Checking what VT sugar makers are doing

[tcross]

i had the same issue at the beginning of last season Spud. I have a hobby mechanical releaser, I'm sure yours is a quite a bit bigger, but probably same concept. my float wouldn't go back down either. I had cleaned it in good shape before using it, but neglected to re lubricate all parts. once I did that, I never had the issue again all season. I set mine in place on Sunday and gave it a good lubricating, with hopes I won't run into the issue again this year.

[markcasper]

Not sure what make releaser you have but with the lapierre singel barrel releasers there is a swinging plate that the float rod hooks into that has a spring hooked to it that slides aginst another plate with the air ports in it.......if those plates ars not luricated or that spring is set too tight or the bolt that holds the plates together is too tight the float wont drop back all the way down.....
Also if you use a lubricant that is stiff when its cold it will gum up the works
Good luck with it

I learned this for the first time last year! I know exactly what your dealing with. I use the food grade oil on this part, no grease, oil only. I took apart the valve assy. a few weeks ago on my hobbies and found the O ring on the plunger is all cracked. This is the one that would be subject to outside and inside air/vacuum.

I ended up taking the bolt right out and dissecting it in terms to those sliding plates. Dirt comes in over time and don't matter how much you lube it, there comes a time when dirt is attracted to lube and then your asking for a seize up. But the taking it apart, remembering how you took it apart, clean with a soft paper towels, put back together and worked like a charm until the next day when the float slides down the stem b/c the snap ring wore off on the bottom of stem.

[doocat]

Spud, we had same problem on two mechanical releasers we ran. At leader they have small white packets of food grade clear grease. Every day we check the releasers, wipe down the rods, and apply a small amount of lube. Never had a problem again. Key is cleaning the rods first.

Craig

[spud]

Thanks everyone. I went out this morning and cleaned the rod and sprayed it down again. When I turned the pump on the releaser filled right up and dumped without any problems. I hope it's smooth sailing from here. I will be spraying the rod and other moving parts each day.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Certainly not breaking any records here but the sap started running yesterday afternoon when the sun really came out. I finished tapping and fixing a few areas where I had some red squirrel issues. I'm letting the 150 taps that run into a sap lifter rinse before turning that section on later today. I'll have all my taps plugged in earlier than ever this season.

Good luck everyone. Looks like the season is about to start!

[spud]

I got 1200 gallons so far today coming into my sugar house. Sap still coming in very slow. My vacuum dropped to 25.5 at the releaser. I plan to find the leaks next week. Today I had to spray 350 more fruit trees with deer repellent. I plan to let the pump run till morning. Who knows maybe I will have 1500+ in the tank by then. Sap testing at 1.3%.

Spud

[EBG18T]

Hopefully going to start drilling and replacing taps this weekend. Been moving & splitting wood the past few weekends.

[spud]

It's 34 degrees here at my place this morning at 7:15. I went down to the sugar house to shut my pump off and the sap is still running 150GPH. I have 3000 gallons in the tank now. looks like we are going to have 3-4 good days of sap runs starting Monday. Hey DOOCAT does that grease work good even when the temps get cold? Although I spray my releaser rod I'm thinking of putting some of that grease on the inner part of the white bushing. The releaser has been working great all night.

Spud

[GeneralStark]

Pulled in about 900 gal. since Wednesday and it is still slowly coming in. The peak was yesterday afternoon when the sun came out for a bit.

I figured out that the float in my sap lifter is leaking so it was not working correctly...it was filled with ice so I thawed it out, drained it and then lifter was working good as new. Then it was filled again this morning so same drill... I need to get a replacement or figure out a fix... I'm looking forward to doing away with that thing for next season.

[spud]

I would just replace the float. I just had the same problem with my float being full of sap. I drilled a very small hole in the float and drained it. I put silicone over the hole and the crack where it was leaking. I'm keeping it as a spare but feel much safer having a new float in my releaser.

Spud