Mainline Question

[Radnagel]

Let put it a different way without the cost of the mainline, wire, tensioners, saddles, and a few other miscellaneous items. Your probably right in the neighborhood of a shurflo and two deep cycle batteries. Just a thought.

[dbeitz1891]

Hi Noel,

Doug Beitz here over in Attica. I have nearly 2,000 3/16ths all of them running into a mainline ranging from 3/4" to 1 1/4". I do have one or two individual 3/16 running into my tank to gather the lower elevation trees in comparison to my tank. You are more than welcome to come check it out any time you'd like. Give me a call if you'd like 813 6623

[Super Sapper]

Let put it a different way without the cost of the mainline, wire, tensioners, saddles, and a few other miscellaneous items. Your probably right in the neighborhood of a shurflo and two deep cycle batteries. Just a thought.

I agree and the added sap will more than pay for the pump and batteries.

[n8hutch]

I Found with minimal slope that the 3/16 is/or can potentially be less productive than 5/16. if you have 20' or more of vertical drop after the last tap to the tank then going the 3/16 route may work well for you, if it's less than that I would go with a 3/4 mainline like you had planned originally. Your not talking about big savings by going with more 3/16 tubing, those rolls of 3/16 tubing add up to a roll of 3/4 in a hurry.

I personally would run 3/16 To the short mains, 25-30 taps per lateral and put a Shurflow on The business end with a recirculation line and watch the sap flow in.

[Super Sapper]

I Found with minimal slope that the 3/16 is/or can potentially be less productive than 5/16. if you have 20' or more of vertical drop after the last tap to the tank then going the 3/16 route may work well for you, if it's less than that I would go with a 3/4 mainline like you had planned originally. Your not talking about big savings by going with more 3/16 tubing, those rolls of 3/16 tubing add up to a roll of 3/4 in a hurry.

I personally would run 3/16 To the short mains, 25-30 taps per lateral and put a Shurflow on The business end with a recirculation line and watch the sap flow in.

I agree with this on gravity but if you have mechanical vacuum 3/16 performs very well with little to no slope.

[maple flats]

As long as you have mechanical vacuum, forget the mainline. When calculation cost it's not only the tubing you count, but with mainline you need a hook connector (or hollow braided rope) to hold each lateral, then you need a saddle to enter the mainline. The price of saddles alone can add up quickly. Then you also need a tool to make an entry hole into the mainline, those can range from $16 to over a hundred depending on what you choose.
With gravity you do want the mainline, but with some mechanical vacuum you are better off running the 3/16 without a mainline all the way to the releaser or to the diaphragm pump.

[n8hutch]

As long as you have mechanical vacuum, forget the mainline. When calculation cost it's not only the tubing you count, but with mainline you need a hook connector (or hollow braided rope) to hold each lateral, then you need a saddle to enter the mainline. The price of saddles alone can add up quickly. Then you also need a tool to make an entry hole into the mainline, those can range from $16 to over a hundred depending on what you choose.
With gravity you do want the mainline, but with some mechanical vacuum you are better off running the 3/16 without a mainline all the way to the releaser or to the diaphragm pump.

That's a fine Point Dave but one must also consider the longevity of 3/16 tubing verse a main line, 3/16 tubing is going to be good for what 5 years at best? How long does a main line last? As I said we are not talking about big savings here you might save 50 dollars on wat vs the other, but it might be a push/or even over time.

This is a relatively small system should be fun to install. I hope you get lots of sap. You won't miss the Buckets I'm sure of that.

[DrTimPerkins]

I Found with minimal slope that the 3/16 is/or can potentially be less productive than 5/16.

3/16" tubing is not (or shouldn't be) recommended in minimal slope applications. Too much friction results in backpressure which reduces sap yields.

[n8hutch]

I agree with you completely Doc, when I first tried it 4 years ago now I was under the impression that it was the total drop and not so much the rate of Drop after the last tap. So what I think happends if you don't have enough drop after the last tap the upper taps at the far end of your line run well because they have the most drop/vacuum and the taps closest to the tank are over powered by the flow and sometimes you might even see the sap appear to be going into the lower trees(back pressure).

I guess a Hybrid system with added vaccum takes care of that.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I agree with you completely Doc, when I first tried it 4 years ago now I was under the impression that it was the total drop and not so much the rate of Drop after the last tap. So what I think happends if you don't have enough drop after the last tap the upper taps at the far end of your line run well because they have the most drop/vacuum and the taps closest to the tank are over powered by the flow and sometimes you might even see the sap appear to be going into the lower trees(back pressure).

I see no issues in that as I run up to 25 taps per lateral line and if the last tree only gets 3' of drop to the mainline, then it goes on the lateral. I run everything that way and with customers also. Will you get more sap running the lateral line along the mainline for several hundred feet to get the 30' drop? Yes, probably but it's the old expression "robbing Peter to pay Paul". You have higher installation cost doing it that way and you also have a lot more lateral line to maintenance and repair. I see really great sap per tap numbers getting it into the mainline as quick as possible. Yes, I run nearly all lateral lines into mainlines. I'm not sure the extra thousands of feet of lateral line tubing will ever pay for itself in more sap, especially if you figure labor into the equation with installation, repairs and maintenance.