what grade of vacuum tube

[Brent]

I went to Home Depot today and got a sticker shock when I saw the price of 1" tubing ---- I need 1600 feet. Then I noticed they have 3 grades 50 psi, 75 psi and 100 psi.
Of course the guy in the store had no idea which one would stand up to 25" vacuum. I think its a no brainer that the 50 psi wall was too light and it would collapse.

This tubing is just to supply vac to the releasers.

Any suggestions ?

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

100 PSI. Where did you get the price. I went to my local plumbing supply place in Dec. and told them how much I wanted For this year and next's expansions. Asked for best cash price I could get. Was told to wait a couple days and he would get back to me. Came back with an offer of 20 cents a foot for all I wanted if I ordered within 10 days. I doubled my order. If you want the deals you have to plan ahead and try to deal with a pay up front approach. I am still picking up my tube a few rolls at a time every time I go to town.

[Brent]

Home Depot wants $ 72. Cdn for 100 psi IPEX. That's about $ 67 - 68 US$ That's triple what you got.

I checked the IPEX web site and they even list their "Pipe with the Stipe" product line as good for maple sap systems. But they don't give any hint in their tech papers as to which grade we should use.

I'm still looking for a better price.

[sapman]

IPEX sounds different from typical poly pipe. I use a lot of pex (polyethelyne cross link) in plumbing, and it is definitely more money than black poly. Make sure the pipe is IPS.

Tim

[danno]

Just put up another 1000' of 100 psi poly. My local Tractor Supply, HD and plumbing supply wanted close to $70 for 300' rolls. I was able to pick up the same rolls, new for $30/each on craigslist. The last time I bought 10 rolls, I found them in the classifieds of this site for $50/roll.

Moral of the story - if you have time, shop around.

[KenWP]

I bought 1 1/4 black poly here local for 35 cents a foot. I only needed 40 feet to fix my sump pump so if I was to buy whole roles they probbably would go cheaper. Try a farm supply store first.

[farmall h]

I have this Masport Universal vacuum pump that I am planning on using. I have torched off the tank from the frame 'cause it was rusted through near the drain flap. I believe the motor is burned out (not sure) but it is 220v and may be 3Hp. Does anybody have one of these in operation? I am thinking of putting it to gas motor or will a single phase 3/4 Hp motor run it suffiently. I have a much smaller Masport Milker vac pump (circa 1954) that runs like a top. When valve is shut it reads 27" on gauge. This little pump came out of my brother-n-laws old barn. The big Masport came out of my folks barn and I can remember running 6 milking machines with it. They replaced this pump with a newer Delaval when the pipeline system was put in.
I did a quick post search and came up dry.

New to searching....found alot of posts. Mistakenly checked the "thread" box. Gone back to reading posts!

[H. Walker]

Brent, try Atkinson's you should be able to get 1" black poly (100 psi) for $0.35 per ft. and if your negotiation skills are very good you can get it at lot less.

[pelz]

be aware that black poly pipe come in both potable and non-potable

[red maples]

try to watch the oil prices too when they fall poly tubing falls too not always but usually.

also if you have a friend that has an account at a plumbing supply use that or some companies will give a discount although it may be small if you are a farmer. but every penny counts when you're buying by the foot. I want to get an account at FW web they knocked a few cents per foot when I said it was for agriculture. Also sometimes the more you get the cheaper it might be.

in plumbing supply stores if you ask for well pipe(black poly) it is always potable.

[Brent]

I'll give Atkinson a try Tuesday ... thanks

Potable - non-potable is not an issue. This will only be used to deliver vac to the releasers. From the releasers I have regular 3/4 maple poly.

Is there a concensus that I need to use 100 PSI rather than 75 ???

[tiggy-at-mac.com]

I wasted a day pricing black water pipe and found that Glen Goodrich had the best deal. Website is goodrichmaplefarm.com. -tig

[Brent]

Brent, try Atkinson's you should be able to get 1" black poly (100 psi) for $0.35 per ft. and if your negotiation skills are very good you can get it at lot less.

Atkinson is shipping me 7 rolls Monday at half the price of Home Depot. Sometimes your maple dealer is your best source.

[maple sapper]

Just for the record, ( and I pretty sure there is no FW webb in Canada) but I got rolls from webb when I needed some and they had 160 psi and 600ft rolls as well as 1000. Problem with 1000 is hauling up in the woods. 600 is what I got and wasnt to bad after a few feet got rolled out and the roll got lighter. The lack of connections was what I had in mind. Especially for future vac.

[red maples]

I used 3/4" 100 psi from webb and got 2-400ft rolls and 2 100 foot rolls. the 400ft 100 psi is hard enough to handle I couldn't imagine 600ft 160psi!!!! I use straight what ever its called union I guess 2 clamps and nice tight electric tape no leak with 26" vac no problem!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

Try and get the bigger rolls from a good supply house the smaller rolls are a bitch to unroll in the woods. The bigger rolls have bigger holes for putting on spool holders and have less memory bends.

[maple sapper]

I am not sure what kind of back ground you have red maples, but being construction savey, i got some tricks for dealing with pipe in large rolls. Or maybe having done irrigation work for many years as a kid and I was the pipe roll feeder for the pipe puller.
I tied on end off to a tree with some rope and one of my pipe tensioners and that allowed me to pull on the whole roll as I unrolled it through the mainline trail that I had cleared prior. once it was all unrolled it sat nice and straight. The wall is nice and thick on the 160psi. The reason for the higher pressure was for two reasons: vac and freezing in the event of a back up or what ever may happen. Hopefully never have sap sit in it long enough but crazy things happen.