Sap ran a little yesterday. The warm weather felt good. I guess I will end up with a ice block in the tank to keep the new sap cool.I got some vacuum leaks fixed and did some Tuning on the system. Looking for the big one next week :lol:
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Sap ran a little yesterday. The warm weather felt good. I guess I will end up with a ice block in the tank to keep the new sap cool.I got some vacuum leaks fixed and did some Tuning on the system. Looking for the big one next week :lol:
We are slowly cathing up. We plumbed the 1" mainline into the releaser. Ran 2 wires for lateral mains to catch a few extra trees this year. Also to put the Y in before tying up the pump and vaccuum lines to the mainline wire. We are going to wire the vaccuum on Sunday and start tapping. Next week is looking pretty good.
Mike
think sap ran in Ryans head when he was dreaming HHEHEHEHE,
buying a new vac pump today, tap out. Ordered my new motor and pump for new ro. Went with a 3 phase 2HP with VFD and 600 GPH pump, hope to be here mid week. also ordered new steam hood for syrup pan the hoping the fab company put a rush on it. get arch together this weekend.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flat Lander Sugaring
Your not to far away come look in the tank!!!!
What are you doing with the old vacuum pump???
Flats - You're gonna like using the VFD. I have two in my operation now and am very impressed with their usefulness. And, you won't have as large of an electric bill...
Got caught up on some homestead chores yesterday, built a new tank cover for a new stainless tank and plumbed in a meter for buying sap. I have a little more plumbing to do inside on ro, and then it is just a few connections at the tanks outside. Hoping to rinse the ro the next time it goes above freezing. Going to get back on tapping today and will likely be done some time this weekend. Still have some more laterals to re-install, and some repairs, so the tapping is going slow.
Hey do you think if I replace my 5hp flood with a VFD 7.5hp that I would save on Kw use or would it just be a wash Thinking I need more cfm on the amout of taps on this pump
It looks like the whole country is going to start the season together from west VA to MI to Vt and maybe even north of the border
not sure that's ever happened before , should be interesting
Hey Kevin!
I would ask Mike L in Orwell. He went from a 10 hp pump to a 10hp with a VFD. He might be able to give you more insight as to his savings.
I think you may well be correct with the entire maple world starting at the same time.
Hard to say of you would use less kw with a larger pump and vfd. Generally the major savings with a vfd comes with the fact you can turn the pump down and not run wide open 24/7. You can either manually turn the pump down or couple the vfd with a transducer to automatically control the pump speed. If you are maxed out for cfms, there probably wont be much savings but if your pump is over-sized a bit and system is tight there is no need to run the pump full speed, so the vfd can tune it. I'm generally running my pump at 45-50 hz, so there is a pretty good savings.
If anyone is shopping for a new pump and vfd, or some new lighting it is worth looking at Efficiency VT's rebates:
https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/Fo...ipment/Rebates
I believe you have to have a pump at 5hp or higher to get the rebate.
We are close to starting our season in WV as you are, the only problem is that it was 0 last, 16 tonight and no more freezing for next 10 days on Weather.com or rest of the month on Accuweather. We normally start here around Feb 1st to 10th and we made little in February, but only about 12% of crop. Normally best 2 weeks here are last week of February and 1st week of March or first 2 weeks of March. We went from February 11th until into March without any sap. Hope you guys don't endure same thing looks like we are going to get. Not sure we will get over 50 to 60 percent of crop if it is right. Look at forecast several times @ day and every time it gets worse. Coldest February I think on record here. Season usually over here around March 21st and we are at about 24% of full crop.
I feel your pain WestVirginiamapler Last year we had the coldest March I can ever remember Our biggest production weeks are usually 3rd and 4th week of March but we made very little But the first 12 days of April were Awesome and we made up a lot of ground Wish you the best for similar results!
Its those extended periods of no freezing nights when I REALLY LOVE vacuum pumps The flow slows down at night almost stopping then when sun comes up temps go up the flow picks back up Not sure 3/16 tubing will do that for you but I don't have any to compare
ok picked up new Vac pump from MES, Clayton was awesome. He even called one of his customers that bought same unit last year the guy said he went six weeks 24/7 his electric bill was 300 approx. better than 279.52 for 4 weeks of a flogging by a unnamed electrical company saying we are commercial but everybody else says we are AG. Clayton was 1000 less than another company for same type of pump with a moisture trap included. No VFD on this pump Clayton said this pump doesnt need one, he explained it to me it made sense. This pump has a 1.2 HP motor at 5.2A the old milker was 9A 1HP.
