Releaser Gushing

[Amber Gold]

I got my pump and releaser hooked up yesterday and started tapping. I noticed one of my mainlines gushes as it comes in to the releaser. Is the sap supposed to do this or is it supposed to come in at a steady stream? What's causing it to gush and how do I fix it if needed?

Thanks

[maplwrks]

Check that main for a leak---it should just flow in

[forester1]

Also that is a symptom of inadequate slope or dip in a mainline. It could be pooling someplace.

[Amber Gold]

I was wondering if that was it. There isn't much pitch to work with and I had to bring the end up to get my tank and releaser to fit under it.

[ennismaple]

You've definintely got a sag in it. A couple of my lines have very good slope to the releaser and the sap comes in steady. The other 2 are flat - like about 1% - and the sap gushes in from them. I hope to put those flat lines on a wet/dry system to get better vacuum out into the bush and bypass the sags.

[Big John]

you probley do have a sag don't we all?? how much vaccum do you have? when you have lots of leaks it will surge. we never tap with vaccum on the line being tapped to much air going into the system. remember air leaking in is a leak, not sap leaking out!!! Do you have valves on all your main lines? the fastest way to find a leak is to turn off the valve wait 30 sec and turn it back on if there is a rush of air your leak is that main line somewhere. If you have really low vaccum. I suggest turning them all off and doing one at a time. saves lot's of walking!!
good luck.
p.s. my vaccum is at 26.5 shooting for 27.5. always leaks to fix.

[Amber Gold]

Things are tightening up. I'm running 18" at the sugarhouse and 17-17.5" at the releaser (800' away). When I first started it was at 1.5" so a marked improvement. I'll look at that mainline some more. I have a pretty good idea where the sag is.

Thanks

[Amber Gold]

Am I losing performance/vacuum in that line beyond the sag? I'm trying to place priorities and if I'm losing sap upstream of the sag due to vacuum loss then it places it higher on the priority list.

[Haynes Forest Products]

OK let me have it........ Doesnt everyone have a sag in their mainline at the releaser? My tank is on bed rock and releaser is as low as possible on the tank. Most of my taps are chest high............Im 5 8 smarty pants
Would I be better off running my mains almost ground level up to the tank and putting in single pipe ladders next to the tank. Pipe and fitting are not an issue so each main gets a ladder into the releaser manifold. If the main is 1" ill make the ladder 3/4??????????????