Homemade releaser

[Troleau25]

I know, I know, there has been a few threads in the past about this but i cant seem to find any. Unfortunately it is time for my family's operation to look into a releaser, we have priced out a lapierre for 1350, but like always thats not in the budget. So here is a rundown of the scenario, and here is the question; 650 taps, able to expand to thousands, we have a bulk tank we were going to make into a zero tank, added vacuum and it sucked the end sides in. I need designs, pictures and for everyone to talk about what they did. I know people talk about the bender releasers but i cant seem to find any. Fill me in, we are pretty handy like most sugarers/farmers and want to try to replicate a releaser and have no idea what works best, or where to find those flapper valves, and the vacuum switch mechanism on top.

Thanks and good luck to all in this season, it sure has started off great.

Trent

[sweetwoodmaple]

Trent - I did an electrical/mechanical releaser out of 4" and 3" Schedule 40 PVC. It uses electric solenoids/float switches and a time delay relay for dumping vacuum and transitioning between the small/large tank. I used two standard PVC flapper valves (the ones without springs), one between the two tanks, and the other on the lower tank to dump.

The long story short...it works exactly like the mechanical releasers except using solenoids insead of vacuum driven valves. It dumps 5 gallons per 30 second cycle, which easily handles my 500 taps. Total cost...with all the electrical stuff coming from Ebay...about $400. This is my third season using this releaser.

If I was to have a place with no power available, honestly....I would just save my pennies and buy one. Too many specialized components to try to fabricate a pure mechanical releaser, at least in my opinion.

If this interests you, send me a PM and I can give you some photos or give you a call.