Shurflo 4008 vac pump surging in the lines

[bmbmkr]

I've watched the sap coming in the laterals to my manifold and seen the same thing. Especially in the morning when the trees first thaw and start running. Another thing that compounds this is having laterals with varying amounts of taps and obviously length. Part of the fluid dynamic is the equilibrium finding itself an all of that tubing. Even though some of the laterals have more taps, they may have more space in between each tap. There's constant change inside that system as some of the trees produce more sap and some produce more gas. After an hour or so of the trees running, the equilibrium is pretty much constant, and the surging seems to diminish, until the tress and laterals start to freeze in the evening, you'll see the same thing again. Get the leaks in the tubing and the manifold fixed and like you said, you'll be looking for ways to store/boil more sap!! I've been running four to five shurflo 4008's for five years now, no recirc lines, and this year I let them run 24/7 on days with a good flow forecast. I added another 100 watt panel to each system 300 watts total now, and with the strainer screen in place, you won't have any ice damaging the diaphragms. I bought inkbirds last year and still haven't got them wired up. I haven't had to swap a battery all year with 300 watts running into my 15 amp charge controllers. I had to clean my strainers 2x a day a few wees ago with the 65F days we had back to back. That sure slimes up the lines in a hurry.

[RC Maple]

As a first timer with a 4008 and 5/16 lines this is great to hear of other's experiences. There was one day this year I have been able to get 15" vacuum at the manifold and that's it. I changed the strainer fitting and retaped that fitting this last week - I thought I was on to something. Not much difference. I do see surging as well but for the most part the sap and bubbles all seem to come in the right direction. Due to the lay of my woods, even though some lines are over my head in the low spots and I have tapped high in the tree at the far end of the line, I have almost no slope. I believe this is why I lose half of my vacuum and get no sap without the recirculation line open. What can I improve for next year?

1. Use a star fitting instead of the 1/2" SS manifold - too many possibilities for leaks.
2. I have 2 75 watt solar panels. It's not enough. I started today with 13.3 volts after being too cold to run yesterday. The sun shone all day while the pump ran and when I shut it off it read 11.7 volts.
Earlier this season, I would come out to see the pump not running and the temperature sensor not working either. I thought a connection might be bad but now I think the charge controller shut it off
for getting too low

The system has continued to put sap in the tank. It is just a pilot project this year. Of the 13 taps, only one of the trees has had a bucket on it before. One big silver maple I couldn't get anything to speak of out of it with buckets before so I don't have much history to compare the trees to. All the sugars are 10-11", so no big gushers there.

The vacuum stays right around 12-13" and the surging is minimal as long as I keep my 3/16 recirculation line end down in the sap and keep it restricted with a c-clamp inside the pump box.

[holbrook hill farm]

Recently purchased a sap guzzler 401n and not having any luck finding a strainer or filter to put in before pump. Any leads or ideas, I am in Vt. Thanks

[Biz]

Recently purchased a sap guzzler 401n and not having any luck finding a strainer or filter to put in before pump. Any leads or ideas, I am in Vt. Thanks

Try US Plastics. They have several different types.
https://www.usplastic.com/search/?keyword=T-Strainer

[BAP]

Recently purchased a sap guzzler 401n and not having any luck finding a strainer or filter to put in before pump. Any leads or ideas, I am in Vt. Thanks

Tractor Supply sells them in their sprayer parts section. They carry them in 3/4”,1”, 1-1/2” pipe threads. Also, many online vendors sell them like Amazon and companies that sell sprayer parts.
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...s-steel-screen

[holbrook hill farm]

Thanks, Amazon took care of things this morning.