Hi everyone,
I see there is a thread on maple syrup and I didn't want to take it over with my question so I thought I would start a new thread.
My neighbor and I are thinking about adding tubing to our maple syrup production. Last year we made 18 liters (weather wasn't that great) of syrup using maple trees at my neighbors house across the street. we have approx. 40 taps (some big maples have 2-3 taps in them). His lot is on a slant and we were thinking about replacing all the buckets with some tubing....we would put half the trees on one run and the other half on another...both ending up in the same location downhill, kinda a u shape.
my question is how do you start off with your tubing? can you just wrapped it around the first tree and tie a knot?
how tight do you keep the line? do you need to go around each tree?
Thanks for any help in advance.
Sbishop
Hi there Sbishop,
I work on a maple tubing installation crew. We usually always deal with vacuum systems, and we install quite a bit of 3\16 tubing for vacuum systems as well. Fundamentally, it is the same with a gravity feed like you want to do.
To start the tubing: It kind of depends on where\how you are collecting your sap. I assume a tank of some sort, or a large barrel? Assuming an open top tank- I would run a piece of wire (12.5 gauge high tensile or 14 gauge fencing wire will work) between two trees, or two posts, so it is right above your tank. Parallel to where you want your tubing lines to run.
You will need a few different tubing fittings. One of which will be a 3\16 connector with a hook. The hook will allow you to attach it to the wire. The tubing connects to the other end and you run it up the hill. The other end of the connector can have another short piece of tubing to drop into your tank to ensure sap makes it where it needs to go!
To run the tubing- you want to have enough tension so you have no sags. Too tight and you can overstretch the tubing and pull fittings out, but there is a happy medium, it's not too hard to find. You can pull on it quite a bit.
You want to zig-zag between the maple trees so you have good contact on the tree with the tubing, and the next tree up also makes good contact. Not always, but generally left, right, left, right. You may also want to zig-zag around other species of tree to help hold tension and prevent saggy spots. Hold tension each time you make a "corner". Tubing should not go all the way around the tree except for your end tree, which brings into play another fitting. You want an end hook fitting. It's simply a dead end, with a large hook. The tubing runs around your last tree, and hooks back to itself. The end hook seals the line.
You will also need dropline T's. Each tap requires a dropline. These are installed on the downhill side of the tree, about 2-6 inches from the edge of the tree. Make them 36" in length. This allows you to reach a wide variety of spots on the tree to tap. Just make sure your dropline has no sags or loops in it from the spout to the T.
I recommend Dominion and Grimm 3\16 tubing for your application. It is softer than other options, so you will have a much easier time installing fittings. You can simply chew on the end a little, and push the fitting in. Use the same tubing for your droplines as well.
Any more questions, fire away.
Awesome, thanks for the info..i'm sure there will be lots of questions coming!
so will 3/16" gravity work ok for what I'm doing? I'm guessing 25ft elevation drop from start to finish.
I've got 2 45 plastic barrels I'm planning to hold the sap in.
first off...run your "main line" and then place the T's?
Also, we are in the process of building a oil tank boiler...i'll post pics soon
Thanks again
Sbishop
On any given slope 3\16 will outperform 5\16 tubing with gravity feed. From what you've told me, yes, 3\16 gravity seems to be the best option for what you want to do. If you ever stepped up to taps in the hundreds\thousand range, then you should start thinking about vacuum pumps, but then it really depends on what you want to do.
Yup, put the tubing in place and have it all tight, then you cut in the dropline T's. You will either need a dropline tool (pricey) or a helper to hold both sides of the tubing while you cut it and push the T's in.
I will be using a helper ;D
At the start of the line "uphill" is there an air vent needed? Or should the tube be plugged?
Still cold up here in NB, Canada...probably another 4 weeks at least.
Not sure what you mean by an air vent. At the bottom of the hill, the line will be open, where the sap will drop into the tank. At the top of the hill (end tree on the tubing line) it is sealed.
You will want to keep up on leaks, critter chews, etc. as that will diminish performance.
We are looking at mid March according to the long range forecast before we see any sap. We only have about 10,000 more to tap. Another week of drilling and we'll be done.
Understand now....wow 10,000 more taps? how many total?
do you leave your tubing up all year?
Yup, 10,000 more, we're boiling from 41,000 this year I believe. Over half of that is 3\16 tubing on high vacuum. We are converting all the woods over as they need to be re-tubed, and any new systems are getting 3\16 tubing.
Yes, tubing stays up all year. We do a total walkthrough of everything in late fall to repair stuff that has fallen down and get it off the ground before snow flies and buries it. Doesn't get everything, of course stuff falls down between then and tapping time but it really helps when we go to tap and don't have to fix stuff all day long.
The tubing gets washed in the spring when we pull the spouts. A peroxide solution, turn the vacuum on and we suck up about a dropline full from each spout. Makes quite a difference.
How many gallons you produce? 1 evaporator?
Last year we made about 21,000 gallons. Yes one evaporator. And a 12 column Reverse osmosis machine.