Tubing for sap transfer

[lyford]

Looking to transfer sap from a holding tank to my sugar shack approximately 500-700 ft away and 8-10 ft up. Had planned on using a Honda wx10 pump for the job. My question is, Would 1 inch mainline be my best choice to connect the pump to the shack or do most use something different. Thanks, justin

[Bucket Head]

Mainline tubing would be your best bet economically compared to that much discharge hose. But I'm not sure how the pump/tubing will perform with that much distance. I use 1" gas engine pumps and they work great- but mine operate at a fifty foot maximum distance. Height is not a problem for mine an one of my collection tanks is well below the road. Have not had to pump further than 50ft. Some others on here might have some performance information to share.

Steve

[Potters3]

Distance should be a issue. From the pump at the tank go up a couple of feet higher then needed. pitch the mainline on a wire back down to the shack. That way no sap stays in the line other then what is from pump up to top of lift. Put a tee near the pump with a vvalve so you can drain this off after pumping.

[maple flats]

The short answer is that a WX10 will pump sap up the 10 or a little more feet, and up to 700+ feet distance. As Potter3 says, have it climb high near the pump and then drain down to the collection tank at the sugarhouse.
While mainline will work fine, you will get more flow and use less gas over time if you use 1.25" line. It will have far less line friction. Black may be a good option because the cost is less, but with maple tubing you can see in it to address issues, with black you can't see what is happening inside.

[jetdoc]

We use a harbor freight 1" pump with a 1 1/2" black line connected to it. We are pumping 40 some feet up and 1200 feet total distance. It takes about 100 gallons of sap before it comes out the other end. Then when we are done pumping we drain it all back into a 100 gallon tank and haul it up. Alot of work but that's the best way we have found to do it.

[Noah's Ark]

Working on a very similar setup. 400 feet away and 25 feet up. I have a harbor freight gas pump and will pump it up hill in a two inch line. I am setting up a second small tank next to my sap tank. I will plumb it in with valves into the suction side. Once hooked up I will fill the small tank with water and pump to the shack. Once the water comes out. Shut down and let it drain back into the small tank mark it and keep it filled to the mark for the season. Then when I pump sap up, after the sap tank is empty I will switch the valves and pump the water tank up. Once it is empty shut down and let the line drain back to the small tank. Serves two purposes., it rinses the line and pushes the sap out so I don't have to haul a tank around. Hope that make sense.

[VT_K9]

There is no doubt that 1" will move sap that far at that elevation, but at what time. Go to the Honda website and use their pump select. We found it to be pretty accurate when we were looking to move sap through a 1 1/2" outlet of the 600 gallon tank, through 750 feet of 1 1/2" black poly, and a 65' incline.

We found we were getting 24-26 gallons per minute. Basically start the pump, pump for 10 minutes and fill a 240 gallon tank to about 1" from the lip. That is leaving 75 gallons in the pipe.

Our new collection station is 1200' away and 65' below the sugarhouse. We used the pump select and determined a 2" pump with a 2" outlet and 2" blk poly pipe would result in about 44 gallons per minute. Our new sugarhouse will have a 1500 gallon tank to pump to. This collection point will have a 800 gallon tank. We can cut our time in half with the 2" pump.

We also put a new tank at the old station which has a 2" outlet and we can upgrade that pump when it fails or we want to cut our time down pumping by 50%.

Let us know your tank sizes and how much sap you want to move or check out the Honda pump select.

Mike

[Russell Lampron]

I used to use a WX 10 to pump sap 1,500 feet with a 50 foot elevation change with a 1" pipe. I upgraded to a 2" pump and changed out the 1" with 1.25" pipe. It works but I wish that I had upgraded to 2" pipe to match the pump. I got the 2" pump from TSC for about the same money as the WX 10. One thing that I do have a problem with is the sap freezing in the pipe before it reaches the sugar house if the temp is below freezing. I drain the pipe back into a collection tank behind my tractor and bring it up the hill. It holds about 110 gallons.

[WVKeith]

WX10 will do about 13 gpm through 1 in pipe and 19 gpm through 1-1/4 pipe. 700 ft of the 1 in will hold 29 gals and for the 1-1/4 in 45 gal. (These calculations do not include any fittings.)

I use the WX15 and it has been a good pump. When I bought it, the price difference from the WX10 was not that much for the extra capacity.

Keith

[wnybassman]

I use a WX10 to pump sap a distance of 325 feet and up an elevation of roughly 80 feet. I used 3/4" black pipe. I went smaller because I didn't want too much draining back after pumping. With that much head pressure it surely doesn't starve the pump at the intake. I put a valve in the pump out line right at the pump. When it is finished pumping, I shut off the valve and quickly turn off the pump. Disconnect the Banjo fitting and then drain the line right back into the tank. I get about 9-10 gallons of drain back sap. If sap is getting questionable I can drain back into a couple buckets.