Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[spud]

I got 3000 gallons today on my south/east section of the woods. I have a leak problem on the back section of my woods that was bringing my vacuum down to 20 inches. As soon as I closed the valves to that section my vacuum in the rest of the woods went to 26. Tomorrow I have to hike to the back section and fix the problem. As of 9:00pm the sap was still running 125 GPH.

Spud

[Flat Lander Sugaring]

vac still running at 9:30 4" sap in twp 300 gal tanks. RO hooked up membranes rinsed now going to send some sap through today see if they are good. Get sap suckers running today on small bush.
well going to Bennington gotta go FA upgrade hope be back by 2

[spud]

Woke up to 1500 more gallons of sap. I will be checking for leaks all day.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

I have pulled in about 300 gallons since yesterday am and still running a bit. Spent yesterday plumbing tanks and troubleshooting a micro leak on my releaser. Still haven't found it but at least it is now pumping at full speed. Going to rinse the ro today. Not sure I will get enough sap today to fire it up, but either way I will boil what I have collected and whatever comes in today, tomorrow.

[wsugar]

Ro is running and so is the sap. The sugar content is 1.1%. Off to the woods to check lines and our first boil tonight😄😄😄

[GeneralStark]

Looks like the VFD for my vac. pump may have crapped the bed...GMP checked their end of things and I am getting good power. The symptoms suggest power outage but the power is on... Sap was running ok with vac. Not so much without

[Amber Gold]

Stark. VFD's can be the coolest thing going or frustrating as h*ll. I had one crap out on me that was two weeks old. Just died in the middle of the day. Somehow I managed to be in the sugarhouse when it happened. It took three days to get a replacement. Somehow the bus got fried and of course it was my fault and not covered under warranty...

[GeneralStark]

Frustrating for sure...spent a good chunk of the day on the phone with a tech from the vendor troubleshooting when I could have been doing other things to get ready to boil. The Vfd is definitely done but fortunately they are shipping me a new one overnight...under warranty. It was only a year old.

Fortunately it was not during a real sap run, but I did miss some sap today.

[DrTimPerkins]

VFDs can definitely be a pain in the butt. We had one get fried by lightning in the summer of 2013....of course we didn't know until just before the 2014 season. We now have them all wired up so they can be completely unplugged during the off season. We're now up to 4 Busch Pumps, all with the same VFD, so I bought a spare VFD just to have around in case one of them crapped out again.

I've heard that it is a good idea to turn on the VFD and let the electronics warm up for 15-30 min before actually turning on the pump.

[spud]

Today I was able to find and fix several leaks in the woods. I am now up to about 26 so still need to find more but things are much better. Today I got 2500 gallons of nice clear sap. Looks like the sap will not run again till weekend.

Spud