Your opinion on 3/16 with vacuum?

[Ridgeland Farm]

So with all the buzz about 3/16 tubing lately I know some people who think it will eventually take the place of the 5/16 on vacuum setups. I know its early but what is your opinion of the subject? I am no physics major so I have no idea the formulas to figure out the calculation. But to me the smaller diameter would require less vacuum to move a liquid than a larger diameter if both were applied with the same vacuum level. So with all thing being equal you would get more liquid out of the smaller diameter in a given timeframe than you would the larger diameter. The one thing im not sure of is if the amount of liquid that the tubing can hold plays into the equation as well?

[mellondome]

Vessel size has no bearing in column height. Only cfm of air removal.
Friction will be where you will lose efficiency, and there will be more friction per cubic ft of liquid in a smaller pipe than a larger pipe.

15" wc is 15" no matter the surface area.

[Rand]

And with the buzz, what is the experience to date of scaling up 3/16" gravity vac systems to bigger operations. Is this mostly for smaller scales or are people doing 1,000 taps or greater with 3/16 tubing?

[maple flats]

that depends on the lay of the land. From what I read 3/16 is only good if you have lots of drop, especially about 30 after the lowest tap. I don't think you will see 3/16 taking over with vacuum, but you could possibly see some steep sections tied into a vacuum system, while the rest is all on 5/16 to better utilize the vacuum.
In fact, it has been shown that on vacuum that 1/2" laterals are better than 5/16, it's just not better enough to justify the extra cost.

[BreezyHill]

IMO: 3/16 will be used on locations with steep slopes in operations that are not using or have access to vacuum pumps.

The transfer of vacuum is easiest done thru a large pipe from the pump to the last tap to have the least amount of frictional affect. The smaller the pipe the more frictional losses, the longer the run the more frictional losses, the fuller the pipe the lower the cfm that can be transferred.

5/16 tubing losses its ability to produce on runs of more than 100' and with taps counts above 3-5, due to frictional loses.

With the recent shifts in the Maple Market I don't see producers doing large scale experiments, on technology that is not well established. As we rapidly approach the break even price for bulk it will become important to make every effort to rein in the costs of production while keeping efficiency and production, as high as possible for the best chance at profitability.

For producers that are not profit based, then I see there is more of a chance of 3/16 expanding.