Dealing with ice in the releaser

[Brent]

How do you deal with ice in your releaser ?

This my first year with Bernard releasers and I find they ice up in the bottom flapper and in the 90 degree fitting that goes from the mainline manifold to the main chamber.

Do you just start the vac the next day and way for God to get rid of the ice?

Do you shut the system down and close off the mainlines to
prevent sap from entering during the night ?

[Haynes Forest Products]

For the last two years I ran my vacuum well past freeze up at night and shut the vac off and left it. The ice and slush was in the manifold and tank. Next morning I started the vac and saps washed it all away. I didnt think it was a problem. Have never had a miss step with the Bernard so I cant say that ice is a problem:)

[maplecrest]

i deal with this problem every day. there are many factors that are involved. one is cold air every time it releases. the other are leaks in your woods sending air to the releaser that will freeze it up. i leave my vac on from start of season to finish. i have valves at the top of the releasers on the vac line to shut the vac off to the releasers. at night if the sap is not running i shut the vac off to the releaser.make sure that you have a vac regulator between valve and pump to release vac when froze.i had one releaser that froze on one side only. i found the leak was one vac tube at top of canister was not glued after three season of problems. you will have to take time and watch it to learn what is going to work for you.no releaser is the same!!!!this week i had good luck with 3 of them and i had one that would not work below 34 degrees. that on is a new lapierre double with no balls in the canisters and would send sap up the vac line and freeze up shutting down the vac in the water trap then ice up. that is a fair weather releaser. the benard doubles work great even at 29 degrees sometimes on a good tight system

[red maples]

I wait for the lines to freeze hard and then shut it down and I release it and hold the flap open for a moment to get the extra sap out. Thats it. in the Am just before the lines thaw I turn things back on and wipe the ice crystal from the flapp so it closes tight and back in business. just don't shut down before the lines are frozen tight!! but listen to maplecrest he has more experience then I !!! and more taps!!! and more releasers!!!!

[trackerguy]

I have a lapierre single electric - it is good in the cold and hot - but at about 32 degrees it'll form ice on the trip cord and pump seal leak points which tends to ice up the floats as sap comes in. Below 28 or so its OK, above 34 its OK - but can be shaky in between if it stays there all night AND the trees run.

[maple sapper]

Brent,

Im on the same page as you. My releaser is home made and let it run all night. Probably should have shut it off but its 8 miles from me. So let it go and come back to a frozen solid releaser. It was cold last night. I had to dismantle the check valves and push all the slush out. Then placed a piece of black rubber roofing over the releaser in the sun and it made a green house and got some heat on it to soften things up. Im thinkin of carrying a hair dryer in my truck now.

[Beans Maple]

I shut my pump off long after it is below freezing. Start it back up in the am long before it thaws. Yes there is ice in my Bernard double, but so what, the vacuum slowly creeps up the lines and between the rising temps and the starting sap flow, it thaws. The only time I have problems is when you shut the pump off before it ices and the sap is still seeping in. This causes it to run gravity through the releaser and can form an ice plug in the flappers that won't allow for vacuum to build in the mornings.