home made vacuums?

[red maples]

Any one ever attempt to make a vacuum out of a shop vac using floats and stuff. or does it just burn out the motor really fast??? I mean it seems to be pretty cheap you can get a new shop vac for like $30 for 5 gallon container. and use a toilet tank ball float and a plug a little pvc and your all set $45 done. not $3500!!!! any thoughts??

[Haynes Forest Products]

I dont think the vacuum motors are ment for that much contiouse duty. I think if it was as easy as $45.00 we would see alot more of them. What is the HGs of a shop vac? cant be much because the shop vac tank isnt very sturdy.

[brookledge]

This has been tried before. The problem is that it is low vacuum. I can't remember how much but I think it was Matt that did the test.
Keith

[TapME]

That was the fact that a shop vac has only 3'' of vac. Matt did the test. He also did a test on and old air compressor head and that did great with the vac but the problem is the cfm's. Just remember that if you can get to 5'' on vac you can gain almost double the sap. There was a person on her that uses a shop vac and had the same one for 3 years. They are made to run and remember that it's cold out when the sap runs, helps cool them down.

[maplesyrupstove]

There a producer here that uses old piston water pumps for vacuum.I don't know how he does it, haven't seen him yet.Don't know how many taps he has or how many pumps he has. Darrell

[Haynes Forest Products]

I remember the old piston pump we used on the sand point needed to be primed to keep suction going. If it ran out of water it would get hot because the water was both a lubricant and cooled it. I would think if air enterd the pump it would lose suction.

[red maples]

I wonder how strong of a shop vac it would take to get 3" to 5" it doesn't have to be doubled for me alothough it would nice. I think I and going to try it see if I can do a little research and see what I can find.

as long as it keeps raining I'll be inside... man it just won't stop I am starting to grow moss on my ankles.

[PARKER MAPLE]

im new too all of this vacume stuff, so im wondering if there is a way to build a cheap vac system. also could some one explain to me about how it works, wet lines dry lines. so confused:confused: :confused:

[red maples]

All I know is it increases, well maintains, higher vacuum farther out on the lines because the wet line is full of sap and the dry line allows the air to flow through it better...at least I think thats how it works!!! there is a thread from me some where do a search wet line dry line.

if you find a way to make a cheap vac let me know!!!

[Randy Brutkoski]

Alot of poeple use dry lines but you dont have to, You have to make sure that you have plenty of air throughout your mainline. I know someone last year that didnt use a dryline and made 510 gallons on 1000 taps on a liquid ring. I dont use a dry. But this year if my 1 1/4 main isnt big enough, then i will be forced to put a dryline in. Everyone has there own opinions.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Im having a hard time believing that 3-5 HGs will double your sap output. If thats true I will gladly trade all my vacuum pumps for a shop vac because my 27 HGs didnt double my output:cry:

[Haynes Forest Products]

One more thing about shop vacs is the motors rely on a steady supply of air thru the motor for cooling. Most vacs that are used for alot of wet vacuuming dont tend to last. Once again its the HGs that you want not the CFMs

[red maples]

shop vac are just not strong enough. they are in the range of 3-5 hgs but hook that up to 50, 100, 200 taps and 250, 500, 1000 feet of mainline...well you get the point. it might ok if you have like 25 or 30 taps you might do a little better, I think your going to need a little more power to get any results. plus you still need some sort of releaser to go with that shopvac.

[Beweller]

You can always put shop vacs in series. The individual vacuums are additive. They surely provide enuf capacity for anyone.

[nymapleguy607]

I think it would be alot easier and far less headaches to find an old dairy vac pump and releaser and use that. Many producers use those and they work fine.

[red maples]

I have a bunch of dairy farms near my house..I know becuase of the manure smell mmm good. maybe I should ask if they have any retired ones they would like to get rid of I am sure they would like some syrup in return!!! The typical yankee never throws anything away.

[vermaple]

I have a bunch of dairy farms near my house..I know becuase of the manure smell mmm good. maybe I should ask if they have any retired ones they would like to get rid of I am sure they would like some syrup in return!!! The typical yankee never throws anything away.


Now your thinking.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Randy Brutkosky I reread your post and Im confused about wanting plenty of air throughout the mainline. Dont you mean plenty of vacuum? How many trees do you have on your 1 1/4 line?