need. In some places we have to go 35 feet.

[sapman]

After reading the replies on here, and talking with my wife a dad about it, I'm going with the 1.5" instead of 2". It still pumps plenty fast enough, and as Thompson's said, I'll need time to check vacuum anyway. Maybe should have just gone with the 1"!

My Goulds book says 1.5" holds .09 gal./ft., so if I can get close to 10 gal. water sucked up, I should be in good shape, and it can run back on the ground.

Tim