Pull & Rinse

[briansickler]

I use hot water only....Nothing else.

Brian

[Middleton Maples]

I've used water and bleach mixed and I have never had squirrels chew the tubing. The native squirrels here know better

I use my gas powered water pump that I use to collect sap and pump water and bleach up through the lines. Just a little plumbing to go from the 1 inch hose off the pump to the 1/2 inch main line and leave the pump on idle. It will reach the top tap that's at least 50 feet in height no problem.

[maple2]

we noticed with just plain water we got a little green slime by next season. we use just a hint of bleach. never noticed any more critter damage than non bleach

[sugartree310]

I washed with water for years and my opinion is that is a waste of time , uses too much water and leaves behind water that grows bacteria, and looks like green algea left behind, we now pull taps with the vacuum on and suck them dry or as dry as we can . the idea is to leave very little behind, what is left is sap that turns sour become like vinagar . my tubing I swear looks better now after 4 years of doing it that way than it did when i washed . I also dump less at beginning of season now.

[325abn]

I am all gravity so no vac but what if I hooked the shop vac to the end of my main line turned it on then went and pulled all my taps?

Maybe I will just pull and plug.

[unc23win]

We have tapped trees for 30 + years here and have never washed the lines out. The questions seem to be if you put water or anything in can you get it all out? Probably not. For most people its not worth the labor.

I will replace any drops that look dirty and I will replace sections of laterals that look dirty as well surprisingly few. Another advantage of running shorter laterals and more of them find a dirty one replace the whole thing and try to fix the problem. Research also shows that replacing spouts, drops, and lateral line is worth it. So thats what I am doing this is year 5 for a lot of my tubing so I am replacing 1,000 drops and spouts and when I do that I will look to shorten some laterals.

[325abn]

This would be a good poll question.

Pull and plug?

or

Pull Rinse and plug?

[lmathews]

If anyone looks at bleach it has sodium in it.That is what draws the critters.If you want to use chlorine use pool chlorine as it does not contain sodium.I have learned by experience about this.I use a quart per 400 gallon truck tank.

[longbeard]

I use my vac. system in my own bush and start at top spile and work down to lowest with line cleaner (phosphoric acid) and plug each as I go. In another bush with no hydro available I use a small generator (Honda 2000) and my shopvac to do the same. I then run clean water thru main lines and plug all until next spring and then dump the first run until lines are clean. Seems to work for me.

John

[Russell Lampron]

Just H2O Russell no bleach?

No bleach! The squirrels like it too much.