having a major ice storm here, not as bad as in 98 , but bad enough, lot of damage to maples. a few old trees on the ground from the weight of the ice. alot of broken off limbs every where. nice mess to clean up now.with a few weeks from tapping
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having a major ice storm here, not as bad as in 98 , but bad enough, lot of damage to maples. a few old trees on the ground from the weight of the ice. alot of broken off limbs every where. nice mess to clean up now.with a few weeks from tapping
That sucks. Hope you're trees are ok. After seeing the north country after 98 I cringe when I hear ice storm. My thoughts are with you and the trees.
If anyone is interested, I posted a few more video's I shot the other day working on the mainline. Shows splicing the mainline with the tool and also a neat new way to unroll your tubing. At least I've never seen it done this way before.
Pouring rain here today, no work got done in the woods.
Just click the youtube link below to see the videos.
Guys- Ive been watching the weather and its going to get cold next week. Any of you guys seen any kind of projections of the weather after that? Theron
I got all my tubing in and all but one mainline tied. would of finished it tonight ,but spent yesterday evening rehanging 600 ft of main line that came down in the wind storm tues night. I also lost half the roofing on my barn and it dropped a 60 foot spruce into my yard. I am sick of the wind !I am going to get tanks for the woods tomorrow.
Theron, I think it is going to be cold the next 2 wks.
Hey Matt!
I just watched your video on rolling out Mainline. Nice job. Your unroller looks like it works well. I was just at Tractor supply on Wed buying more mainline. Should have grabbed one while I was there. I have seen the unwinders used for PEX tubing for main line but yours is simpler and definately portable.
For the $279.00 do we get choice of colors?? LOL Nice Idea Matt
Mark
Nice video's royalmaple.
royalmaple that is a very neat idea
Mark, for 279.00 I will go pick one up for you, paint color of your choice, and deliver it to you. Now how is that for service!!!
If you need more pipe let me know I have an account with portland plastic pipe and get some pretty decent prices. I have 2000 feet of 1 1/4 coming next week and 2500 feet of 3/4. Already got 2100 feet of 1 inch last week.
If anyone is looking for wire spinning Jenny's tractor supply has one for 33 bucks and holds the 4000 ft rolls of 12.5 hitension wire. Wish I knew that before I tried making one. Got one now though.
I need to bring my tripod and get serious about these videos, and up the standards. Might even need the cue cards or something. I'll do better in the future, just working off the cuff. They are fun. Too bad the part where I fell on my butt wasn't on the video. That would have been funny.
do you mind telling me how much it would be 3/4 inch per foot of pipe please
im just comparing prices
.14/foot for 3/4
MATT
is that black water line??
RICH
wow that is a lot cheaper then im getting im getting 0.18/foot from home depo and .23/foot from Atkinson
Yup, black 100 psi waterline. Prices are very favorable.
I about (S.M.P.) S..... My Pants when I called to get some prices on pipe from some dealers. I just did it for kicks. Only Glenn was close on price, but still a bit more and alot further for me to go pick it up.
A drive to NH would have cost me about 1000 more for the same pipe I am buying.
Anyone got any leads on a stack thermometer that would read up to 1,200 or 1,400 degrees.
Brandon I don't know who you could get one from in your area, But I'm using a Pyrometer(exhaust temp.) gauge off of a wrecked dump truck. I need a new probe for mine, but it wrks great and is quite accurate.
Guys- This is a little update on my progress. Im going to try to finish my ro room/closet today. Ive got a little work on my line left, maybe a day and Ill have that done. Im pretty much to the point where Im just hooking things up. Ive got to get a permeate tank and thats all ive got left to bring home. I hope to have everything operational in two weeks. I should then be able to run the vac pump anc check everything and fire up the evap and play with the floats etc. If I get done a little early while its cold I may put a few more taps in. Should be somewhere between 1200 and 1250 on good vac right to the sugarhouse. Getting pretty excited to see what happens first good day at that releaser. Ill put some new pics on as soon as the inside of the sugarhouse is done. Should be soon. Good luck to everyone as they tap. A lot of people have expanded this year and itll be exciting to see how everyone does. Theron
TTHHHEEEERRRROOONNNNNNNNN- Got your dry lines in with valves to isolate leaks?,,Might not get much of a run on your first day,,takes a while for the trees to get going sometimes,,,looking forward to hear about your season as it unfolds,,,good luck,,
Theron,
The pics of your face that first day may be something to see also!!!!!
Matt usually I get my black plastic at Portland Plastic Pipe. I only needed about 500' and I had to get mineral blocks and Ivermec at TS. Portland Plastic Pipe usually has very good prices on poly tanks as well. Haven't checked for a couple years but they always did.
If anyone wonders about the black mainline. A few years back i grabbed 800' or so at Bascoms while I was there. I need a bunch more when i went to install it so I went to Portland Plastic. Same exact pipe the only difference was the manufacture time stamp.
Royalmaple- what an awesome tool! Sure beats my method: ducttape one end to patio post, then unroll up the yard by walking backwards and "flipping" it around (I'm not a big girl. That stuff is heavy!), then tying the other end to a tree until it relaxes, then pulling up the hill thru the woods to where it's needed. Great exercise, though.
