Black or Blue main line?

[backyardsugarer]

I will be running about 75 taps on this 1/2" or 3/4" main line (there is no possibility of future expansion of this area). It will only be about 150 feet long. Should I use the cheap black line or spend the extra for the blue tubing? It will be on Vac. so the sap will not spend long in the lines.


Chris

[jrthe3]

i would use the black it is all i use have not had any prob with it

[Haynes Forest Products]

Sounds like a 300 ft roll will do quite nice. Spend the extra money on the SS fittings and get it TIGHT and wrap all the fittings in black tape so they dont walk away. Get the SS crimp clamps and put 3 on each barb and things will last forever. I have 30 year old black poly and when I cut into it it looks like new:)

[dano2840]

i prefer the blue stuff but thats not a very long stretch, i dont think it would matter,
no to steal a thread but would wrapping your fittings in black tape help stop the fittings from freezing up?

[KenWP]

The black tape just hides the SS fittings. I have heard of people who tape up brand new garden hoses and tools with tape so it looks old and ill used.

[Dave Y]

Dano
I dont see how tape can stop fittings from freezing. I has little or no insulating value.
As far as black or blue mainline goes. I use black as I can hang a heck of a lot more of it for the money. If you learn how to handle it, it is no more difficult to work with than the blue. Go visit the really large producers, most will have black in the woods.

[farmall h]

I have both black poly water line and gray maple grade. I have found that the gray maple tends to get brittle with age. It has been in use for 15 years. The black on the other hand has been in use since 1980 and is still looking good. Last year I found long slits in the 3/4 gray about 16" long. Two spots were of the earliest of the gray installed. Maybe from freezing?

[marc]

If a person uses black plastic pipe is it better to use the 100psi or the 160psi?

[farmall h]

I was pricing some the other day and noticed that it came as both psi 100-160, If I remember correctly I believe it has something to do with thickness of sidewall. If you are to bury say for a springline the 160 psi is recommended. The price of the two are so close. I would have to look to see what I bought last year. I would get the 160 psi since they are so close in price.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I would use the heaver of the two. Over time if you use clamp on saddles and they start to leak you will find the thinner tube will elongate and the hole will become ovel and the O ring wont cover it. I would also roll out as soon as possible and get it in the sun to get the coils out.

[Dave Y]

If you uncoil it correctly there will be no coils in it. I use a roll-a-bob to uncoil mine. I did some a few days ago at about 20degs. it laid out flat. Royalmaple has a you tube video on the use of the roll-a-bob. Check it out it works slick.

[caseyssugarshack93]

If the trees are in direct sunlight use BLUE if theres not so much sun use the black, I use black mostly but this bush im in now has the trees spaced out quite aways and sun hits it pretty much all day so i ran blue,

Just my two cents



NATE

[Grade "A"]

I am changing my main line over to blue. What I have been told is like Nate said, not much different between the two if the is no sun hitting it. If there is sun hitting it the blue is better. The blue lets the light inside the pipe to thaw the ice instead of heating the pipe like black plastic, the hotter black pipe can make your syrup darker. There can't be alot of difference in money for only 150' of pipe. If slightly darker syrup is no big deal go with black.

[farmall h]

I don't know. Alot of controversy over the black vs. blue. I have had gray, blue, orange(really), black and I do not notice the difference in syrup quality. Have made fancy, medium-dark amber over the years sometimes more fancy and medium amber. Sometimes no fancy.....even like last year all dark amber & B.
What town in VT are you at? Logging off..gotta take the Texas Lab out to make some yellow snow!

[caseyssugarshack93]

An other though is if you Woods is a cooler woods= If the woods is cooler all day than some other ones then the black would be the place to use it, And if your woods is a warmer woods then the blue, Im refuring to later in the season tempature

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I switched all my black over to blue this year but one stretch that is about 10' off of the ground. One thing I like about the 30p mainline is that you will be able to see the sap flowing thru it, so that will be cool. I would think it would be an advantage to larger producers on vaccum to be able to find leaks with the clear blue mainline.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I can understand if sap was sitting in a black pipe for hr after hr in the hot sun BUT...............its not when the heat gets up that far my lines are running with nice cold sap. 1500 ft from the back of the bush and its mixing with cold sap all along the way. I think we are getting a little nitpicky on a guy starting out with a small woods. Do the black and have fun and when you get to the point you have everything you need for sugering then go out and spend all the profits to upgrade to BLUE.................OH thats right the black worked fine for you :rolleyes:

[maplwrks]

It all comes down to $$$$. If I have the cash, I will put in the blue, if not, I like Mayottes Maple Pipe. (GRAY) I have a little black, but I prefer not to use it. Though, I might use it for a dry line, with a gray or blue line for wet line...

