black or blue main

[howden86]

I am adding a bunch of new mains to my old bush to reduce the distance of my 5/16. Should I use black or blue. I know black is cheaper and blue is suppose to be cooler.

Thanks

Tom

[mtnmeadowmplfarm]

I dont think blue mainline is necessary unless the line runs through a very warm section of woods, subject to a lot of sunlight. Black pipe does a good job of keeping the sap cool enough in most circumstances.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I put up 1300' feet of the blue this year and yes, it definitely costs more but I was impressed with it as it was Leader 30p. I don't like the black stuff and have gotten rid of all of it except one run that is well up in the air where I can't reach it.

[sapman]

The blue (30P) I use goes up a LOT easier than the black, which means a lot to me because my help is at a minimum. Plus, I like to see the sap movement inside.

Tim

[peacemaker]

if your giving your main line black and blue marks u doing it to hard ... nevermind is your line in direct hot sun ?
or in a place where u want the black to heat up so it defrost quicker do u have time to lay the black out and loose it memory some u using wire as well ... is cost a matter cause the blue isnt that much more ... i suggest getting some if u use the black and put it in as windows on each line in the woods to see if its flowing at different place s

[Grade "A"]

I never used the blue like 30p but I might change mine over. I find that with the black lines I have now I have to tie them every 6" because when the sun hits them they expand making humps and dip in the line.

[Randy Brutkoski]

Actually blue is way more expensive.30p 1 1/4 inch is .64 cents a foot, and black is .32 cents a foot. A hugh difference. And same goes for all of the other sizes. If your sap sits in your tank all day long at your bush it totally defeats the purpose of using blue,. And also with vacuum the sap doesnt stay in the line long anyways. In my mind blue is overrated, but it is easy to work with though. Alot of the big producers use black, wonder why?

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Matt,

The humps and dips in your line may be how you are installing the black line. Instead of uncoiling it, it needs to be rolled out like a ball. You may already know this, but some don't and the humps are caused by the line trying to go back to the coils in memory.

[Randy Brutkoski]

I have never had the black dip and i tie every 12 to 15 inches.

[PerryW]

If you don't like rolling the mainline like a ball; here is an alternate method...

Just take three loops of one side of the roll, then reverse the whole roll and take three loops off the other side and keep repeating. This eliminates the humps.

[DS Maple]

I suppose the blue stuff is nice, but it is a lot more money. I never found the black stuff too difficult to set up though. Lapierre used to make black mainline called Mapleflex which might even compare to the blue line, but at a lesser price. In any event, if you decide your lines are really exposed to sunlight and you don't want to spend a lot of money on the fancy line, a can of white spray paint works amazingly well. Just walk up the installed mainline with that and you magically have a white mainline that does not take in all the solar heat.

[dano2840]

ok heres my 2 sense
the first year i ran pipe i bought a 500' roll of the blue stuff from rick marsh and put it up, very easy, very flexable and stays tight to the wire, it was put in my little 200 tap bush thats exposed to sunlight on all sides, and kept the sap nice and cool, it also cleans up well
last year i got a good deal on a 1000 roll of black pipe, and this is what i have to say, if i had spent the $200 more for the roll of new blue leader maple flex i would have saved $400 in labor putting darn stuff up vs all the time i spent fighting with that black pipe, plus you can see sap flow which is excellent for vacuum, HANDS DOWN SPEND THE LITTLE EXTRA $ AND GO WITH BLUE, black pipe is a pain, it doesnt tie tight to the wire and likes to loosen up and get these side ways ripples all the way down threw the line, im sold on blue and will only use black if its given to me. it makes life so much less of a bare and looks alot better to, ok im done ragging on black pipe now

[DS Maple]

If you literally roll the coil of pipe through the woods you won't have any problem with it. It takes the same amount of time to roll a coil of blue line as it does a coil of black line. Even if you do it wrong and spend an extra hour with the black stuff, you're saving at least $130 per thousand feet. $130 per hour isn't too bad. The time required to tie a given diameter mainline to tensioned wire is independent of color. Try using the heavy duty wire ties. They hold anything in place. And finally, if you want a little flow window use a piece of clear tubing in like a 6" section. The syrup transfer hose available through Bascoms will stand vacuum pressure no problem. (Hardware store stuff won't.)

[Randy Brutkoski]

I spent $4100 on black for my new bush , just wet lines. And if i went blue it would have costed me almost double. I dont have a problem putting it up. I do have 1000 ft. of blue running through the field, becuase i got it for cheap and it is easy to work with, but i will stick with black.

