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Thread: RB25 Kit

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Canaan NH
    Posts
    373

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    The RO Buckets are great units, no doubt about it. But if you plan to get up to 200 taps, you might want to think about a 4" single-post for faster processing time. Especially if you want to process the day's sap run on the same evening, which i think generally makes a lighter syrup. An RO that can remove 65-75% of the water while producing concentrate fast enough to keep up with your evaporator is needed for this. Having this capability greatly reduced the amount of time I spent processing sap, even relative to my previous homemade RO that I had to run overnight. It is nice to be able to walk into the sugarhouse, hook up the RO to the truck tank, wait five minutes to confirm outputs are good, then light the match and start boiling 8%.
    Boulder Trail Sugaring
    150 Taps on Vacuum
    Homemade 20"x40" Hybrid Pan - 15 gph
    Homemade Steamaway - 10 gph
    Waterguys single-post RO

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Westfield, MA
    Posts
    174

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    Is the RB25 something I can grow into? Looking to add RO this coming season and return to 50 taps, but I really have my eye on expanding for the 2025 season with a bigger evaporator and more taps (100+!). It is rated bigger than I will need next year, but is that something I need to think about? Not having “enough” taps?
    2024 - Starting with the 25 then more late Feb.
    2023 - 25 taps on 11 trees to focus on the process. 9 Gallons and lots of sugar sand. 35 people over for breakfast in April
    2022 - 8 x 14 sugarhouse and a steam bottler. 50 buckets! 9 Gallons syrup and 4 pounds of sugar
    2021 - 20 x 30 divided pan on a Mason arch, 34 taps and 8 gallons for family and friends to judge. Dad hooked as well.
    2020 - 2 taps, 1/2 pint on a turkey fryer, About 3/4 pint syrup in two weeks - Proof of concept!

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2019
    Location
    Murrysville, Pennsylvania
    Posts
    475

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    You can definitely scale (down and then back up) with that kit. Just change the number of membranes in series that you use. Get the biggest diaphragm pump they offer no matter what so you can add more membranes and scale up.

    I have 2 RO units that are basically the same as the RB25 (with low pressure recirc loop) to support 100 taps on vacuum. I only use 1 most days to boil all the sap on each day (average 100 - 120 gallons per day). On bigger runs (180 - 200+ gallons) I run both in parallel to speed things up and process it all in the same day.

    I agree with others, if you go north of 100 or 150 taps, and are on vacuum, you might want to consider a 4x40 single post unit.

    I didn't go this route for various reasons but am ultimately still very happy with the smaller DIY ROs I have. I wanted scalability, portability, and insulated membranes in compact form since I didn't have a sugarhouse for years. My tap numbers slowly grew and half aren't guaranteed to be available to tap forever. Took an approach that met objective of same day processing, limited investment/cost and gave me flexibility/scalability. Weigh your options and ultimate plans.
    D. Roseum
    www.roseummaple.com
    ~100 taps on 3/16 custom temp controlled vacuum; shurflo vacuum #2; custom nat gas evap with auto-drawoff and tank level gas shut-off controller; homemade RO #1; homemade RO #2; SL SS filter press
    2021: 27.1 gallons
    2022: 35 gallons

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2020
    Location
    Westfield, MA
    Posts
    174

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    Thanks D. Good to know the investment will be able to grow with me even if not using the full potential at the start.

    Most of this season I was boiling same day and didn't use the tank until late - even ran out of sap 3 times before the trees really opened up. My evaporator does a good 8-10 an hour but wasn't able to keep up with those 50-90 gallon collection days.
    2024 - Starting with the 25 then more late Feb.
    2023 - 25 taps on 11 trees to focus on the process. 9 Gallons and lots of sugar sand. 35 people over for breakfast in April
    2022 - 8 x 14 sugarhouse and a steam bottler. 50 buckets! 9 Gallons syrup and 4 pounds of sugar
    2021 - 20 x 30 divided pan on a Mason arch, 34 taps and 8 gallons for family and friends to judge. Dad hooked as well.
    2020 - 2 taps, 1/2 pint on a turkey fryer, About 3/4 pint syrup in two weeks - Proof of concept!

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    NEK vermont
    Posts
    59

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    I have the ro20 on three hundred taps. It is essential for me. The support is excellent and its easy to use. In my setup it is maxed out.

    Daily cleaning takes me about an 1.5 ,hours in the morning while i fire up the evaporator; warm water soap rinse for 45 minutes followed by filter change and 30 gallons permeate flush. I use a tds meter from Carl and flush until the outwash equals the permeate reading.

    I have the pressure switch and a timer and run the ro at night when i have to, running the device for as long as needed to have enough concentrate to start up in the morning, about 25 gallons or so.

    In operation, I get a doubling of sugar pct. My 2x4 will boil just a bit faster that the ro will produce on cold days, which is roughly 12-16 gallonsof concentrate per hr, depending upon the sap temperature. So the ro processes the same amount of raw sap as the evaporator at a fraction of the purchase cost. I never have time to recirculate, with 300 hundred trees! I usually make about four or five gallons of syrup in about 6 hours of boiling.

    The big gain is that I can skip boiling slow days. The other change was that with concentrated sap, cleaning the flue and syrup pans is now a major part of the process.

    The ro20 is perfect for 100 taps, especially if weekend boiling is the goal.
    12x24 sugarhouse 2x4 drop flue
    2020. 211 taps on 3/16”gravity with flojet g80 air driven pumps
    2021. 250 taps 4 flojet g80
    2022 275 taps on 3/16 gravity to two g80 vacuum stations
    2023. 320 taps 5 g80 pumps
    2024. Refurbed homemade 2 post 4040 All stainless sap storage and handling

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    Wind Lake, WI
    Posts
    520

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    Quote Originally Posted by Vtmbz View Post
    The ro20 is perfect for 100 taps, especially if weekend boiling is the goal.
    Absolutely spot-on. I run ~95 taps with mine. The whole process now is so much easier. Lighter run days when weather says I should boil (warm), I just have it run right into the head tank and set it to match my boil rate. Otherwise, overnight concentrating to about 5-6% is the norm for me. What a great system.

    Considering adding a membrane and swapping to 500gpd membranes though. I've got 4 seasons on the original membranes and they were still behaving perfectly at the end of this season...so I'm on the fence with the upgrade at the moment.
    42.82N
    2015 - Small operation. 25 buckets. One excited 5 year old and one 35 year old that feels 5 again.
    2016 - One year older. New Homemade 2x4 Arch, Smoky Lake Pan and looking at 52 maples, 17 box elders and 2 walnut trees.
    2017 - Shurflo 4008 hooked to 42 stingy silver maples and a few Norways. A couple buckets on sugars and Norways. 10 box elders.
    2018 - ...a few more taps.
    2019 - ...more taps on 3/16 gravity. This spiral is heading downward in a hurry.
    2020 - 4x400 RO - RB20 (uh-oh!)

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