tubing washer advice

[white mt]

I have 1000 taps and am always scrambling at the end of the season for means to wash my tubing. With the cost of a new washer at 6k that is not happening. how do you guys wash yours. Can I build my own? I have a 1.5 hp compressor that gos up to 200 psi.and a small gas pump. some outfits out their do sell a washer thats calls for the compressor and go for 1k .I dont know much about that?. I could pay to have someone come for a day but the wait is some times long and I would rather do it myself.any advice as to others set ups would help alot thanks. Dan

[Sugarmaker]

White mt,
I am washing 500 taps using a $30 home built compressed air and water regulator system. I got the idea from another maple trader.
It is two check valves and two ball valves with some connections to your water supply and compressed air supply. Works great and gets lots of pulsing action in the lines! I use compressed air to blow all the water out. I also have a good air filter on the compressor to avoid any oil going into the lines.
Sounds to me like you have most of the stuff to do this yourself.
I do bring my tubing back to the sugar house which means I bring the tubing to the washing system.

Regards,
Chris

[brookledge]

Dan
From your signature it looks like you have a vac system. If so Why aren't you cleaning the lines with vac as you pull the taps?
Keith

[PerryW]

I am washing 700 gravity taps with a $20 3 gallon backpack sprayer and a 5 gal. pail. Can't get much cheaper than that.

[white mt]

keith thanks for the heads up this was my first year with vac. that sounds good .how good of a job dose it do? thanks dan

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

White Mtn,
I use the vacuum to clean my tubing and feel it does a better job than pumping back through the system ever did, particularly on the drops. Just suck some water through each drop as you pull, letting a blast of air then some more water.

[vermaple]

White Mtn,
I use the vacuum to clean my tubing and feel it does a better job than pumping back through the system ever did, particularly on the drops. Just suck some water through each drop as you pull, letting a blast of air then some more water.



I basically use this method with a solution of cleaning acid and then back flush with clean water to the end of each run.

[white mt]

Thanks guys thats what I will do . Thats A load off my mind. Dan.

[white mt]

The tubing cleaning is now completed and this method seems to work very well. Its fast 1/2 day with 4 men and you dont need large amounts of water. 100 or so gal of water worked good for about 1k taps. Also you can add small amounts of sanitizer to your 5 gal bucket of water, that takes alot of guess work out for mixing with large amounts of water.

[acers]

hello
I was wondering if you had any advice on how to keep tubing tight cause we are having troubles with stringing our sap lines. Thankyou:)

[brookledge]

acers
First of all what type of tubing are you using for laterals? Some types that have vinyl in them will sag. Rigid type (polyethelyne) will hold up much better.
Keith

[acers]

Hello
I am using the flex tubing

[caseyssugarshack93]

Are you using leaders maple flex for laterals ?

[jason grossman]

just my 2 cents on the laterals. use cdls 4 seasons 15 yr. a local dealer did stretch tests with his boys for a science project. they used all kinds of tubing, lots of brands and cdl 4 season 15yr was the best. thats all that is in my woods and there is not a sag to be found even in our hot and humid summer weather.

[Brent]

This is my first year with tubing and I got started to clean it late. *&^%$ procrastinator.

So when I finally got started I had some mold growing in a few places. I mixed up 15-20 gallons of permeate water with a tubing washer solution from my local maple dealer and pumped it up to completely fill the lines. Left it about 2 weeks then drained it and flushed it with fresh permeate.

Now about a month later, there is still some condensation in the tubes, but no slime. Not being smart enough to leave it alone ( if it ain't bust ..... ) I decided I would go one step further. I mixed up about 15 gallons of the membrane preservative sodium meta bisulphite (? SMBS ) and pumped it in to fill the line and left it. That line has about 40 taps. The other 120 or so taps are still sitting with the tubing cleaner in them.

I'm going to watch and see what happens. Let you know what I see.

[KenWP]

I just figured out the SMBS is what I use for wine makeing. I had never heard of the chemicial untill she who wants to be obey asked me to make her some wine . I can't taste the stuff even and here i am learning how to make it.

[3rdgen.maple]

she who wants to be obeyed Ken I have stolen that line from you everytime you write it I laugh my head off. That is good stuff.

[acers]

Thank you forr helping me i went to a nearby maple operation (Dustins Sugarhouse) and looked at his sap lines and found that by weaving inbetween trees will keep it tight.

We now have successfully strung allmost all of our 52 (out of 75) taps on tubing. It might seem like a small amout to sting on tubing but we are testing it out. We will put te rest of the buckets.

Thanks again acers:)

[brookledge]

That will certainly help. When laying out laterals I look to see how I can use the trees to my advantage to keep the line up and snug. Going around the tree helps when cutting in the drops so that larger trees tha t have more than one tap can be spread out.
Keith

[acers]

I am so exited we are about to start to make our 10x12 sugar house that will house a 19x48 dalliare evaporator. I am hoping to have a good season this season last season i had 12 taps i made maybe 4 gallons. I am hoping for 18 gallons this year but i am not counting on it.:)

[acers]

hey guys i was just looking at an evaporator it is a 18x48 for $750 it is 1 inch smaller that i wanted but i was wondering if its a good deal.:)

[3rdgen.maple]

Too generic of a description acer. Tell us what it has for pans what condition is it in, Hows the arch, soldered or welded pans, ss help us out so we can give you a better answer. What is the cost of the new one?