Mark-
And you forgot to mention the price difference.
Yes they have great prices on poly tanks. I am picking up a 1550 there next week with more tubing.
Anyone find a place to get galvanized wire ties circumventing the maple dealers?
Beth, I could have tied the tool to my dog to have him unwind the roll. it unrolls super easy and no more messing with those darn coils. Even with two people doing the uncoiling method, few loops this way, rotate then flip off the other, you always get some 1/2 a$$ed twists in the pipe. THis way none.
I like to find ways to accomplish things without beating my head in the ground. Don't try it for wire, you will have a super dooper mess very quick. Use a jenny for that.
Matt,
Try any masonry or construction supply dealer in your area for the ties. if you dont have any luck that way get back to me I will get you a price on those ties.
any steel dealers and or masonry place will have them. Saco brick had them a few years ago.
Brandon - For the stack temperature monitor you might try an ebay search for "thermocouple thermometer" This one looks interesting:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Type-K...QQcmdZViewItem
We completed our line repairs and sanitizing during the short warm days this week, Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures were in the 60's. One area where cattle run much of the year we roll up the tubing and hang it it trees. Two bundles got knocked down and dragged around by, possibly a bear. Had lots of damage including a 5/16" line pulled into. It looked like it had heated and melted. The evaporator is boiled out and cleaned. We are ready to tap.
I've checked around already and no one has the galvanized ties. Just steel, which I don't want to use. Best I've found is plastic dipped ties but were pretty pricey.
Larry,
Thanks for the link. I found one at a local stove and pool dealer with some help from tapper.
Matt,
For the ties try Gagne I think they have a location Bidderford? also Westbrook.. Paris Farmers Union might have them as well.
I can't remember where I have seen them and thought next time I need more I'll remember who has them. I have seen Galv., steel and copper on store shelves, somewhere! I'll keep thinking.
Mark
Went to the farmers CooP the other day and got a price on fence grippers..Around $25 for a bag of 20 versues around $3.00 each at the dealers.................What a RIP OFF !!!!!!!!!!1
MATT
whats is the down side to useing steel ties???
RICH
Parker- Im on it buddy. Lines done tomarrow. Then im going to get a box of valves and gages. Im thinking about gaging every main. I cant let you guys show me up. Im going to walk that line every day and if I find that I have a major vac loss, say down to 24", its going to be treated as an emergency becouse that is going to be totally unacceptable. If my wife leaves me, my boss fires me, the kids forget who I am thats just going to have to be how it is. Im looking for bbiiiiiiiiiigggggggggggg ssaaaaaaaaaaaapppppppppppp. Theron
Theron,
For some reason I have it in my head that this is your first year tapping,and it seems you have gone all out this first year doing 1200+ taps. If so, way to go man, hope all goes well. I' m like you, when it's sugaring time, nothing else really matters - six weeks of pedal to the medal. I would rather survive on two - three hours of sleep than dump sap on the ground. Good luck.
We will collect our first batch of sap tomorrow, looks like a great run so far, and I will either boil tomorrow night or Monday morning.
Andrew
The steel ties rust out.
Andrew-Nice job catching the first run. I bet youll make some real nice syrup. This is my first year at this level. I usually run 100-150 taps gravity. Ive been doing that for a long time. Ive kind of got the basics down but ive never messed with vac or actually ran a real evap. My rig was a homeade one that my father had made for me when I was probly 12 or so. Been using it all thes years making 25-30 gals syrup a year. Its been good to me. Had a lot of fun doing it. Theron
Matt,
I was thinking the ties I've been using are galvenized. Went and got some out of the truck and they sure looked galvenized to me . If you cant find any let me know I can ship some of these to you or check with my supplier on Monday about getting some.
Has anyone ever used a tier like the phone co. uses to tie their lines??? Has anyone ever seen them?? They wind the phone wire onto the hugh tin wire as they move them along.. Would this work??? You alll have me wondering.
Andy
I don't know how common it is but I have seen in some of the catalogs where they sell large spools of mainline with the wire already stranded around the mainline. I haven'r heard where lots of people do this, but your idea doesn't sound bad, but I'm trying to think about repairs in the future. if a tree was to come down and break that small gauge wire that is stranded around the wire and mainline, all the mainline comes loose, unless I'm misunderstanding how the little wire wraps around. But if you tie individual ties every 20" or so, then you can just cut in and fix where needed and re-tie a section, rather than a whole length of mainline.
THeron,
Sounds like sugaring runs deep in your veins and you have some great childhood memories of making syrup, especially if your father helped make your first evaporator. Those are great memories to have. Theron, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?
I took my three year old with me to finish tapping, and he loved it - he's old enough and big enough to negotiate the terrain without falling too much, and he loves to help put the buckets on the trees. My 18 month wants to do nothing except hold the drill and wear down my battery.
AKM
I can get the galvanized from a dealer, I was just wondering if I could save any by buying from another source. Outside the maple industry, and save 300 percent.