Loudon, NH

Started tapping yesturday. Got the 200+ taps on tubing at my house done. It took longer than I had expected because I had to remove more blow down and repair the lines that had been damaged. It has been very windy here this year and even though I have been going through the woods on a regular basis there is still more to clean up and repair.

Going to tap the tubing at my parents house today, another 200+ taps. Hopefully there isn't as much blow down over there. If the wind will die down the sap may run alittle tomorrow. I'm hoping to get all of the tubing tapped today and then tap the 100 or so buckets.

Russ

Finished tapping today and got the vacuum pump hooked up. Found and fixxed a vacuum leak but still have a small one somewhere. The sap was running today but the cold wind wouldn't let it run good. Hope to be boiling later this week.

Russ

The trees liked the warm foggy weather. Boiled in 400 gallons of sap last night. It was great to hear the hum of the RO machine, the roar of the evaporator and the purr of the vacuum pump all at the same time. Made some light amber syrup, not sure how much yet. It feels good to finally be making syrup again. Marty have you had a chance to run your RO machine yet? Parker are you boiling yet? Both of you have done alot of work in the off season and it is now time for the reward.

Russ

I finally got my permeate tank hooked up at 5:30 am on saturday and at 7:00 on sat. run the R.O for the first time. I was in seventh heaven!! Had to make 3 trips with the truck to get all my tanks empty. I think we ended up with 15 gallons of light amber in the finishing pan by 9:00 pm last nite. I still do not know how to run the new machine, but it was draining my 300 gallon tank in less then 1 hour and putting out 8% in the feed tank. God I love R.O machines!! Today I think I will be putting out another 100 buckets, can't have enough sap now!!

Marty

Marty I was in 7th heaven too when I ran my RO for the first time this year(actually every time I use it). As you use your RO you will learn the little things to keep it maintained. Just remember to rinse it after each use and keep track of how many hours you use it to determine when it needs to be washed. The manual is hard to understand and I'm not too far away if you have any questions. I wanted to go over to see you yeasterday but had too much to do here. Maybe I can sneak away for alitthe while this afternoon.

Russ

Hey Russ- I boiled last night,,was great,,stayed up too late though, wanted to run all the sap through so I could wash the tanks,,Good luck

Russ, I wash mine after every run. If you wash it more often you don't have any reduction in flow. The other thing is, just when you get the one, that is when your flow rates drop out of site and you have to stop and wash it.

Parker I'm glad to hear that you finally had a chance to boil. I boiled friday night and last night. So far I have boiled in 925 gal of sap and my wood pile hasn't even began to to go down yet. Hoping for another run on wednesday.

Scott I do what Lapierre calls a 1 hour rinse where the RO machine recirculates the filtrate water in the wash tank until it reaches 43 degrees celcius and shuts off. Then I flush it with the water in my filtrate tank after it cools down. Then after about 10 hours of use I wash it with soap and flush it with filtrate water. Most of the time I only run it for 2 to 3 hours at a time. Do you wash yours with soap after every use? How many hours do you normally run yours at a time?

Russ

Length of run time depends on the sap run but yes, I soap mine every night. After I am done with all the sap I run a cold water rinse for about 15 minutes, soap it with warm water from the wash tank until it shuts off on high temp and them run the rest of the permeate through it. Every day is like the first as far as the flow rates go. I know a lot of guys that do it that way. I think a little soap a lot is better than a lot of soap a little if you know what I mean. Here is why I do what I do. When I got the machine I was washing only at the time the book said and with the amount of soap the book said. Half way through the season my flow rates dropped of and I could not get them back. Film tech told me to start a wash cycle and then let them sit overnight in the wash water and then wash more often with less soap. It worked and I have been washing everynight since.

Russell- have you had any sap runs since wensday