First of all, I am a hobby producer who has let his passion get away from him. I don’t sell my output and cost hasn’t been my criteria as I sink deeper into the depth of this crazy illness.

I currently run 5/16 lines in 3 very flat, and wet, red maple bushes. In total about 400 taps last year. I have been stringing 5/16 lines, with about 20 taps per line, back to Lunchbox Vacuum/Release pumps in three different bushes. Each Lunchbox takes enough lines to handle over 100 taps. My yield is about 1/2 litre per tap - which is about 33% of what this area yields commercially. This year coming I am reducing to two bushes, each with about 120 taps. I have purchased Guzzler diaphragm pumps and am going to replumb the bushes to use a mainline and run shorter lines with about 8 taps per line into the mainline.

Questions:
1. I am planning to use 1” mainline for each bush - is there a problem with using too large a line? I might get away with 3/4.
2. I was planning to continue to use 5/16 branches but I am getting suggestions to switch to 3/16 and put more taps on each branch. The bush is dead flat (wetland) so any incline will be only by installation. The longest mainline run will be about 300 feet. Would you recommend 5/16 or 3/16?