December Journal

[Parker]

Amber- Bob boils his own syrup,,I have set up 2 other orchards for him,,Last year he made 1/2 gal-tap on the 2 smaller orchards I set up with him,,he made about 20 gallons off the "Big bush" we just finished..last year there were 600+ taps there...I think he will be around 1000 there this year...in 5 years there should be around 1400 tappabel...lots of maples growing in to tappabel size...He will have a very hard time keeping up with the sap, I believe...

[danno]

[QUOTE=Parker;122335]Well...finally got Bobs instalation finished,,9800' mainline and wire,3200' from the tank to the last tap,19 lateral mainlines,,over 270 hose clamps,,,

I was just thinking today as I was hose clamping a mainline connecter - how many hose clamps do we all have in our woods/sugar houses? Ridiculous! I should probably be buying them in gross, rather than bags of 10 from HD for $6.00

[mapleack]

We had a busy weekend, Dave Y delivered our new RO Saturday morning, we got our sap and permeate tanks set on the bank behind the sugar house, did some more work in the bottling room / RO room. Started figuring out how we wanted to plumb in the RO, I think it might be easier to build a startrek warpdrive than figure this plumbing out! Still tons of work to do inside and out, and sap weather is coming soon!

[Jim Brown]

Andy; Did your RO come with the 4 valve control system mine did ?If not when I get home this evening I'll send you some pic's of the set up my lapierre came with . May help with the plumbing.
Jim

[Maplewalnut]

Andy- Looks like I have the same unit as you this will be my first year with it. Best advice, just start plumbing. I put it off for months also but once I started it all makes sense and really isnt that bad. I did go with the valve panel after much thought hopefully to idiot proof it when I get home after work. Jims pictures are great take him up on the offer it you have any questions.

Mike

[Amber Gold]

I was just thinking today as I was hose clamping a mainline connecter - how many hose clamps do we all have in our woods/sugar houses? Ridiculous! I should probably be buying them in gross, rather than bags of 10 from HD for $6.00

I've converted over to using Oetiker Clamps. They're much cheaper, quicker to install, and they're cheaper.

http://www.oetiker.com/content.asp?l=4&idNavig=26

Lowe's sells them for <$2 per bag of $10. There's a local landscape supply which sells bags of 100 for ~$12.

[mapleack]

Andy; Did your RO come with the 4 valve control system mine did ?If not when I get home this evening I'll send you some pic's of the set up my lapierre came with . May help with the plumbing.
Jim

I got the three way panel to help deal with the output, but not for input. I know how to hook everything up, just a bear to diagram it all out. I'm making things more difficult by having wash drains for both the permeate and feed tanks plumbed into the system. I'm going to build my own panel for the inlet valves, instead of having stuff spread out on the wall like some do.

[tuckermtn]

Josh- tell me more about those clamps- how do they hold with vac? special tool to install?

intriguing...

[chipa]

These clamps have been used in irrigation for years.I used them last year on a 3000 tap bush.They are fast,cheap and clean looking.You use end nippers to tighten them.Two thumbs up from me.

[tuckermtn]

so you slide the clamp on then pinch the ear on top to squeeze the pipe? do you have to cut them to take them off?