New to tubing

[Gord]

I'll try to keep this short and put in as much information as I can for you folks to give me some advice.

I have an area I'd like to experiment in, with 5/16 tubing. It is 200' X 240', or 1-1/4 acres. There are 30 trees I want to tap, mostly reds, and they are at all four corners, with scattered trees in the middle. My collection tank will be at one corner, the lowest point. The land is relatively flat, so I will be using an AC vacuum pump. The plan in my head is to split it in half and have two lateral lines with 15 taps on each line, no main line, with both lines running to the pump and collection tank. I have laid out a course, crisscrossing from tree to tree with a measuring wheel. The length of each line would be approximately 425'.
I have always been on buckets. This will be my first experiment with tubing, so excuse my ignorance if my plan is off to a bad start.
Any advice is appreciated.

[maple flats]

Your plan will work, but poorly. A 5/16 line should never have more than 10 taps and you should strive for 5. A 5/16 is also best if kept to100' or less, thus for best performaqnce you should run a mainline, I suggest a 3/4", a 1/2" is able to carry 30 taps but fittings to attach 5/16 to 1/2" are few, 3/4" offers far more options, besides, a 3/4" mainline gest better vacuum to the taps better.
With all of that said, I've used 3/16 lines on 27" vacuum for several years on flat ground. While it's going to give me considerably less sap, I do it because the cost is lower than if I ran 5/16. One very important difference is that in 5/16 tubing the sap can pass the air (or gas bubbles) while in 3/16 the sap can't pass the gases. While in general those who use the 3/16 do it with a slope to give natural vacuum, but I do it mainly because I can connect about 25-even 30 taps on one line and have that line be 500' long, all with just 1 saddle to attach it to a mainline.
Again, you must understand that if you use my method you will get less sap total.

[BAP]

What are you planning on using for a vacuum source? Running 2, 5/16” lines will work as a lower cost investment to give a try at seeing what you can get out using tubing. Is it the absolute best performing setup? Answer is no, but you will get more sap than buckets with less physical labor due to the closed system, vacuum and 1 collection point. You can always do what you mentioned in your post for the first year and see how it performs, then if you want more, you can run 3/4” mainline and cut apart your 5/16” into smaller lines without losing the investment in the 5/16 tubing. Remember, if you are doing this as a hobby, there is nothing saying that you have to have absolutely maximum yield.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I'd run a 3/4" mainline right up the middle of it then branch off 5/16" lines 5-8 taps per lateral.

[Gord]

Thanks folks! I said I would never go to tubing, when I started this hobby, several years ago. My goal is to get more efficient every year. This past season was my worst, and it opened my eyes to try something different. This little patch of 30 trees is where I want to experiment with tubing.

Maple Flats, Thanks for your in depth explanation. That's what I'm looking for.
BAP, I can get power to the corner I want to use for my collection tank. I don't have a pump picked out yet. Thanks for your open minded advice.
Mainbackwoods, The option of a main line looks like the "peoples choice". I'm not against using one. Just wanted to keep it simple, because all this tubing will be coming down when the season is over next year.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Taking the mainline up and down might be a pain if that is part of the equation. As others noted, if your goal is maximum production the mainline is the best option. But taking down and putting up 5/16" lines would be much easier. If you opt for the 5/16" line only then I'd go with at least 4 lines if you can make it work with the layout of the land.

[Gord]

I have 10 trees in a line that are the furthest from the collection point. There is a measured 15' drop between the first tree and the last tree, and a measured 185' between the first and last tree. Could I use one 3/16 line, just on gravity for these 10 trees, so they could go to their own collection tank? The rest of the 20 trees are closer to the original collection point, and would be easier to divide up, so I wouldn't have too many on one line. I don't have the tubing yet. In my original post, I referred to 5/16 tubing, because it is what I see being used. I have no preference between 3/16 and 5/16. Whichever is recommended for my situation.
I appreciate the help.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

The only 3/16" line we have is for ideal conditions- 30 ft of drop and 30 taps on each line. Some say that is too many but the yields are excellent and it works well for us. Your situation is more middle of the road setup- not maximum drop of 30' or recommended number of taps per line. It's not flat ground so you would get some vacuum, but on just 10 taps not sure what the results would be. Maybe someone with similar experience/setup can chime in with their results. Or maybe you'll have to try both!

[Gord]

Question on slope and grade.
Can I "create" more slope? If I have a 15' drop from the first tree to the last tree, and my first tap is as high as I can reach, and the last tap is knee level, haven't I just created more slope? I ask this because the last tree to be tapped is on a stone wall. On the other side of the wall is another drop in elevation. This is where my collection tank could be. I could pick up another 5' of slope, making my total 20' instead of 15.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Yes, that would help. 1" of vacuum is created for every 1' of drop. In theory, you would have 5" more vacuum on your last tap if you got 20' of drop. Note that all taps in between will have vacuum levels at the same rate, 1" of vacuum for 1' of drop. This is why 3/16" is so effective on steep slopes and mediocre on flatter slopes.. But any vacuum is better than no vacuum. Put your first tap as low as you. We have 2 laterals, totaling of about 1200' that we replace every 4th season as we do not clean our lines.