RO bucket

[fishman]

Has anyone tried the RO bucket and if so what are your impressions?

[30AcreWoods]

Fishman, There are quite a few folks on here who have the RO bucket. If you search it, you should find a lot of input. I've had one for three years now, and it works great for me. I've added an additional membrane (now have three), low pressure pump to feed the high pressure pump, and automatic shutoff switch. I have 70-120 trees tapped in any given year. I've got a system where I pump the sap in the evening, and run the RO overnight or the next day while I'm at work, and then come home and boil. For a small operation with a small evaporator, I will say the RO is a total game changer. I make almost 4x as much syrup as four years ago, and spend about the same time boiling and burn the same amount of wood. If your signature is accurate, and you have around 100 taps and a 2x4 flat pan, you won't believe how much less time you will boil. I have a system where I recirculate the concentrate until I reach about 8% sugar. That's removing about 75% of the water before I even light a fire. You will spend a lot more upsizing your evaporator to get the same production than you will purchasing a small RO system.

[marlmucker]

I just bought one yesterday. It’s a significant investment for our small operation (150 taps approx) but I’ve read a lot about them and it should be good. I bought the RO20 kit, including the auto-shutoff.

[Chickenman]

Love mine, and I recommend the auto shutoff switch. I wired mine with a on-off-on toggle switch. Turn it on to prime and get everything set, switch to the auto and I can leave it and do other things, gather more sap, split wood, start boiling. When it runs out of sap it shuts itself off. Great little units for the money for the hobby sized operation. You won't be sorry. The bucket guys, Dave and Carl, are great to work with and will help you in anyway needed.

[antelope76]

This is the third season for mine and love it. Saves time and firewood. I have anywhere from 75 to 85 buckets and run about half of it thru the ro bucket.

[jdircksen]

I have one with 30 taps. Depends how much you value your time and how much you enjoy chopping wood or paying for fuel. The RO Bucket cuts your time in half, except for maintenance of the filters.

[maple marc]

I've got 100 taps and am wondering about this bucket RO. My usual run is 200-250 gallons of sap. Seems like the bucket might be undersized for that much sap. I'm wondering if it might be worth it to pay up and get one that can nearly keep up with my 2x6 that boils off about 28 gallons/hour. Sugar shack is not heated and gets below freezing when not boiling.

[jrgagne99]

With 200-250 gallons of sap, I think you're better off with single-post (4x40") unit. Waterguys or build your own. That way you can process the sap each night (RO, then boil). With small scale RO, you're always 1-day behind because you're RO-ing overnight. That introduces a host of other issues, such as freezing temps, sap not as fresh, not to mention storing concentrate for 24-ish hours (not recommended). I had my own homemade RO-bucket type setup for 5+ years beginning in 2008, and have not regretted moving up to a single-post Waterguys unit, which I bought used for $1000. My run is 200 gallons/day.

[NoblesvilleIN]

, not to mention storing concentrate for 24-ish hours (not recommended).

What is the concern about storing concentrate? This is my first year with an RB-5 (smallest one - I have 10 taps). Tuesday, I took about 17 gallons of sap (2.5%) down to 4.5 gallons of concentrate (8%) and put it in a 5-gallon collapsible water container in my fridge. When I realized last night that our weather won't let me boil until Saturday, I stuck the container in my chest freezer. What do I need to be concerned about when I thaw and boil it?

[30AcreWoods]

Bacteria grow faster as sugar concentration (and temperature) increase. As long as you can totally freeze your concentrate, you should limit bacteria count and be o.k. In the future, you may want to freeze your sap and concentrate the night before you boil. The optimum solution is to concentrate as you are boiling and have your RO output to your feed tank/evaporator. Unfortunately, that is not a luxury many of us smaller folks can afford (yet), so we have to work within the laws of biology and physics to make it all work.