[Fairfield Sugarmaker]

We have miles of black mainline in our woods, no blue and the sagging problem stems back to the pipe moving some on the wire. When putting out the pipe whatever color it is we always tie the pipe back with a clamp and wire to the anchor or nearest tree after we have stretched the pipe some even if we are headed a long way. The sags disappeared. Of course we have a spinner that we made to unroll the pipe, (similar to a wire jenny) just grab one end and head the way you need to go. Thats our way...

[Dennis H.]

This is the 1st year hang tubing and with my limited budget I used the black stuff, 3/4".

I 1st started by trying to unroll it as I walked thru the woods, what a pain in the back. So I took my spinning jenny that I use for the wire and made posts that I attach to it just like the L brackets for the wire. They stick up about 18". I throw on the 400' roll and away I go with the end.

Once I have the tube layed out I attach the end to the ancor tree and walk back the line useing wire ties to hang the tubing every 15' or so, keep them loose.
Once I get back to the end I use a rope and ratchet strap to pull it nice and tight, NOw I go and wire tie the whole thing.

I think the key with the black stuff is like everyone else said. UNROLL it and pull it TIGHT before wire tying it to the wire.

[Mark]

With the blue you can stretch it a little and on a warm day in the sun it does not zigzag on you. Also being softer I find that it seals better at the fittings.
I have started changing out my 15,000 taps from black for the blue.
I want to keep the sap cooler in the later part of the season.
With the check valves coming on line in the future I think there will be plenty of the darker syrup available and the price will drop for the dark syrup.

[caseyssugarshack93]

first year with blue here, And only reason i decided to go with blue be cause the woods is open to sunlight all day long,

[Seguin Sugarbush]

We started with blue when we started tubing in 2008 following advice from manufacturers.When our budget got tight to finish our first 4200 taps we finished with black.Everything was put up in february and march so after working with it in the cold I prefer working with black.Come spring and summer we found more zig-zag in black.The tubing we put up in 2009 again in february was all black and we had no issues with it.We previously had no experience with tubing wich is probably why we had zig-zag the first year.I feel they are both good products.Blue will probably keep your syrup lighter at mid and late run but we can never seem to make enough amber around here.
Dan Seguin

[Grade "A"]

Matt,

The humps and dips in your line may be how you are installing the black line. Instead of uncoiling it, it needs to be rolled out like a ball. You may already know this, but some don't and the humps are caused by the line trying to go back to the coils in memory.

I broke my computer so this is why I have a late reply. I did unroll the pipe, it is nice and tight with no sun out but when the sun comes out it expands the pipe and makes it ripple on the wire. Painting it white did help. I did talk to one of the owners of leader and he said the black pipe heats up the sap faster on a sunny day and makes your syrup darker.

[PATheron]

I started out with blue and I prefer it myself but in the last two years Ive hung a lot of black becouse its so much cheaper to buy. This is how I do it and this will make it stay nice. Run it out on the ground where you want it. Pull in your wire and pull that up tight. Go to one end with the pipe and cut six inches of pipe off the end of it and split it with a knife or whatever. Take that piece and put it over the pipe to protect it and then put a hose clamp over that and land it on something stationary where your wire deadends there so it cant slip. then walk along the wire and put a loose tie every 20' or so. Once you get to the other end cut six inches off and split it again. Pull the pipe up tight by hand. Connect a wire wratchet to the deadend tree. Take some wire and put it in the wratchet and run it out 10' of so and put the split piece of tubing on the tube and take your wire that you put in the wratchet under a hose clamp and run couple foot of wire through the clamp and tighten the clamp down. Then twist the wire back so its connected to the piece of tube thats protecting the tubing( kind of a homeade kellum grip) now go pull the pipe up real tight with the wratchet and leave whole thing in place. Now the pipe will never squiggle back. If you just pull it up and clamp it without a piece protecting the tube it will always slide in the clamp and squiggle. Then put your wire ties on and all set forever. Thats how I do it anyhow. I have great luck with the black. It does heat up at the end of season so that is a detraction but with me I can afford to put a lot more taps out that way so I figure Ill make a lot of syrup before the end of season and that will put me ahead that way plus I tap early so Im about done by the end of season time anyway. Hey, you do what you can afford to do. Theron

[ennismaple]

The argument I've heard for blue over black is if you've got mainlines that freeze up overnight, as we do because some are quite flat, the black mainline needs to heat up for the ice to thaw but the blue mainline allows the sun through to heat up the ice itself. This results in earlier thawing and good vacuum to the taps earlier in the day. Plus, it handles easier and looks prettier!