Cheap vacuum pumps off of amazon anyone with experiences?

[snakes14009]

I know you get what you pay for. but the woods i am looking at putting vacuum will never have more than 150 taps. but the shurflo setups are very sensitive to leaks because the not designed for what we they are being used for. My question was is anyone using those inexpensive vacuum pumps off of amazon? If so how long did they last? are you shutting them off at night so on and so forth. I would normally just go with a lot better vacuum pump but the woods i am tapping i am grabing every available tap already and am maxing out around 150. So if you have some experience with them let me know. I read on one post someone used them but for the life of me i can not find it?

Thanks

[jrgagne99]

I've used them for 15 years on 100-150 taps. You also need tight lines. If one tap pops out, I drop from 28 to 10 inches. 2 taps out it's down to 5. But with careful line work, I have no trouble getting 28 inches. I remove the factory check valve and put an in-line check valve between pump and releaser. With leaks, they use oil quickly, but tight systems, they only require 1-2 ounces of oil every 24 hours of on-time. I get 3-5 years out of a pump. The bearings start to go and they get loud and run hotter. Then I replace. I always keep a back-up on hand during the season, but at only $80 that's pretty easy to swallow. I think i use the 1/3 hp models. 4.5 cfm or so works good.

[maple flats]

My only experience with the small diaphragm pumps aside of in my motorhome and 5th wheel, is just with a 120V pump I use for water in the sugarhouse. I pump either from my permeate tank when I have water in it, or from an IBC tote I use to haul water from home the rest of the time. That pump does quite well, I got about 8 yrs out my first one, I'm now on my second.
My thought, before you try a small, low end diaphragm pump, fitst try to see if you can find a Surge Alamo pump, they are dairy pumps used to make vacuum for milking cows. Over the years I've had 2 of them, a Surge 30 and a Surge 50-100. The numbers are a designation of the number of cows the dairy might have, not the number to be milked at the same time. Those pumps are almost indestructable.
My experience with them, my first was on a 600 tap bush and it had a vacuum tank. Surge vacuum tanks are only rated for 20" of vacuum, so I used a vacuum releaser set to only go to 19". I used that for about 7 seasons, then I needed to buy new vanes for it. In use I opened the oil drip control so it got a drip about every 2 seconds on each of 2 bearings. My other Surge was on a 720 tap bush and it was set up as a Surge 60. To change those you just change the RPM. That one failed in yr 4, when the moisture trap failed and sap filled the pump. All I had to do, was thaw the pump and the moisture trap and re-install it.
Both pumps were set up on 6.5HP Honda engines and I bought 2 4.5 gal fuel tanks for each from Surplus center at $19. each Unfortunately the bigger pump only had a single belt pully and I could only get 22" of vacuum, if I tried for more the 5/8 cogged belt slipped even with belt dressing, it should of had a double pully, the smaller pump had a single too, but it was regulated to 19" and didn't slip.
To find one, look for old barn sales and auctions. I think I paid $25 for the smaller one (back in 2006) and $50 for the bigger one about 2 yrs later. Later on I found a BB4 piiston pump and I ran it several years and got 27" of vacuum. It had double pullys and I used the original electric motor, a 2 hp. I now have a new to me Surge piston pump that when tested got 28" vacuum, it will be set up for next season on up to 450 taps, and someday maybe 550 taps. It also has the original electric motor, I don't know the HP.
Any of those pumps while not keeping the vacuum I've stated will do far better than any small diaphragm pump if there are any leaks, and if you need to lift sap using a sap ladder one handled 4 sap ladders, the other had 5 sap ladders for me. Those little diaphragm pumps won't even do 1 sap ladder