two pipe sap ladder

[PATheron]

Does anyone have a real good pic of how they make the two pipe sap ladders? I have a couple of them and I think I am going to do another one and Id like to see how the rest of you guys do them. Thanks Theron

[Gary R]

Go to this thread. It has the Ontario research on it. On page 4 is a picture of the bottom of a two pipe ladder

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=7269

[Russell Lampron]

Theron look in my photobucket pics. I have a couple of pics of mine in there.

[PATheron]

Thanks Russ and Gary. I figured I was doing it ok I just wanted to see some of yours to make sure I was doing it right. Theron

[tuckermtn]

so a quick effort to clarify- in the photos of Russ' two pipe system it looks like he has his lower T's in-line with a valve at the end vs. in the Ontario photos there is one T and a dead end. which is the preferred method?

then at the top of Russ' there is a T to combine the two pipes back in to one 3/4"

Also it looks like in Russ' photos he has a valve on one of the vertical lines- but its hard to tell.

is there a reason to use something like rapid-tube or something more flexible for the vertical pipe?

thanks

[red maples]

I am gonna set up mine so that the bottom comes into the middle instead of inline line russ's and set up a 4 way fitting so that I can still have a valve at past the lift. from what I have read you need a valve in one of the pipes to allow for low sap flow beacuse it may not need both pipes all the time or you can restrict the flow of one pipe.

[Russell Lampron]

The ladder in my pictures is the first one that I built. I remade that one using all 1" pipes and fittings to match the 1" mainlines coming in and going out. I put the valve in one of the pipes thinking that on lower flow sap runs that I could close the valve and use it as a single pipe ladder. The sap would shoot across the top and fill the pipe with the valve in it and it would just sit there. When I rebuilt it I eliminated the valve in the second pipe. I also put a tee in the center of the bottom pipe so that the sap came in from the center instead of the end. I still put a valve in the very bottom for an air vent.

[sapman]

If anyone is still looking for pics, I finally got some on my website tonight. Kind of a pain to get to them, but if you go to my site (wcfalpacas.com), click on MAPLE, then there's a link to photos at the top of the page.

[maplwrks]

Great pics Tim!!

My question on this type of set-up is--(I'm going to pick on Tim here) At the top of the ladder, where the pipes T back into 1 mainline, do you get any sap pushing across the T and going back down the other pipe? Looking at Tims' setup, I would think that you would want to bring your verticle pipes above the main and have a verticle drop into the top of the main. I've never built one of these, and Tims' pics have been the best ones I've seen, and I am trying to wrap my head around the idea!

[tuckermtn]

I think in the diagram I saw in the CDL catalog it did show the top of the T was several inches (10" I think) above the mainline to prevent sap from flowing back down the pipes...

[sapman]

That's a good point, Mike. I would say it does run across to some extent. I'll definitely watch closely next season. But I can tell you for sure, if I shut the valve on one side, it comes across and fills above the valve in a hurry! From then on, I pretty much left both sides open all the time. Think I wasted some valves when installing. Perhaps I'll be reworking them and try it like you say. Will also check the CDL catalog.