remote vacuum pump

[Brent]

my sugar shack, and electricity is about 500-600 feet from the low point in the bush where I collect sap last year. Got about 160 taps under vacuum and ran a Sapsucker (hose) vac pump last year and it worked pretty well.

But that needed a genset out in the bush, start, stop, fuel etc. I was wondering how big a pipe I would have to run from the bush to the sugar shack and have the vac pump in the sugar shack ??

I am assuming I would need a "mechanical" releaser on top of the tank in the bush. Details on the manufacture's web sites are sparse to non-existent. Does a mechanical releaser need any electricity. Would the releaser I need be called a belly releaser ??

I know I would still need a pump and genset out there for when I go out to pump the tank's contents into the gator to haul it back. I'm a bit reluctant to try a sap ladder. I think the sugar shack is about 75' above the collection tank. 4 - 5 ladders and a 600 foot run would likely mean a bigger pump was needed. Got a oilless Gast 3/4 Hp the pulls 25+ when closed.

[Russell Lampron]

It is possible to have your vacuum pump at the sugar house and the tank and releaser at the bottom of the hill. You won't be able to run a sap sucker that way though as it needs to be full of sap to work. A mechanical releaser is what you need as it doesn't need electricity to work just vacuum.

A 12 volt bilge pump that you can plug into your gator will work and is less expensive than the genset and electric pump.

My vacuum pump is at the sugar house and my releaser is 900' away down the hill. I am using an 1.25" pipe now but ran it with a 3/4" pipe for 3 years with no problems. I went with the 1.25" pipe because I am planning to add another releaser and tank 600' further down the hill in the future.

[Brent]

thanks for the feed back Rus. I was not planning to use the sapsucker this year. Last year we ran the sapsucker on a limited basis. Waiting for some flow to start in the AM and the making sure it was off before freeze. It always had some sap going through it. It pulled about 21" which really surprized me. The cost of replacing hose at $ 100 a foot or so scares me from making it the main pump. So this year its the GAST and it will run a much longer spell every day.

[nymapleguy607]

Not to get real far off topic but, Russ when you ran the 3/4" line to your releaser, did you use another tank as sort of a resovour, so you didn't have a big drop in Vac when the releaser tripped?
Sorry to get off topic
Jeff

[Haynes Forest Products]

That pump and the 3/4 line will be fine. As NYMaple said a reservoir between the vac line and the releaser will help smooth out the surges. I would just collect at the bulk tank with a 12 volt bilge pump and not screw with the generator. That gast pump will run 24/7 so let it run past freeze up and start it early:)

[Russell Lampron]

I didn't have a reservoir or booster other than the moisture trap at the vacuum pump. I was running a Delaval 73 vacuum pump at the time and had about 200 taps on it. The vacuum drop when the releaser dumped wasn't noticable on the gauges at the releaser or pump.

[Haynes Forest Products]

The manifold on the Bernard releaser is a reservoir so Its your call. You dont have to run the vac line on a wire or keep it level so laying it on the ground is OK. BUT if you do I would put in a moisture trap/Reservoir withing 10 ft of the releaser to keep from getting a slug of sap blocking the vac line.