In my current sugarbush I have 3 spots where a busy trail passes under the mainline. While I use a piston pump and have sap ladders to raise the sap up and over the trails, it can be done but it's not ideal with diaphragm pumps. I suggest you make each lift location by setting up the diaphragm pump to push the sap up over rather than trying to pull it up over. Those little pumps re much better at pushing than pulling. To set them up, just have all of the laterals or mainlines converging, yhen biuld a manifold with as many 3/16 lines as needed to push the sap up. I say 3/16 because the sap doesn't fall back thru the gasses, they remain seperated. I'd p;lan 1 line 3/16 for each 20 taps, to make it work the best, also have a recirculation line, from pump out back to pump inlet, a needle valve in that allows adjustment, you don't need a large flow, just enough to keep the diaphragm wet. If this set up isn't at the end of the line,(you have more taps closer to the tank) you will need another pump to get some vacuum farther down the line towards the main tank. That pump should be higher GPM rating or it won't make enough vacuum past the pushing pump.
Another way is to find an old dairy pump and run it on a gas engine, if it's a vane pump replace the vanes if badly worn, and increase the oil flow, they will pull sap far better. In the pst I ran 2 remote sugar bushes, eachabout 600-750 taps. One location had a Surge 75 vane pump the other had a Surge 40. One got 19" vacuum only because it was hooked up to a vacuum tank rated at 20" vacuum, I regulated to 19", the other ran at 22" vacuum, each had a Honda 5.5 HP gas engine and had double pulleys, a single would slip. 1 had 4 sap ladders, the other had 3. They were before 3/16 became a thing, the legs on the sap ladders were 5/16 tubing. I hooked up 7.5 gal fuel tanks on each and only needed to add gas once a day.
Dave Klish, I recently bought a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.
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