Tube sizing.

[Tweegs]

Ok gents, been digging back through the posts trying to find a rule of thumb guide for installing the correct size tubing, but not having much luck.

What I’m wondering is if there is a set size requirement for a certain number of taps, or is it related to the length of run? In other words, how many taps can I put on ½” main line vs. ¾” or how far can I go on ½ vs. ¾?

I’m still out marking trees and in the planning stage for tubing. Right now I have 160 with another 3 or 4 acres to look at. I should easily hit my 175 tap goal and may push 200 taps by the time I’m done. Certainly not a huge operation, but this is a one man show and humping buckets at near 50 years old is, well…old. :lol:

As a best guess, it looks like my longest run will be about 500’ with 30~50 taps depending on how I string it.

[dschultz]

Tweegs,I run 3/4 mainline 1500' with 200 taps and have no problem.

[Mark-NH]

I would think 3/4" would be more than sufficient, providing you are not planning to add many more taps later on. I "think" 3/4' would handle up to 500 taps without restricting flow.

Stay away from 1/2" because it does not gain you much, doesn't cost much less than 3/4" and sap fittings for 1/2" are becoming harder to come by each year.

[jason grossman]

tweegs, There are published size charts on tubing, however i take those with a grain of salt. there are huge differences in flow between quebec, vermont, and ne ohio where i am. nothing in my woods is smaller than 1". so when i do installs i ask alot of questions. and look at the health and size of the trees. if your trees run well you better have a larger line. i could go on and on but, check the leader catalog or the north american maple syrup producers manual. good starting places.

[PATheron]

Tweegs- These are kind of my rules of thumb at my place. I figure no half inch mains unless your out of money and already have the stuff laying around and have trees that need tapping. Only buy three quarter as a minimum size. Run it 1500' max with 250 taps. One inch good up to 800 taps. I always tube the same way. Ill run a trunk line along the bottom of the hill wet/dry. If its like a thousand taps Ill use two one inch lines just becouse I hate struggling with the inch and a quarter. I run inch and a quarter to the releaser from the pump. Space the lateral mainlines one hundred feet apart up and down the hill. I always run mine up and down the hill instead of across the slope just becouse its easy to figure pitch that way and they DONT FREEZE UP IF THEY ARE UP AND DOWN EVEN IF THERE MAY BE A TINY LITTLE SAG. So then the sap goes down and hits the wet/dry and if its froze up in the wet it still goes right in the releaser. I know my pipe sizes are pretty good becouse my dry never runs after start up of the run. So anyway unless the trunk line has tons of drop it gets a wet dry. I never put any lats on my wet/dry I always go to the closest lateral main. Only time I do things different is on something like the hedgerow where there arent enough taps to really justify a huge expense and then anything goes. MORE SAP IS ALWAYS BETTER, thats the motto here at the Pierce residence. If you live in the far north with the big snow you may have to go across the slope with the mains becouse having to run them high you wont be able to get the lats to run into them. Down here I run my mains at knee highth and make syrup in my sneakers usually. Theron

[Tweegs]

Been slammed here at work for the past couple of days, always busy at home so apologies for the late response.

I looked at Leader’s site, that was exactly the info I was looking for originally, how many taps on what size line. My initial thought was to go with the half inch stuff because I won’t have that many taps on any given main, but the other comments here have helped persuade me to go ¾”.

I’m still trying to get my head around exactly how I’m going to do this, more from a lay of the land perspective. I’m pretty sure I understand now the theory behind it all, just need to put it in practice in my woods.

One thing the Leader site said was to strive for 5 taps on a 5/16 lateral with no more than 10, and they should be no longer than 100 feet. They also suggest a 5% slope on the lats, is this a common practice or do some of you deviate? (Trying to get an idea of how many saddles, Y’s and tees I need.)

I have about a mile of 12 ga. electric fence wire coiled up in the pole barn, I figured to use this to support the main lines. Anyone see a problem with that? I expect the longest main not to be more than 300’.

Does anyone use wire to support a lateral line, if so, do you tie onto the main line support or anchor somewhere beyond?

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the info.

[sapman]

If it's 12.5 gauge hi-tensile you have, that's exactly what you want. Get it nice and tight, then side tie pretty often with #14 wire, or MaplePro has some new plastic stuff out for side-tying.

I've got some runs over 100' and over 5 taps, but I'm hoping to break them up with another mainline before next season. The sooner you can get the sap out of the 5/16ths, the better. I don't put wire on any of those small lines. Just get them good and tight, which will probably necessitate the use of a two-handed dropline tool.

All the best,
Tim