guzzler pump and 3/16

[KReinisch]

I have about 500 taps on 3/16 naturally gravity. They do pretty well. Can I put a guzzler pump on that set up? How much more yield would it get me?

[DrTimPerkins]

I have about 500 taps on 3/16 naturally gravity. They do pretty well. Can I put a guzzler pump on that set up? How much more yield would it get me?

Pumped vacuum and natural vacuum are additive. Guzzler might get you 15" Hg on top of your natural vacuum. Those pumps don't move much cfm, so you'll need to keep it real tight. Probably want a double diaphragm unit and keep plenty of spare diaphragms around. Each 1"Hg additional will get you 5-7% more sap.

[motowbrowne]

I'm running 310 taps on 3/16. They run into two one inch mainlines each hooked to a Shurflo diaphragm pump. A guzzler would work the same or better. I get between 14-20" of vacuum in the mainlines, and 23-27" at the top of my lines.

One thing that I really really like about adding the pump is that it makes tracking leaks much easier. It's super easy to find a leak that's drawing a lot of air because of the vacuum versus a leak in a natural vacuum line.

[n8hutch]

I have a Guzzler 500 on roughly 500 taps with a 1" mainline I have 24-26" of Vaccum on the Mainline at the top end 1000ft up the hill, it's a Hybrid system with most 3/16 taps with 20-25 taps per run. I am certain I am pulling 29" on each line although I've only checked a few of the lines.

I built a cleanable screen just above the inlet of the pump out of a 4" schedule 40 pvc fitting and have run this pump continuously swapping out battery's every day for the last 2 weeks the pump has only been turned off a total of 10 hrs. I'm still on the original Diaphragm. The screen is roughly 1/4 inches. It has worked flawlessly.

As mentioned above it is really easy to find a leak with this type of system, if you find a lateral with sap rushing through it/or if it appears to be empty you know the leak is on that line.

[KReinisch]

How much sap do you get from those 500 taps.

[n8hutch]

I have been averaging about 1gpt per day the last 6-7 days. The trees in my woods are still snowed in around the bases, I honestly don't think I've had a good sap run yet. Starting to think I should have shoveled the trees out so that they could thaw faster. There's 3-4 feet in the shady spots of my woods and 2 feet in the sunny areas. I can't remember the last time that we had a snowpack like this in my area in April maybe 1998 or 99

[adk1]

Your time will come. I have a cold bush as well and seem to still be plugging along while others are cleaning up for the season. But I also start later than they do so it all works out. I have a guzzler pump on about 200 trees. 1500 feet of 3/4" mainline and about 3000' of 5/16 laterals about 20 in all. I tend to average about 15" of vac but when I have leaks it drops to 5" pretty quickly. Mostly from squirrels. But as the doc says every inch of vac is better than non eat all

[Maplewalnut]

Do any of you guys run the Shurflo off deep cell batteries with a solar charger? Curious how well the batteries stay charged?

[KReinisch]

Any pictures of your setup?

[Biz]

Do any of you guys run the Shurflo off deep cell batteries with a solar charger? Curious how well the batteries stay charged?

I have two setups with marine batteries and a solar charger. Using Shurflo 4008 pumps. The first one I used a 40 watt solar panel. Not big enough but helps stretch out time between recharges. Second one I used a 70W solar panel. I had to recharge batteries only twice all season, they would run out of juice when we had a period of warm weather where if ran all night and was overcast the next day. Saw 50+ hrs of run time. A 100W panel would probably be better. Get the kind that is rated for cloudy days. The Shurflo pump draws about 15 watts or a little over an amp of current.

Dave