Added more taps today
I didn't have enough sap to boil today and what I had is at 34F. So I went out and added 23 more taps making it 398 so far. If I get another break in the action I'm still thinking I'll add 50-75 more this year. Originally I only thought I had enough trees to get to about 450 max around the sugarhouse, now that I've started adding more it looks more like 475 to maybe even 500. My little BB4 pump is still giving my 26-27" vacuum at the releaser. The next line I add will be rather short one, 3/16 and be pulling from about level with the mainline, it will only have about 20 or 22 taps. The next line after that will be quite long and be pulling from 3-4' below the mainline. I will put a vacuum gauge at the end tree to see just how much vacuum is getting out that far on 3/16. At this point all I know is that I have vacuum at the end because when I get a leak bubbles rush in rather than sap dripping out. I'm hoping to see 10-12" but it might only be 2-3" especially with a 3/16 lateral about 500' long and either level ground or sloping away. It will be interesting to see. The longer the line when I do this on 3/16 the fewer the number of taps I use, the range is from 15 to 25 or so.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.