pump recommendations?

[steve J]

Well I got everything pretty much set up for the season since I got my deer first day I got to finish up with some loose ends. But now I am down to just figureing out how to pump the sap from holding tank into sugar house head tank.The holding tank sit on a bank behind the sugar house and will need to lift the sap about 6ft and distance from tank is about 12ft. The head tank it is filling is a 27 gallon tank and since I am running a 2x4 will not have to fill frequently during a boil run. From everything I have read in pass seems like the pump shhould probably be outside near or in the head tank is that correct? I have a granger supply right around the corner from me and my son wife is the manager I am thinking of suggesting the proper pump as a christmas present lol. Anyone have a recommendation?

[smitty76]

The biggest problem that you are going to encounter is the pump and line freezing up. hard to say what would be good for you. how often do you have to run the pump to fill the head tank? if it is often, then you do not want to tear the pump down or drain it every time. if it is once a day then draining it might be ok (this is all up to you). Too lieve it setup all the time, you will have to keep it from freezing. maybe build an insolated box around it with a 60w light bulb in it. Keep in mind that if the line has sap in it, it will also freeze. You can put the pump in the sugar house but if like mine, sugar house is not heated all the time, only from the evaporator, and would still need to be drained at the end of a boil. Alot of options, depends on what effort you want to put forth every time you pump or how much money you want to spend. I would set the pump up in the sap house and also put an overflow line from the top of the head tank (gravity) back to the bulk tank so you run the pump all the time while you boil and the excess would run back to the bulk tank. only drain it when you stopped boiling. this way you would need a very low gpm pump(which is cheaper) and it would not freeze up on you. past experience of only running the pump to fill the head tank then turnning it of. 2 hours later the head tank is almost dry and i can not pump any more sap in because line is frooze. big cluster to get sap to evap before we scorched it.Good luck, and have a good turkey day.

[danno]

I thought this was a good thread on the topic. I still like the sump pump, with the option of a reverse float switch if you want to automatically stop the pump when your gravity tank is full. Sump pump also will not freeze sitting in your tank full of sap.

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?t=9667&highlight=reverse+sump+pump

[brookledge]

I agree with Danno. get a small submersable pump and put it in your storage tank and have it so when it shuts off the line will drain back, that way you will not get any freeze ups. You could set it up with a cam lock on the pump so if it is going to get real cold you can just take the pump out. Then get a float switch(normally closed) and put it in your head tank. You can set it so the pump will automaticlly keep your head tank full. One less head ache to keep an eye on and have the head tank run out
Keith

[jcb]

I agree with Danno. get a small submersable pump and put it in your storage tank and have it so when it shuts off the line will drain back, that way you will not get any freeze ups. You could set it up with a cam lock on the pump so if it is going to get real cold you can just take the pump out. Then get a float switch(normally closed) and put it in your head tank. You can set it so the pump will automaticlly keep your head tank full. One less head ache to keep an eye on and have the head tank run out
Keith

This is what I do, works great, but not a sub-pump I just have a transfer pump with cam-loks so I can hook to a other tanks if needed and I can drain at the end of a boil and put it away.

[steve J]

This submersible pump with cam locks can you give me a brand or model number. I like the idea of it draining back into tank after filling. My storage tank is shaded for most part behind the sugar house so a line would not unthaw quickly in the morning if I needed to fill head tank. I did put a draw off at base of storage tank but that would be a real pain in the keister to have to use.