Positive Pressure Pump for Cleaning 3/16" Lines

[jackhdn]

Hi Folks,

Long time lurker here. I have approximately 900 taps on a steep site in Western Mass. I only sell sap. I have a double Guzzler (controlled by a Mountain Maple Controller) pulling on about 2500' of 1" mainline (cheap black poly). I have about 50 3/16" lines joining the mainline. I have as much as 300 vertical feet from the tops to my tank. The system is 4-5 years old and the 3/16" lines are getting nasty. I do have power on site.

I have tried flushing the system with my well and an air compressor but can only flush the lower lines due to the elevation. I have also tried the squirt bottle Maple Flats suggests. I found the squirt bottle difficult to get the drops filled with enough contact time to sanitize well. I would like to try some kind of positive pressure pump to better flush the upper lines. I would have to have a pressure relief set at around 100psi to protect the poly. Hauling a tank to the top and flushing down is not a good option due to the steep terrain.

Any suggestions for a pump which will not break the bank? I would be flushing with sodium hypochlorite and then water. I know the bleach can be hard on pumps but it will only be used once a year and I am hoping a thorough wash and flush would protect it. Chemical resistant pumps seem to be very expensive.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Jack
Buckland MA

[minehart gap]

I believe that your issue will be the 300' of head plus friction loss.

A quick search came up with using a deep well pump but they are primarily pull up instead of push up that you would need. Im not sure if that would matter though. The other consideration is do you have a way to isolate one lateral at a time so that the pump is only dealing with the friction and head for that one lateral? Or would you be pumping into individual laterals? Or would the pump be filling the entire system at one time?
Not sure of your layout but perhaps a gas engine pump might be able to overcome the elevation and friction if you were to clean individual laterals from the bottom of that lateral but I have not seen one that is rated for 300' head.
A stainless steel pump housing and impeller would handle the cleaners.

My sugar bush is similar to yours with around 300' elevation change and 2000 feet on mainline but until this year I have only used vacuum created from gravity. I have been using vice grips to pinch the tubing at the bottom of the lateral then using a pump up sprayer to fill the lateral one spout at a time. PITA and time consuming but it seems to be working. I will definitely be following this thread for ideas. Good luck.

[MapleCamp]

You could try a progressive cavity pump, they can over come a lot of head pressure.

[maple flats]

If you ever were to get a pump that can push 300' of head, the tubing fittings would blow apart. They are not made to grip the tubing at such pressure. Somehow, you must clean from the top IMHO.

[DrTimPerkins]

If you ever were to get a pump that can push 300' of head, the tubing fittings would blow apart. They are not made to grip the tubing at such pressure. Somehow, you must clean from the top IMHO.

Agree with both parts of this reply. Fittings would blow apart and probably best to clean from top down.

[Brian]

I have a goodrich tubing washer and push water up 800-1000 vertical feet and 3/4 of a mile up the hill. I think I am the only one around this area that still washes pipe line.

[jackhdn]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Matt---I can valve off maybe 400 of the taps at different points. When I tried flushing before I tied off the mainline loops with a tie wire to block sections of lateral, only trying to flush say 4 laterals at a time.

Brian, Thanks. Does your washer only use fluid or does it use air as well? As Doctor Tim and Dave stated I would be very concerned about splitting poly mainline and blowing fittings. If you are lifting over 800' you must be building some high pressure?

Cleaning from the top would be tough I think. By my math a 100' run of 3/16 would have about 5.5 gallons of fluid in it. Basically 1 backpack sprayer for every one of my 50 laterals (some are only 300-400 but they do reach 1000). If I had a 4 wheeler I could maybe tow a 50 gallon tank up there but I don't. In the future I will be switching to a traditional high vac system on 5/16...the 3/16 is just lots of work.

Jack

[DrTimPerkins]

I have a goodrich tubing washer and push water up 800-1000 vertical feet and 3/4 of a mile up the hill. I think I am the only one around this area that still washes pipe line.

Yes, if you use air/water mix appropriately it can work. Won’t work simply with an inexpensive pump.

[Brian]

I have manifolds to control the water to each main line. the pump is set to bypass at 75-80 psi and the air is set at around 100 psi. and make sure at least 3 tubing end lines are open at all time, works great. When I first started washing pipe line, I could not afford a Goodrich tubing washer and used a cheap shallow well pump from abuchons and a 40 gallon air compressor from Homedepot with a make shift air/water manifold. It worked but not as good as Glen Goodriches. I belive the rule is 2 shots of air to one shot of water.

[Biz]

I was just looking at sap volumes in tubing recently so this caught my eye. 100' of 3/16 tubing has only about a pint of fluid in it if full (0.14 gallons) so you might need less that expected. 100' of 1" tubing has about 4 gallons when full, so 100 gallons will fill the 2500 ft 1" line.

Dave

Thanks for the replies guys.

By my math a 100' run of 3/16 would have about 5.5 gallons of fluid in it.

Jack