Moisture trap

[swlyamaha]

How important is the moisture trap on a vacuum system? Or Can I run it with out one for a couple days. I need to make one but can find a good picture of one.

Thanks
Stan

[DrTimPerkins]

Depends on the pump. Some pumps (rotary claw pumps) will be damaged severely by pulling sap through them -- fixable if you're lucky...may require factory refurbishment. Some (vane pumps) may have internal damage to replaceable parts (vanes) but are typically repairable with some effort. Some (liquid-ring pumps) will probably suffer no permanent damage but would need the oil (or water) changed. Some (diaphragm pumps) aren't bothered by liquid at all, and actually will run better wet. A moisture trap is basically an insurance policy.

[swlyamaha]

The vacuum pump I am using is a gast 1023. I will put a moisture trap in but I don't have one right now. I wanted to tap on Saturday and maybe hook up the vacuum Sunday to try it out without the moisture trap.

[maple flats]

That's a rotary vane pump. You want a moisture trap. Either buy one or make one to avoid damage to the vanes and maybe the seals and more. Search on here for homemade moisture traps. You could also check out Ed Sobles products. He seems to have the best price on new ones. If you order in time today, he could ship it and have it there by Saturday with the right shipping choices.

[Russell Lampron]

You will be gambling that the releaser won't malfunction if you run your pump without a moisture trap. I made moisture traps out of 3" PVC pipe and fittings. I put a street hockey ball inside to block off the vacuum line to the pump.

IMG_20160222_154147326_HDR[1].jpg

Two of the moisture traps are in this picture.

[JoeJ]

3" moisture traps are pretty simple to build if you know of someone who has one that you can copy. The key to your home made trap properly working is that you purchase a ball with the correct density so that it does not get pulled into the 2" line under 28" of vacuum if the moisture trap fills. (Happened to a friend) Might be worth buying a ball from a maple dealer.

Joe

[blissville maples]

If you can't get one in time, at least watch it swap quite a few times to see it works properly. Most of the time they will malfunction near the freezing point when things start sliding a little harder. I'd still try n find one though, I'd rather lose a few hours of sap than pump itself. I had an old dairy pump that when I got down the mountain I could see it spitting sap out the exhaust- fixed the problem discarded oil and it kept running!! Was lucky, the delaval dairy pumps are bullet proof!!

[spud]

You will be gambling that the releaser won't malfunction if you run your pump without a moisture trap. I made moisture traps out of 3" PVC pipe and fittings. I put a street hockey ball inside to block off the vacuum line to the pump.

Attachment 17514

Two of the moisture traps are in this picture.

So do you drain these at times just to make sure there is not any moisture in them?

Spud

[maple flats]

Yes, the traps I made were similar to what Red Roof shows in his pictures except mine were made out of 4" PVC. The sap coming in at a T if anything is causing it not to go to the releaser, and at least a foot above that, at the very top the vacuum is pulled out. On mine where the vacuum pulled out, I reduced to a 1.5" then right back up to 2". That fitting was a T with a 1.5" facing the moisture trap, and a 2" facing up with a ball valve, and the side outlet was also 2". The 1.5" caught the ball that floated up in any sap until it got sucked in to plug off the vacuum. At the bottom I originally had a reducer and a 1" ball valve to dump sap daily (with the vacuum shut off) but later I changed it out to a flapper check valve. Then every time I shut the engine to the vacuum off to fuel it drained automatically. I'd add gas, check the oil and restart the pump. Every second day if run all night I'd change the engine oil, if shut down or stopped because it was set to run out of gas 2-3 hours after freeze-up, I sometimes changed the engine oil every 3rd day.

[Clinkis]

This my moisture trap and releaser setup. It is made out of 4” abs. It has an orange hockey ball in it and a check valve on the bottom that drains it when the pump is shut off.
D199D1C9-CBCB-4CED-A3FE-0BDAF92BEFD8.jpg