Dry line or not

[Ultimatetreehugger]

Use 3/4 or one inch. Otherwise it's overkill unless you are traveling over 1600 ft on one branch or you have more than 500 taps on one branch.

[Brian]

On the conductor lines start with 1.5 for dry and go say half way or so then you can drop to 1.25 . do the same with the wet line. start with 1.25 thento 1 inch, hope this makes sense.Then branch in the main lines.

[maple flats]

I just walked part of the woods. Most of the taps are going to be closer to the lowest point. I think what makes sense now is to go with 1" mains and 1 1/4" dry line just to carry more cfm to the outer most taps. It does appear that it is more like 3% slope. The second question still is do I add up all the linear feet of main line and wet line to get the cfm loss or just the longest distance from the vacuum pump.

A relatively easy way to test the slope, is to use a hand held site level. Just measure or pace off 100' then stand at the higher end, and at the low end have a helper hold a stick or something on a tree the 100' down the slope. Once that is done, just go to that tree and measure from your eye level to the mark. If 2', it is 2%, if 3', it's 3%, guessing isn't usually correct. Eyeballing a slope is very hard in a woods setting. here's a link https://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Level...44611722&psc=1. I see Home depot also has them, same price shown online, stores might vary.
Back when I used a site level for longer distances I actually made a holder that attached to a camera tripod. I then had an adjustment knob I turned to get it perfectly level (there is a level bubble visible when you look thru the site level). The center, longer, line is level, the lines above and below are 1% slope each.

[Sap Raider]

Okay thanks for all the replies here, vey helpful for sure. The idea of going from 1.25" to 1" half way through on the conductor line is the way to go and the same for the dry line. I may use some 3/4" on the first mains off the conductor, but that will depend on how many taps there is etc. As far as the slope goes it drops 30 ft in a 1000 ft so the 3% is very close for sure.
I am in a remote location so electricity is out of the question, what would be a good vacuum setup for this. I am guessing it will need about 30 CFM. I really want to go with high vacuum if possible.

[maple flats]

I'm not sure how you are designing this. Any wet/dry system I've seen (but I know there are bigger, more complex systems) the wet/dry go up thru the bush, climbing at 2-3%. Then everything off that is a single line main. The laterals only enter mains, never the wet/dry directly. Where any main enters the wet/dry it is designed so the gasses (air) rise to the dry line and the sap goes to the wet line. Sometimes that can be a vertical manifold, other time a T off the main goes upward, then loops to and connects to the dry line. After that T for the dry, the main curves downward and enters the wet line. At the releaser, both the wet line and the dry line connect to the releaser.
Are you thinking you will have a branch or more off the wet/dry, also in wet/dry?

[Sap Raider]

I'm not sure how you are designing this. Any wet/dry system I've seen (but I know there are bigger, more complex systems) the wet/dry go up thru the bush, climbing at 2-3%. Then everything off that is a single line main. The laterals only enter mains, never the wet/dry directly. Where any main enters the wet/dry it is designed so the gasses (air) rise to the dry line and the sap goes to the wet line. Sometimes that can be a vertical manifold, other time a T off the main goes upward, then loops to and connects to the dry line. After that T for the dry, the main curves downward and enters the wet line. At the releaser, both the wet line and the dry line connect to the releaser.
Are you thinking you will have a branch or more off the wet/dry, also in wet/dry?

Here is the way I would set it up. This is just as you describe.Screenshot 2020-12-30 18.56.14.jpg

[arcticmaple8]

When picking line sizes maybe consider using just 2 different sizes so you have less fittings and tubing on hand. We only use 1in and 1.5in, makes fitting and hose clamp inventory simpler

[Brian]

A conductor line is not the time to cheap out!!! Do it right, time is money.

[Sap Raider]

Here is what I have done so far. The conductor line starting at the highest elevation I did 1" over 1" for about 150 feet then went 1.25 over 1.25 for another 250 feet and then we 1.5 over 1.25 for the rest. The total distance for this conductor is 800 feet with an elevation drop of 35 feet. All mains off the conductor are 1" and run parallel with the slope and are running various lengths off the conductor.

[Brian]

That will work for sure!!! Good Luck