Tapping a long row of trees sloping away from the road

[DaveB]

One of the farms that I tap is looking to expand the number of trees that I tap. I currently have about 150 taps in lines along the road and several bins. The new trees run perpendicular to the road and extend about 1000' from the road. Unfortunately they slope away from the road but it's a solid line of older sugar maples. I estimate there's probably about 300 taps on that line.

I'm trying to think of the best way to setup tubing for this line. I've never had such a long line before. I'm thinking of running a mainline, zig/zagging between the trees, all the way down to a collection tank at the bottom of the row. Along the way I would run 3/16 or 5/16 laterals on either side of the mainline that would feed sap into the mainline. Those laterals would have 10-15 taps each. If the slope good enough, I may run 3/16 and just extend the part below the last tap for best natural vacuum. I'd prefer not to use a wire to support the mainline and would pull the tubing tight or use something like CDL's Rapitubing or something like that.

At the collection tank I'm thinking of running a solar powered pump that would be powered by a deep cycle battery charged by a solar panel. The pump would be connected to a second mainline that I would run back through the trees to a second collection tank by the road so I could collect the sap there. I'd have no way of collecting the sap at the end of the line if its a winter with deep snow or mud so I thought this would be easier.

Does that approach sound reasonable? Any other thoughts/suggestions? I know I'm going to need to upgrade my RO setup and buy a lot of other equipment but I'm going to start at the beginning and get the tubing setup right.

[SeanD]

That's an exciting upgrade and all of that is definitely doable. I've heard of a lot of setups like that and others can chime in on getting the sap uphill. You'll need to have the total distance and the amount of rise figured out. As for the mainline down the hill, don't zig-zag it. Pick a clear line and run it straight. Same for the line coming back up. I haven't used Rapitube, but mainline wire is not difficult to work with. Will this line stay up all year or do you have to take it down? That's a big factor, too.

[NhShaun]

It's certainly possible. The issue i see with pumping the sap up hill in a line that long would be the sap that drains out after your lower tank is empty. If you're going 12v and solar then you will likely be using float switches with a shurflo or something similar to pump, which would work best with a 1/2" line for the transfer up. I have done this successfully on a 100ft transfer line but only about 10 ft in elevation increase. There are about 2.5 gallons left in the line that will drain back to the bottom tank when i'm done. You could try and get an auto valve that will drain that sap left in the line to the ground, so you're not always leaving a bunch of older sap in the tank at the bottom. Or make the trek down there with snow shoes and haul it back by hand if you're up for it.

I am also not sure how well you're mainline will stay pitched properly without any supporting wire. Especially on heavy run days, or when the temps drop rapidly and the lines freeze up.

[DaveB]

That's an exciting upgrade and all of that is definitely doable. I've heard of a lot of setups like that and others can chime in on getting the sap uphill. You'll need to have the total distance and the amount of rise figured out. As for the mainline down the hill, don't zig-zag it. Pick a clear line and run it straight. Same for the line coming back up. I haven't used Rapitube, but mainline wire is not difficult to work with. Will this line stay up all year or do you have to take it down? That's a big factor, too.

Thanks for the feedback. The total distance is about 1500' based on satellite measurement. The lower part of the field appears to be 80' lower than the road. That's a bit more than I thought. I need to more closely at the site now that things are drying out.

It's certainly possible. The issue i see with pumping the sap up hill in a line that long would be the sap that drains out after your lower tank is empty. If you're going 12v and solar then you will likely be using float switches with a shurflo or something similar to pump, which would work best with a 1/2" line for the transfer up. I have done this successfully on a 100ft transfer line but only about 10 ft in elevation increase. There are about 2.5 gallons left in the line that will drain back to the bottom tank when i'm done. You could try and get an auto valve that will drain that sap left in the line to the ground, so you're not always leaving a bunch of older sap in the tank at the bottom. Or make the trek down there with snow shoes and haul it back by hand if you're up for it.

I am also not sure how well you're mainline will stay pitched properly without any supporting wire. Especially on heavy run days, or when the temps drop rapidly and the lines freeze up.

I'm not too concerned about the sap left in the mainline going back up to the road. It would only be a few gallons and I'm OK with that. I do need to look at pump options though. As I mentioned to the other poster it looks like a 1500' run that drops about 80' from the road. That's longer and more lifting than I thought. It's the most challenging part of the setup. He's got other woods that slope down to the road and I could start there but trees by a field have a larger crown and I think would produce more sap. I think it's going to be multi-year project!

You mentioned an "auto valve" to drain the sap that comes back down, do you have any examples of that? It sounds like what I need but I can't find anything like that.

Here's the satellite image showing my existing lines (blue) and where the new line would go (black) along with contours showing the slope. Is that slope enough to run 3/16 tubing for the laterals that would feed into the mainline or should I stick with 5/16?

https://realmaplesyrup.com/images/farm3b.jpg

[billyinvt]

pumping uphill 1500 feet with 80 feet uphill. Wondering if a 1" or 2" gas powered transfer pump might do the job better and save you from needing to set up the solar/battery etc.

[NhShaun]

It sounds like you've got your work cutout for you between the design and the install. But it sounds worth the effort and should increase your yield a lot.
As for the sap left in the line, besides the wasted sap. I would be more concerned about always having that old sap that drains sitting in my collection tank. Picture 30 gallons draining back to the bottom and then it warms up for 2 or 3 days with no runs. Then a gusher day dumps fresh sap in that old funky stuff. The always open drain valve to the ground would be worth it to alleviate that headache.

Check out https://www.mountainmaplefarm.com/ He has some of the float switch and open drain valves. I'm sure he could put something together for you if you end up with a 12v system. It's going to be a lot slower than a gas pump, but if set up right will save you the hassle of going down to the bottom every time.