All plumbed and already on went right to 28+(with all the valves closed) hahah lines will be up and running today.
Ryan, Going to upgrade motor that will take a VFD and have Breezy do his magic on the 75 so we can get more vac out of it move that unit up to quarry hole with a VFD on a generator.
Clayton Ro's are very impressive, like an old saying we had when street racing, if it dont go chrome it, well Claytons units arent "chromed"
big bush all tapped out turning pump on this today
Attachment 10902
not the best picture light in back ground to much. no water to mess with no oil reclaimer
Hey Flat Lander how high of vacuum do you get with that pump? How many CFMs? I hope you have a great season.
Spud
Set vac pumps this morning and electric releasers. The started tapping. Got -300 in today. Probably could of had more but cut in new drops and slow going threw the snow. Hope for another 400 tapped tomorrow then that lot will be done. My father got the RO wire this morning. And cousin got it plumbed. I love it, big family affair lol.
Not if Mother Nature will cooperate like the rest of use we will be in good shape.
PM
re plumbed unit turned it on and at releaser went to 27.5/28. 1000' up in woods 26.5 on one, 25, 24. now were going to start chasing leaks.Quote:
Originally Posted by spud
17cfm unit good for 1000 taps were at 450/500 adding another 75 to 100 next few days.
will post pics
Attachment 10931
Attachment 10932
Attachment 10933
all tapped in except for a a few that have a tree on them. head tank moved, arch together new valves on cage tank. putting ro together tomorrow and hooking up pellet stove. little welding.
does any one have prints on a oil reclaimer home build?
We made some head way on getting the vac. and the pump lines tie up a little more. I will have those finished tomorrow. I'll probably start tapping afterwards. We'll wire the pump and turn it on Tuesday. Then we prep. the R/O and evaporator. Game on this week.
Mike
Finished tapping all the pipelines yesterday. Plumbing in all the tanks this morning and getting the sugarhouse ready. Buckets will go out tomorrow.
Here we go!
Turning both pumps on today preparing for tomorrow. I had the pumps on the other day just to check for leaks. I am not running super high vacuum yet but it will have to do for now. I am tired of hiking through 30 inches of snow looking for leaks. Based on the 10 day forecast we are going to have several days in the 40s and that should melt a bunch of snow making it easier to get around the woods. At that time I will chase down more leaks. It is snowing hard at my house this morning but the sun is supposed to come out by 1:00pm.
Spud
Pump is on at 26.5". Still have about 200 taps to put in but it is supposed to hit 40 here with some sun this afternoon so I figure I will run the pump while I am off at my other job and see what I get. Could be a decent week!
Bright sun and 34 degrees should loosen things up a bit. The wind is out of the NW though so I doubt there'll be much of a run. Nice little stretch of weather coming up though if it gets cold enough tuesday night.
Rusty I was going to recommend breezyQuote:
Originally Posted by Flat Lander Sugaring
Got some leaks fixed today and more tapped in. Not pulling super good vac, but I'm sure the other section of woods on the other side of the farm has leaks. Dam main line is under the snow in spots. Keep plugging away tomorrow and making everything better.
Late yesterday afternoon I was able to get a couple hundred gallons of snot sap that I will be dumping this morning. The pumps have been on all night and my new woods is running 27.5 inches of vacuum. My other section of woods is only running 16 inches as of last night. I fixed some leaks yesterday and have a bunch more to do. It's hard getting around in the woods with all the snow. My son is staying home from school today to help me get all systems up to 27+. Good luck everyone. We are all living the dream.:)
Spud
Yesterday was one of those days that sugarmakers dream about. Weather was perfect, 45 degrees, west wind, warm sun, cold beer.....too bad everythinjg is still frozen.
Wow, what a day yesterday. Trees just started to open up in the evening, but not enough came in to boil. Temps this morning are a bit disappointing. Forecast was for 18, but only dropped to 29. Hilltop living, I guess. Still, hoping for lots of sap in the days to come.
