How do you run Your tubing???

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have always ran my tubing by laying it flat on the ground. I am curious to see how others do it. Nearly all of the areas are fairly steep, so I always get good drainage with it laying on the ground. The benefits I get from it laying on the ground is the ground helps keep the sap cooler and the deer don't run into it and tear it down since there are a ton of deer around. The tubing seems to last better also because it is more protected from the sun and it doesn't get stretched as it would running above ground.

I usually try to put between 20 to 30 taps on a 5/16" line and this keeps the sap flowing fast and prevents any bacteria buildup. I know the max taps is supposed to be 25, and I don't normally go over that, but I have ran as much as 30 and never had a problem. A 5/16" line will run a ton of liquid in an hour's time, so I have never had a problem with blowing lines or restricting flow! :D

Brandon

[themapleking]

The best way to run your lines is up in the air. Laying them on the ground is not a good thing. For one the ground is not flat your lines will sit in the dips and you will get sap build up and restrict the flow. You need to maintain the tightness and grade of all tubing lines as uniform as possible to facilitate sap flow. Keep your mainlines under 1500 feet after that you will should use a booster tank. 3/4" line 400 taps max, 1" line 700 taps max, 1 1/4 " line 1100 taps max, 1 1/2" line 1600 taps max. Max. distance between mainlines- 150' ft. futher than this will cause 5/16 line to exceed too many taps and long lines. Keep your 5/16 line taps no more than 12, 6 to 8 is best. Too many taps on a lines will create air bubbles or locks in the lines. Try to keep your 5/16 lines under 100' ft. Keep at least a 5% grade on all your lines a sight level will help with this. All this will greatly increase your your sap flow. As for the deer they are not a problem they just step over it . It's the tree rats that do most of the damage.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Lobstafari,

Sounds like you have a really impressive setup. I don't have the snow problem you have and most of the season, we don't have hardly any snow on the ground.

Do you own both of the setups. Sure sounds really nice and you really know what you're doing. I am uncertain as to what I will do exactly. In the past, I have always ran the tubing on the ground. Another concern I have, it in some of the areas, cattle will get out and may go through these areas. It is not very likely, but possible. I would be concerned with them tearing down the tubing since they are a lot higher than deer. They may only pass through 1 or twice, but they could do a lot of damage to tubing in the air. The one area that cattle are in nearly year around, I roll the tubing up and put it away at the end of the season. The owner takes them out of the area when I having tubing in place.

Any sugestions would be appreciated. I know that if the tubing is laying on the ground and they cattle would happen to get out and go through it, it wouldn't hurt anything!

Brandon

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Jeremy,

The only problem with putting the tubing 6 feet in the air is that I would have to tap all the trees off of a ladder. A problem with this is that a lot of the areas are fairly steep and it would be nearly impossible with a ladder. If we have snow on the ground when we tap, it is seldom over 5 or 6 inches if it is that much. I have seen different setups with the tubing ran in the air on wire and am very familiar with how to do it.

I am toying with the idea of running the tubing about 2 to 6 inches above the ground and if the cattle would go through it, they shouldn't hurt it much. I dunno, I guess I will have to experiment and find out. Some of the other areas, there is nothing to bother it, so I can run it at whatever height I want to!

Brandon

[mapleman3]

Jeremy
just wondering how do you split your time up between the to setups?? sounds like a real nice place ya got there!!! :lol:
Jim

[mapleman3]

question here about tubing and vacuum
When all your tubing is lower than you sugarhouse by about 12' and about 180' away, will a good vacuum pump pull the sap to you storage near the shack? I want to not have to gather from my bush, I'd love it to come to my sugarhouse!! and not have to go pump it up everyday.? anybody pull their sap uphill? ok let me rephrase that.. how do you do it?
Jim

[syrupmaker]

Jimmer..... i believe you can pull up hill to a point.On the farms with the dumping stations,they would run the hose along the rafters on hooks to the dumper at the tank and it would suck it up 8-9 feet and along the rafters no problem at all.But then they have a vac pump that can draw 15 Hg at whatever CFM. Wonder if a manifold made up to tie a couple Gast vac pumps together would create enough CFM to do the job. Uncle Steamer always said draw it out on paper, wipe your butt :) with the paper and redraw it as you rethink it and it will usually work!!!!!!!!!

[mapleman3]

I remembered that Pegjam had mailed me some info on tubing, it had alot about vac systems too, very interesting stuff, I was bidding on a nice vac pump on ebay but I let it go due to the shipping cost from CA. it was a good size one though.
I am going to keep it simple this coming seaso I guess, pipe it all to 1 or 2 tanks the pump it to the sugarhouse, have to learn to crawl before I can walk!! spend the $$ on anice storage tank instead. :wink:

this is the pump I was bidding on
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=26236&item=2537014615