1% slope or 2' lift

[Amber Gold]

I have a mainline w/ about 130 taps on it (call it line A) with another line coming into it with 100 taps (call it line B) for 230 taps total downstream of the Y. I have everything set up now at 2% slope and will need a 2'-3' lift to get line B into line A. The elevation of Line A is dictated by a farm road which I need to clear (currently by 12-18"). If I clear the road by 6", run a 1% slope from the road to the Y, and run 50' of Line B at 1%, I can get Line B into A without a lift. Question I have is which is the better alternative. If running 1% slope, pitch is critical and vac. transfer can be tricky because of small bellies in the line. Running 2% slope alleviates some of these problems, but there's vacuum loss with a lift and you need to wait for them to thaw out before you get sap. If I use a lift, it'll be two 6-way stars.

I have thought of burying the line under the road, but it is frozen at this point. Also, I think the road is built of rocks with a layer of gravel over it. It's an old farm road that was raised to clear a wetland. I may consider the time/effort to bury the line for next season, but it's not an option now.

Thanks

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

Josh,
I'd put a small ladder in. Maybe even slightly higher than you suggest to get the extra slope. I find little vacuum loss with star ladders that are 4 feet or less (1/2 inch). If you can get more sun on the ladder it will thaw pretty quick.
Doug

[Acer]

I have a lot of 2 pipe ladders they thaw out just in time to freeze up again.

[Amber Gold]

Acer, my experiance with the 2 pipe ladder wasn't quite that bad, but it did take a while to thaw out.

The system is currently setup for a lift. I was looking at it and thought I could make it work with the flatter slopes. I think for this year, I'll leave it as a lift, but may consider some changes for next year.

[Amber Gold]

When building a star lift with two stars, should the stars be in parallel or series?

[Maplewalnut]

To make sure we are speaking of the same thing mine are on the same line one after another, I guess in series. In fact I have only ever seen them that way. By 'in parallel' do you mean you would T the end of your main at the lift spot and have two stars, one off each T'd line? Not sure why it would'nt work.

[Amber Gold]

Correct, one after the other would be in series. If I was to put a cross in with the mainline coming in one end, then a star fitting on each branch, then a valve at the end. I think star fittings are usually installed in series, but I wanted to confirm before I built it this weekend.

[Jeff E]

I agree with this direction. Very minimal vac loss in a short lift, for that many trees I would go with 2 star lifts, 6 lines each. I would avoid burying the line as that would potentially freeze and not thaw out till the frost is out of the ground.

I would be nervous with a 1% slope, as there is no margin for error. Vac loss and sap sitting in a sag could go bad over a few warm days, creating a quality problem.