Started up the waterhouse sap puller on just the lower 85 taps and only managed an 8 on the gauge despite going over everything closely before tapping. Guess I'll be looking for leaks and hanging buckets today.
I pulled in about 100 gallons yesterday from about 550 taps and the sap ran til about midnight. It should be another decent day but as Mike says things are still pretty frozen up. But, if it doesn't freeze tonight we could get a decent run the next couple days, and hopefully enough to boil. Today I need to finish plumbing a new sap tank and the 500 gallon poly permeate tank so I can be ready to run the ro. Off to it!
Same story for me down here in south western VT. Just before dusk, as the winds died down we had some drips. I got home from work and checked my main tank where which covers 270 taps and it was flowing pretty good, but there was only about 5 gallons in there, so it was just starting. Didn't even bother to look at the rest.
This is my first year with an RO, so i actually need a little bit more to start than I once did. Feels kinda wierd.
Not looking like it's going to drop below 32 tonight. Maybe it will run all night? One can always hope.
Awesome day to be in the woods here on the Mtn. Sap was dripping with every hole I drilled. I got apprx 800 on vac now and still fixing leaked. Left the pump house with the pump pulling 18". Sap was coming in very well apprx 7pm. Leaving the pump on all night. Might be surprised in morning what's in the tank. Fingers crooked that I might get to run the RO for the first time. Can't wait.
Weather looks like it's going to be good for the next 4-5 days here.
Have fun
We have the vacuum hooked up and turned it on to give a test. We had not put any taps in yet. Then we managed to put in a little over 150 taps before calling it a day. I went back out after dinner and put in another 50 taps before my headlamp died. I hope to finish tapping tomorrow.
Mike
I got 3000 gallons today on my south/east section of the woods. I have a leak problem on the back section of my woods that was bringing my vacuum down to 20 inches. As soon as I closed the valves to that section my vacuum in the rest of the woods went to 26. Tomorrow I have to hike to the back section and fix the problem. As of 9:00pm the sap was still running 125 GPH.
Spud
vac still running at 9:30 4" sap in twp 300 gal tanks. RO hooked up membranes rinsed now going to send some sap through today see if they are good. Get sap suckers running today on small bush.
well going to Bennington gotta go FA upgrade hope be back by 2
Woke up to 1500 more gallons of sap. I will be checking for leaks all day.
Spud
I have pulled in about 300 gallons since yesterday am and still running a bit. Spent yesterday plumbing tanks and troubleshooting a micro leak on my releaser. Still haven't found it but at least it is now pumping at full speed. Going to rinse the ro today. Not sure I will get enough sap today to fire it up, but either way I will boil what I have collected and whatever comes in today, tomorrow.
Ro is running and so is the sap. The sugar content is 1.1%. Off to the woods to check lines and our first boil tonight😄😄😄
Looks like the VFD for my vac. pump may have crapped the bed...GMP checked their end of things and I am getting good power. The symptoms suggest power outage but the power is on... Sap was running ok with vac. Not so much without:mad:
Stark. VFD's can be the coolest thing going or frustrating as h*ll. I had one crap out on me that was two weeks old. Just died in the middle of the day. Somehow I managed to be in the sugarhouse when it happened. It took three days to get a replacement. Somehow the bus got fried and of course it was my fault and not covered under warranty...
Frustrating for sure...spent a good chunk of the day on the phone with a tech from the vendor troubleshooting when I could have been doing other things to get ready to boil. The Vfd is definitely done but fortunately they are shipping me a new one overnight...under warranty. It was only a year old.
Fortunately it was not during a real sap run, but I did miss some sap today.
VFDs can definitely be a pain in the butt. We had one get fried by lightning in the summer of 2013....of course we didn't know until just before the 2014 season. We now have them all wired up so they can be completely unplugged during the off season. We're now up to 4 Busch Pumps, all with the same VFD, so I bought a spare VFD just to have around in case one of them crapped out again.
I've heard that it is a good idea to turn on the VFD and let the electronics warm up for 15-30 min before actually turning on the pump.
Today I was able to find and fix several leaks in the woods. I am now up to about 26 so still need to find more but things are much better. Today I got 2500 gallons of nice clear sap. Looks like the sap will not run again till weekend.
Spud