Vacuum Pump Location?

[rob1640]

How far can you locate the vacuum pump from the trees?

My property is 6600' long and the maples are at the back. With no hydro back their I was considering locating the vacuum pump at the sugar shack at the front of the property and running a vacuum line to a tank/releaser location about 4000' away.

Will this work? What size vacuum line would be best?

[Haynes Forest Products]

That will work Vacuum is differant than liquids when it comes to lose due to friction. Once the line is under full vacuum and the releaser is working all will be fine. Now you will have a slight lag time due to the distance so I would put a vacuum tank between the line and the releaser to compensate for the sudden drop. The bigger the vac line the better. The booster tank doesnt have to be anything special old beer keg used propane tank. Once the system is energized and you have a good tight system it will work fine.

[maplecrest]

one thing i learned last year, doing the same thing is you will need a water trap before the releaser. the vac line will fill with condensate water. my vac level would drop and i would walk that bush and all was tight. so i double valved that system. one at pump and one at releaser. shut the one off at pump, went to releaser and unhooked vac line. could not believe the water that drained out. vac level was back to normal. had to do this a few times during the season. this year there will be a trap there double valved to drain in seconds, not an hour

[brookledge]

that brings up a point to remember on real long lines remember that if you have a sag and moisture collects and freezes you will have problems. So keep it snug and if you have a valley you may want to put in a drain valve or check valve.
Keith