[PATheron]

I prefer the blue but I run all black becouse of the big difference in price. I can put twice as much black out and have twice the taps for the same money. I think it hurts me at the tail end of the season but if Im running twice the taps Ill make way more syrup than I could have otherwise during the main part of the season. If money was no object Id run blue becouse I think it looks nicer in the woods. With me it comes down to money, plus Im not really striving to make ultra light syrup. Selling it in the drum they dont seem to pay that much more for it. Theron:)

[Dave Y]

it come s down to money I can sell black main for .21 a ft for 1", the blue translucent is.43 a ft if you like spending your money on something that doesn't make that big of a difference in the end buy the blue. But i will put up twice as much black for the money

[Grade "A"]

I can understand if sap was sitting in a black pipe for hr after hr in the hot sun BUT...............its not when the heat gets up that far my lines are running with nice cold sap. 1500 ft from the back of the bush and its mixing with cold sap all along the way. I think we are getting a little nitpicky on a guy starting out with a small woods. Do the black and have fun and when you get to the point you have everything you need for sugering then go out and spend all the profits to upgrade to BLUE.................OH thats right the black worked fine for you :rolleyes:

Sorry, I do it different then you.

[Grade "A"]

I don't know. Alot of controversy over the black vs. blue. I have had gray, blue, orange(really), black and I do not notice the difference in syrup quality. Have made fancy, medium-dark amber over the years sometimes more fancy and medium amber. Sometimes no fancy.....even like last year all dark amber & B.
What town in VT are you at? Logging off..gotta take the Texas Lab out to make some yellow snow!


I live in Starksboro. There is no controversy or even a right or wrong way to do it, there are just different ways to do thing and I was trying to show some benifits of the blue pipe. It is like some people dump ice out of sap buckets because it is mostly water and other leave the ice in the bucket to keep the sap colder to make lighter syrup. The guy that told me about the black pipe heating up and making darker syrup has 14,000 taps and used about everything out there over the years. I'm sure the more pipe you have out there the bigger the difference will be. I don't think the syrup will be alot darker but if it is on the line of being one grade or the other it might help.

The bigger pain for me is the black pipe expanding when the sun hits it and it snakes all over on the main line (I did stop this by straping the pipe every 6").

[Randy Brutkoski]

I have never had my black line snake. When it snakes, it means that it was not unrolled the right way.

[Grade "A"]

I have never had my black line snake. When it snakes, it means that it was not unrolled the right way.

I unrolled it by hooking one end to a tree then I unrolled it on the ground next to my main line (no twist), after I started on one end and tied it to the main line wire (about every 2'). It was fine for a while then when the sun was strong it would heat up the pipe, because it was tied tight every 2' it had nowhere to go but out (made a hump).

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I was taught to wire tie at about 6 inch intervals. I have since modified that to tie at the length of the twister (about 10"). On an air line I go about 18" as a slight dip or twist there is not as critical.

[Dave Y]

Streching your mainline properly will keep it from snaking also.

[maplwrks]

Once you get it rolled out, anchor one end and put it under tension with a comealong or 4 wheeler winch and wire tie it. If you tie it at 6" intervals, it should stay straight.

[Grade "A"]

Streching your mainline properly will keep it from snaking also.

I may have had my wire to tight when I tied the pipe to it, and now I can't pull the pipe tight enough.

Thompson's Tree Farm, after I re-tied the pipe every 6" or so I do not have that problem any more. I also painted the pipe white and that helped alot.

backyardsugarer, I think you should put up whatever you want. There are pros & cons to everything. Your main line is short so there will not be much difference between them. If you have 100 people there will 100 different methods to do it. Do whatever you have to to get the sap to your pans.:)

[KenWP]

We are lucky there is only three colors of mainline. This thread could be thousands of pages long otherwise.

[backyardsugarer]

Thanks guys, I am thinking blue since it is such a short run and someone made the point of watching the sap run through the line. Not only that I can see if I get it clean enough each year. If I get bored I can sit out in the woods and watch the sap get sucked through.

Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

If you roll any mainline out like a ball, it shouldn't snake on you if you pull it hand tight unless it is a long stretch that you can't pull hand tight. If you install it when it is zero, it may snake some when it is 90 degrees, but even then if it is done correctly it should be fine. I had a snaking problem in years past until I learned to just walk thru the woods supporting the stuff upright and rolling it out like a ball.

[Randy Brutkoski]

I tie mine every 10 inches and dont really stretch it. And have never had a problem. Put up 22,000 feet of black this year and spent exactly half of what i would have spent on blue.