Electric vs. Gasoline Vacuum

[PerryW]

I am meeting with the power company later this month about power for a spec house I'm starting this spring, so I have the opportunity to ask the technician about the cost and feasibility of installing electrical service at my 600 tap sugarbush in Littleton NH.

What I would like is a round-figure guess at the cost of:

1) Electric powered off-the-shelf vacuum pump & releaser for 600 taps

2) Gasoline Powered off-the-shelf vacuum pump & releaser for 600 taps.

These taps are on a steep hillside, but spread out over a pretty large area.

I just want to get an idea if it's even worth considering getting electrical service that I will only use for 6 weeks a year. I'm guessing the electric company send me a bill every month even if I don't use any power, but it still may be better than dealing with a gasoline engine.

[KenWP]

We pay the gas bill on a building used once a month for meetings and the charge to read the meter montly is more then the gas it's self as we don't have running water to the place so we shut it off. The Power company at least only charges every 3 months to read the meter but it still is more then the usage charges.

[Dennis H.]

You still have meter readers??

[argohauler]

I know of people using diesel motors to run their vacuum and a local producer uses the pto of his tractor to run vacuum on around 3000 taps.

[maplwrks]

1) Electric powered off-the-shelf vacuum pump & releaser for 600 taps
Atlantic Fluids 2 hp pump $1900 Lapierre single releaser$900

2) Gasoline Powered off-the-shelf vacuum pump & releaser for 600 taps.
Check w/ Glen Goodrich--probably $2500 or more + releaser

I've run both, electric is the way to go. My electric pump runs for the entire season for around $200. I start it and I don't shut it off for the entire year. Will you need to set a pole to take service? How far to the closest pole? The field technician will be able to give you a rough idea as to how much it will cost you to put the power in. The electric pump will reqire a lot less babysitting also.

[PerryW]

Maplwrks,

That's a lot less money than I thought. I checked 5-6 years ago on Vacuum System prices and I thought I remember $5,000- $6,000.

I have a roadside utility pole about 20 feet from my tank. Certainly worth considering if the electric pump & releaser is only $2800. I would probably stick with gravity if I had to deal with a gasoline motor because of the hassle and annoying the neighbors the noise of the motor running.

[maplwrks]

I just checked---gas powered A20 Atlantic Fluids pump--$4200

The pump I mentioned is a water cooled A10 with 2 hp motor

With the roadside pole---this will be an inexpensive deal. Probably a lot less than $1000 to hook up.

[caseyssugarshack93]

go with electric if you can, i think its alot cheaper too, Gas is expensive, i ran all gas vac pumps this year and there a pain, but if you cant get electric Gas would be the next best thing,

[Haynes Forest Products]

Always elec with what we do. Timer to turn it on and off. If the releaser is sticking due to cold your close to heat tape. I also never thought of the suck back situation (thanks Dr Perkins ) and finding the pump out of gas and having the trees slow down and worse when it was late in the day the trees were sucking back. I would go elec just for the constant 24/7 vacuum.

[maple flats]

I hope you can get electric cheaper than what I was uoted this past August. I needed to go 450' from the nearest pole and they wanted almost $15,000. This is from National Grid,our supplier. This was for 200 amp 240v service. I bought some solar and combine that with my generator. When I add vacuum before next season it will be gas (or diesel) powered, either the pump or a generator to run pump and releaser. Around here they won't run power unless you have a building, no longer do pole services.

[maple sapper]

I would push for electric if at all possible. Firstly, I dont know all there is to know about vac and am sure there is way more to learn. I dabbled with vac for the first time this year late. I ran a generator to run the pump. This is almost like double the wear on your equipment. Firstly you have the wear on the pump then the generator. So depending on the pump you need, and if you absolutely need to go with gas, you could do like I did. I put a tee in my fuel line of my generator and a check valve on infront of the tee on the fuel line that came off the generators tank. The 15 gal tank and the tank on the generator would go for over 2 days straight. I never tested it to find out. I would always come to the makeshift pump house with a can of gas. If your arraingement allows, I would consider buying a gas motor and the appropriate pulley to run the pump. If you need a plug due to the style vac pump it is, then that wont work. But either way the gas tank worked really well. But in two weeks of running that, I can see that getting pricey. Especially cause I only run top grade gas in all my equipment.

If you can get power to the pump location for reasonable money, then what you may want to do is buget to maybe have it on all year. My camp is open for 6 month and its cheaper to leave power on all year. They charge a min of $20 a month. To shut it down is $75 and $75 to turn it back on. Using it for a month and a half may be worth turning off and on. But, I am willing to bet that its just paperwork. I am not sure they will physically pull the meter. Keep in mind, your pump does not need to be right at your releaser. You can have a great distance from your pump and the system. I can be wrong on this as well. This could lower your install cost. I have spoken to an abutter and will be leasing their pool plug next year. This will add 200 ft to my line. I am pretty sure if I can get it one piece, I will not have any issues.