How much fall?

[Steve-IA]

This was my first year maple syruping. I had 10 sap sacks, collected about 100 gallons of sap and made about 3 gallons of syrup.

I have 20 maple trees in a 275 foot row, on a 1.5% grade that are big enough to support 30 taps. Would a 3/16 inch gravity line to a plastic tub then pumped into 55 gallon drums in my garage work for sap collection?

Thanks for the input!!

Steve K.
Northwest Iowa

[RileySugarbush]

That is pretty flat. Don't bother with 3/16, it is actually bad on flat runs of any length. If you can get a steady drop over that 275' length, try a 5/15 line pulled tight sloping down towards one end, put a Shurflo pump to get a bit of vacuum on your trees and use the outlet of the pump to push the sap up to your garage.

I hope I understand your layout right.

[motowbrowne]

In a word, yes.

It'll be better than buckets no matter how much from you have AFTER the last tap, but the more drop you have after the taps stop the better. That's what creates natural vacuum, but even with only a few feet of drop after the taps, you'll create a little vacuum and not have to carry buckets of sap.

[maple flats]

That would barely overcome the line friction, even if you start high at the high end and lower on the trees at the low end, which might gain 3' more fall. You would want a pump to assist.
I do several long lines in 3/16 on mechanical vacuum and get what I consider good results, even though I'm losing to line friction. I just go by the premis that the investment is well worth the gain. I have some runs of 400-600' in length where the end tap is 3-4' below the line that lateral flows into. My only cost is the 3/16, taps/tees and 1 saddle. I think it's a good investment. Last year with 10 laterals like that I still got .52 gal/tap. This year I added 7 more laterals like that, but do not have a figure yet for my GPT, I will in a week or 2.

[Steve-IA]

D391BE88-0A40-448E-8E1D-80037CEF267A.jpgD391BE88-0A40-448E-8E1D-80037CEF267A.jpg

This is what it looks like. Then it needs to be pumped 50’ to barrels in my garage.

[Steve-IA]

What is 5/15 line?

[motowbrowne]

What is 5/15 line?

He meant 5/16, which is the standard tubing size for sap collection. That's what everyone used before 3/16 came on the scene.

[Steve-IA]

Thanks!!!!

[RileySugarbush]

If you have low slope, 5/16 ( not 5/15, that was an oops!) you will do much better than with 3/16. Since this is one long shallow slope with only a couple feet of drop over 275', the natural vacuum you get with the 3/16 is negligible and the line friction is significant. Net loss. Run a tight 5/16 line. Put on the Shurflo and you will get close to 20 inches of Hg vacuum on all your taps. It should work great. Plus the same pump that gives you vacuum will be able to pump to your garage. The only downside is that in low flow conditions and during a thaw in the AM you get better vacuum with a tank and recirculation line, but even without that it will work well.

I run three lines of 3/16 on one shurflo. Two run right up the slope but one has about a 100 feet of near flat before it goes up hill. I used to run that all 3/16, but this year I replaced the flat part of the one run with 5/16 with great results.

[Steve-IA]

Will do. Do you leave the pump run 24/7, put it on a timer or some kind of temperature control? Thanks!!