Running lines underground?

[Jerome]

Ok this will years yet but I have to start planning now. I have 10 trees lining my Driveway that I tap now on buckets. I have in filled with 30 more and now have a grove of another 70. they are all in the front of the house my evaporator shed is located in the back of the property. so when these trees grow to a size where I could use them I would want to put them on a line with a vacuum system. I have to repave in the next couple of years where we park the cars which is right where the line would run. If I was thinking ahead would it be worth it to run a conduit under the parking area so down the road I could run the vacuum line under the parking area or is that a bad idea for some reason. It is close to power so I could put a heat cable in when needed.
thank you all

[maple flats]

Not sure how good it would be but my local dealer ran some lines underground this year. Time will tell if it is a good idea. He is a Leader dealer, in Taberg, NY by the name of Jon Link, Business name Link Maple Farm.

[Clan Delaney]

Where the line isn't exposed to the sun during the day, sap may freeze there and not thaw. If you installed it so that you could drain the line every night, that might not be an issue.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Jerome: Putting a PVC sleave under the drivway is easy cheap and if it gets used for sap or anything else whats the harm. Make sure that you use 4" so you can run Low Voltage wire down the drive for landscaping light sprinklers all sorts of things. I would also make sure that you Daylite the ends out past the sides so snow banks dont cover them and make life hard every spring. have a slight bow in the pipe so that it rises in the middle of the paved area so that is water does freeze in it its at the ends. Put 22.5 degree fittings on the ends so you have easy transition for the mainline.
If your like me and the word simple isnt in your lexecon I would spend the extra time and put the sprinkler type valve box at both ends so you can maintain the sleave ends and have easy accsess. You will want to have water proof covers during the off season.

Now all this can be billed out to household improvments if you trench all the way to the sapshack area with 110 volt wire and put two nice drivway lights and just dont tell the wife about the pipe for sap untill your 1/2 way done. Having power threwout the yard is a good thing

[Brian]

Glenn Goodrich set up a vac station under a road then under ground in to a new septic tank because of the slope of the ground. the vac pump and releaser were in the septic tank, the releaser was electric and pumped the sap up into above ground tank. I thought that was neat!! Make sure there is good drainage around it.

[ennismaple]

A large (like 20,000 large) producer to the north of us has a lot of underground mainlines. I've never asked him about them but if I see him over the next few months I'll see what info he's willing to offer up.

[michiganfarmer]

I producer near me pumps his sap from the woods, 1/4 mile up to his saphouse through an underground 4" pipe.

I have thought about burrying my mainlines to keep them away from chewing critters, and so I dont have to take them out, and put them back in every year.

[3rdgen.maple]

Just a thought for you. I think I would use perforated 4" with a sock over it so any water that gets into that pipe can drain. You can just snake your line through that pipe with the heat wire. I use heat wire on a section of pipe and it just keeps it warm enough so it does not freeze.

[jason grossman]

I have 600' of mainline underground and i will use it next year, always good to plan ahead. another producer down here has alot of mains underground and even bored under a county road. they have been in place for a few years and the work just fine. his slope is even fairly level.

[The Sweet Spot]

Next year We are going to run our mainlines underground for most of the distance to my shack. I will bring it out of the ground early to still make it into my tank, or I will burry a tank. When we burry the line I am going as deep as the trencher will go over 3'. I have my H20 lines ran the same way all over my property and do not have trouble freezing. In areas that you will clear the snow (which acts like a blanket), go to GFS or anywhere that sells heavy duty aluminum foil, in the big roll. Knock in about 2-3" of dirt to keep your line in the bottom of the tunnel. Then fold and place the foil on top of the tube. It is important to push the edges of the foil down to the lowest area possible. Remember you only have to do this where the snow will be cleared. (or if you don't get much snow) It is an old trick told to me by an old timer well driller. It takes some time but will not freeze. You could use aluminized bubble wrap also but much more expensive if you have to do lots.

[cadocter]

I hate to hijack the thread, but how do you attach the laterals to the mainline if it's under the ground? Would you do it the same way as above ground?

[wiam]

My father-in law had all his mainline buried. He had a T with a stub coming out of the ground with a star in it.

[The Sweet Spot]

I have seen many ways of doing this. One is to use t's as wiam stated with star on top. I have seen cedar posts with stars on them. I have seen top-side mains that were very short running into, a hub for lack of a better term. I don't see this as stealing the thread, I see it as a continuation of the same. How would you patch in main lines?

[cadocter]

I was wondering the same about fixing the leaks. Would you just test the system really well before you bury and hope nothing happens after you bury it?

[The Sweet Spot]

I would test the lines before covering them. Being underground you should not have any problems after they are covered. This is the main advantage of running underground, in my opinion.