sap tranfer

[maple sapper]

I have two tanks. One is in my truck bed and another is over head tank. I am looking for the right type of tubing to connect the two with a pump to get it up in the overhead tank. I want to use the right thing cause I know there is a concern for food grade tubing. Will vinyl tubing from say, Hd or lowes be ok? It says nothing about nsf on it. Should I worry about it cause it is for transfer and not sitting in the pipe? feed back as to what your using would be great. I know there is polyethylene but where can that be gotten and for what cost? Thanks Gregg

[Dave Y]

I use the felxable sump hose. It works fine. I have cam lock fittings on tanks and pumps so i dont have to hold it. I bought the hoses new.

[Haynes Forest Products]

If your going to run the tubing very far you will get bags and sitting sap. I used 3/4 copper and put a whole house filter in it and with a slight slope it drains complety. Do it right do it once Bacteria doesnt like to grow on copper as long as it doesnt pool in it. If its a money issue use 3/4 -1" pvc its alot neater and they make cheap valves and you still can plumb in a filter. its ment for water so its food safe

[3% Solution]

maple sapper,
I have to go across the lawn to get the sap from my gather tank to the overhead tank in the sugarhouse, so this what I do ............. Fittings with a flex hose that go from the gathering tank to 1" pvc pipe (it's removed in the summer) to a utility pump (garden hose fittings) out of the pump into 3/4" pvc pipe into a "Pop Filter" which empties into the tank overhead.
I have a 70 gallon tank and can have it emptied in about 20 minutes.
Hope this helps.

Dave

[maple sapper]

another question abit off topic but sort of related. If putting in a whole house filter in the line, what does one do about bacteria growing in the filter during non use? Non use being between sap runs. Or is it something you need to take apart after each use and rinse in sink. This is when temps get warmer of course. During cold season im sure its not a concern.

[tapper]

I empty and rinse the filter out at the end of each day. I usually can't get an entire season out of 1 filter and will use 2 or 3 for the season.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I clean mine once a season and boil every day. I use the spun cotton filter if you use the charcole type it will clog within a few tanks of sap. Some of the filters do have a bottom drain but that wont keep sap from spoiling only keep from freeze cracking. You can use the bottom drain to help flush out the big chunks.

[tessiersfarm]

I take out my filter and rinse it a little to get off the particals and then store it in the refrigerator. I also use 3/4" copper pipe, with a flexible whip at the end. I got my tubing from a hardware store and it said FDA approved right on the box.

[Big John]

Use a pool pump and filter set up you can take it apart clean it and start again and It takes some stuff to plug it up. Can find them at the pool dealer or somebody you know that had one of those cheap rubber pools that deflated before they used it!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im wondering how much pressure those pumps produce. Those pools are only about 32" in height and to a head tank is pushing at least 8'

[lpakiz]

My former pool pump would make about 50 PSI to force water thru the filter sand. When freshly rinsed, it would shoot water out of a 1 1/4 PVC nipple about 5 feet. I think it was 3/4 HP on the motor.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I think the pump that was mentioned was one of the cheapo pump/filters that NEMO went thru and lived.

[sbmaple]

What micron cartridge should you use to filter sap?Where the best place to buy a unit from? We are constantly having problems with pop on filter coming off

[mountainvan]

I use 5 micron before the ro and I get them from: http://www.filters.com/catalog.asp?prodid=571497. They have lots of different sizes and are decent in price.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

As I have posted before, this is really good high quality transfer food grade tubing for sap. I have some that is on year number 5 or 6 and still looks about like new. Very durable, high quality, easily rolls up and it is great.

Remeber, you have to order in 10' intervals.

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/product.asp?catalog_name=USPlastic&category_name=7513&product_id=8742

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Just for reference, the flow rate of 1" inside diameter is aprox 30 gph not including head.

[Brent]

Brandon

this may sound like a smart *** question but it is not intended that way.

How can you rate a hose for 30 GPH without also stating the pump power and/or pressure ?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Brent,

Not taken that way as I should have been more clear and said that most 1" gas pumps pump around 30 gpm. As you stated, it does depend on a lot of things, but most 1" gas pumps are pretty close to that with some a little above and some maybe a touch below.

[Brent]

thanks for clarifying. We're in the middle of running our first 125 -150 taps on tubing so pumping out of the collection tank to transport home is an issue we're working on right now. We will have elelctricity out there so a small transfer pump that won't take forever is needed.