Run how long without a freeze?

[mapleack]

Whats the longest you've seen trees run on Vac without a freeze? I've got 224 CV taps out, they've been running 6 days straight without a freeze. I've got 19 to 20 inches of vac on them. I've gotten almost 4 gal of sap per tap so far since the last freeze and they're still running steady this morning.

[sweetwoodmaple]

Mine ran about 3 gallons per tap within the first three days, one of which was sunny and 60 degrees. The large temperature delta and/or sun during the day helps with this.

I shut my pump down after this as I was getting like 5 gallons per hour which I don't figure is worth the electric bill or wear/tear on my pump. If there was a freeze in sight, I would have run it just to keep the holes open. My issue now is that the buds are green inside. Does not make for good tasting syrup.

I'm also tempted to get a small pump online just to maintain some vacuum over these long periods. Better to run a 3/4 hp motor than a 2 hp motor all that time.

I have a feeling vacuum pump sales with be at an all time high for next season! Either that or folks just give up and sell the whole bit. Hopefully not that option.

[Ridgeland Farm]

is there any way you can get the vac a little higher? when you get above
20in of vac its like night and day the amount of sap you can get. dont know why but 20 is like that magic breaking point. In the first week of the season my pump could only do about 18in of vac. Did a little modification to it and now around 22-23in and I got atleast 1.5x more sap than before and this was on a spurt of days with no freeze at night. and on our first big freeze I got over 1.5gal per tap that day! hasnt run like that again! That was an unbelievable run!

[mapleack]

I really don't think I can run higher on the SP22 for fear of overheating. It's been chugging along nicely. A different pump will definately be going in next year, I'm going to need more cfm's anyway.

[Ridgeland Farm]

yeah I figured that was prolly all your pump could do. Well you will be amazed in your production when you get the new pump! I just sat there and stared at the releaser for 20 min looking at the sap just dump in once I got the vac level up! Well good luck the rest of the season. Hopefully it holds out for us all.

[Brian Ryther]

I have been running a BB2 24-7 at 23" for the past 14 days straight. +- gal per tap every day. I changed the oil once and looks looks I should do it again.

[danno]

Can only run 18.5" - afraid to go higher on the dairy pump. Been on 24/7 since last Thursday - that's the longest continuace ever I've run it.

Been flowing a tad better than 1/2 gallon/tap every 24 hours. Sap is running better during the daylight hours and it's running about exactly the same today as the first day of the thaw.

[lpakiz]

Well, it's my first year with vacuum on 200 taps. I have an SP-11 that is running 23 inches. I have the engine throttled down to about an idle and it still is making 22-23 inches, and staying coool to boot. I have been chasing leaks very diligently and I think that is why I can run so slow and still hold high vacuum. Every few seeps of air I fix, I can run the engine slower and of course, keep the SP-11 cooler. I think a tight system is key to high vacuum without overheating the pump. The 3.5 HP Tecumseh off my sons old snowblower is a true champ--just add a bit of oil and a gallon of gas and away it goes for another 6 hours.

[220 maple]

Ok, Believe it or not, I am still getting water 7 day since my last freeze. 2% water at that. It maybe buddy, I don't care I need a barrel for my friend Henry. We got a semi decent freeze last night so maybe they will run a couple more days?????? We still have several gallons setting around in Milk cans to be finished, which should put us over 250 gallons for the season. Not bad off of 870 taps on Vacuum. I have to many leaks and have only maintained 18 to 20 pounds of vacuum. My bad. I wanted 22 to 25 pounds

Mark 220 Maple