Third Year A Charm

[wlatrout]

Three years ago Installed 3/16 tubing, 3 lines with 75 tapes total all with some slope and a Surflo pump on the end. My trees are all young soft maples, 7 to 14 ". The first year I expected an increase over my buckets but was disappointed, The second year I changed some things and did a little better. After doing much reading this winter, I read that you should not have any taps in the last 50 to 100', that changed everything.
Last year I cooked 40 days and made 30 gal. of syrup. This year I cooked for 20 days and made 25 gal. The vacuum run 23 to 25 most days.I also replaced 1000' of "squirrel" chewed line, but it is amazing what a small fix did for my production.
2x3 Leader Evaporator with a added blower.
Homemade 6 membrane RO
Sugarshack inside my barn
600 Sportsman 4x4 Sap hauler

[Sugarmaker]

Nice job! Takes some time to get things working right. Glad you hung in there. Your 40 days of boiling was a lot! Sounds like the 25 days is about what we do. You must be R.O'ing a little more?
Regards,
Chris

[coach]

After doing much reading this winter, I read that you should not have any taps in the last 50 to 100', that changed everything.
Last year I cooked 40 days and made 30 gal. of syrup. This year I cooked for 20 days and made 25 gal.

I don't get the reason why this would improve things. Can you elaborate on that?

[mol1jb]

I don't get the reason why this would improve things. Can you elaborate on that?

Some would depend on the season year to year but he also said he fixed some squirrel damage and that would definitely help vacuum with a tighter tubing system.

[coach]

It's not having having taps on the last 50 feet that I'm wondering about.

[mol1jb]

It's not having having taps on the last 50 feet that I'm wondering about.

In terms of 3/16 tubing, if you have 30ft drop (not to be confused with length) past the last tap then all your taps will have good natural vacuum. Of course you can have taps at anywhere in your 3/16 tubing setup but they will not have as good as natural vacuum as those with the 30ft+ drop. In my own 3/16 tubing network I have taps at the bottom of the runs that have lower natural vacuum than taps at the middle and top of the runs but that is just the way it is. Everything still runs great.

[Sugar Bear]

It's not having having taps on the last 50 feet that I'm wondering about.

Here is my take on the matter, but I hope Dr Tim ( The only true genius on the matter ) will correct me where I am wrong.

Its not the taps that cause the problem in the final/ last 50 or whatever feet, its the fittings that go in the line because of the taps. The fittings restrict rapid flow of the sap. They are not as clear and free flowing as the tubing itself. The hole in them is just as wide but because of the reveal on the fittings outer surface around the hole they "probably" induce vortices on the sap as it flows through the tubing and thus slow down its flow. The rapid flow out of the final stretch of line is ultimately what is creating the vacuum on these lines. Soooo ... we want that to be as rapid and as clear as possible.

I also seemed to learn this year through experience that the pitch of the final stretch is as important if not more then the length. A final stretch to the collection tank of 30 feet with a vertical drop of 30 feet is better then say a stretch of 50 feet with a vertical drop of 30 feet. Exausting the vertical of my final stretch in as short a distance as possible seems to work best for me. Don't try to bring the sap back to your door stoop. But I would also say that the lenght may be dependent on how many taps are on your line ( how much sap is filling the tubing up to the first fitting.

If fittings went over the outside of the tubing (like a shark bite for domestic copper water pipe ) and joined the tubing together into a relatively seamless bind I wonder how much better they would work for natural vacuum. I bet the results would be measurable but the fittings would be on the EXPENSIVE side.

I am sure Dr Tim has researched that and considered it as well.

He is one of the smartest guys in the world and does not miss a beat!

[Sugar Bear]

Think of fittings like rocks or boulders in a free flowing river/stream.

[wlatrout]

I am definitely a novice learning as I go. As to the question of [ no taps in the last 50'] I read that in here somewhere. Can't find the post now. I am sure that it was the combination of removing some taps, removing bad line and getting rid of a number of couplers in the lines, and mother nature , but it all come together for a short but good year.
Yes I do RO, that seems to draw the sap when the buckets are slowing down. I'm not knowledgeable enough to analyze what all went on but the changes made definitely upped my production this year.
We'll have a go of it again next year and see how that turns out. Thanks to all that have posted good information, it has made my journey much easier.