Spile/Tap Sanitation

[themoonlighttapper]

This will be our second year using 3/16" gravity tubing. Was thinking about sanitation of our plastic spiles, and whether or not they would need to be sanitized before tapping this year - mainly as a precaution against bacteria causing the sap hole to close up early. What do you guys do for sanitation of your spiles, if anything?

[BAP]

Most people change there spouts each year with new ones as they are virtually impossible to completely sanitize.

[Wanabe1972]

I found at 16 cents each for my small operation i cant even buy a gallon of bleach to try and clean them.

[sugarman3]

Plastic is to porous ,you can't sanitize it,you can reuse if you want but your sap flows will drop dramtically because of the bacteria on spouts,the hole will seal over a lot quicker,unless you are making a little bit for yourself or friends and not to worried about how much you want to make

[themoonlighttapper]

Thanks! Always so much to learn. Wouldn't have thought that enough bacteria would survive and build up over a hot summer and a freezing winter to cause serious problems. Think we will go ahead and replace our spiles, certainly a minimal cost in the big scheme of things.

[Smitty8377]

Has anyone ever tried using steam to sanitize taps? Would it be more effective than bleach and water?

[SognSyrup]

If this is true about plastic being porous why wouldn't you have to replace all tubing and Ts as well? Just the tap because it's connected to the hole?

[maple flats]

What is in the lateral does not affect it, because that is too far from the hole, but the tap should be changed every year and the drop about every 2-5 years. I change my drops every 3 years.

[Clinkis]

Do a search online for a PDF called New York State Maple Tubing and Vacuum Handbook. It's an excellent read with tons of information in it. Part of it includes a lot or research results regarding tap and pipeline sanitation and gives you a a lot of different options. As Dave says, the most efficient way to maintain max sap flow is to change your taps every year and drops every few years from what I've read. Also the use of CV spouts can also help extend the life of your drops.

[DrTimPerkins]

If this is true about plastic being porous why wouldn't you have to replace all tubing and Ts as well? Just the tap because it's connected to the hole?

It is not an "if". It is a reality. The closer you are to the taphole the more important sanitation is. Spouts have the most influence, thus should be the primary focus of sanitation. Droplines also have a good deal of influence, especially on vacuum tubing systems. By the time you get to the laterals, and especially once you get to the mainlines, there is relatively little impact of sanitation, whether good or bad, on sap yield.

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/tubing_age.pdf

In short, the best approach is to at the very least change spouts each year or to use CV spouts. If you use regular spouts, change drops every 2-4 years. If you use CV spouts or CV adapters, then you needn't change droplines until the tubing reaches the end of its useful life. You can clean tubing/spouts, but it is less effective and generally results in lower net profits (if you consider your time is worth something).

http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc/How%20often...0droplines.pdf

Many other papers on the subject at http://www.uvm.edu/~pmrc