Maple Syrup!

[Chuck White]

I don't have audio on my computer at this time, but this looks like a good video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQnQ-SZhBI0

Google "setting up sap lines with 3/16 inch lines"

Lots of good info on youtube.com

Hope this helps you!

Chuck

[jrose1970]

That's a good video. I guess I will stick with walking the line everyday as long as I'm under 50 taps.  :D Although one benefit to a line would be a longer season before the tap seals itself. How much do the lines cost?

[celliott]

With a 3\16 gravity system, you will want more distance between your mainlines. If you are only doing ~100 taps, it is probably feasible to simply run all tubing lines, and have them dump into your tank.

The steeper your tubing lines, the better it will work, as well as the more taps you have on the line.

A perfect 3\16 gravity setup would be a hill, with all the trees on top, and the tubing lines dropping near vertical down a cliff.

Your vacuum will be zero on the end that dumps into the tank\mainline, but will be highest at your end tree.

I would recommend at least 10-12 trees per lateral line and don't be afraid to add more than that. With 100 or so taps, you could have less than 10 runs of tubing. It all depends on the layout of your woods of course.
3\16 works very well with a vacuum system also, it is not just for gravity feed systems, it simply works better than 5\16 in that regard.

One more tip- if buying 3\16 tubing, I would recommend the Leader 30p tubing for lateral lines instead of the dark blue D&G tubing like in the video. It is much stiffer and you can tension it much better. The D&G holds fittings well, but it's stretchy, and you can't seem to get it properly tight. Easy to over tighten and then you stretch the tubing too much. The 30p also comes in an 800ft roll VS 500ft for the D&G, with a similar price tag, so you're up 300ft with the 30p. Cost is approx. $45 a roll.
However, the D&G tubing makes absolutely excellent droplines. They stay flexible, and we were putting spouts on them with no tools.

Leader 30p lateral lines and D&G droplines make for a good combo. We probably installed ~15,000 taps last year with these materials (under vacuum though).

OH! one more thing- Try and get the leader end hooks. The kind that is a combination hook and dropline T are just miserable.

We install alot of this stuff and we really get to find out what works and what doesn't. We have a woods that was installed with the dark blue D&G tubing, before the 30p was available. It's easy to see the superiority for lateral line tubing.

[jrose1970]

Thanks! That is good info. I like most that you get 800 ft with the 30P vs. 500 with the D&G.

[celliott]

Thanks! That is good info. I like most that you get 800 ft with the 30P vs. 500 with the D&G.

I do too! It's a better value, but I really like the extra 300ft because I don't end up chasing after tubing throughout the day as much as with 500ft rolls (regular 5\16 tubing is all 500ft rolls as well). It's the same size as a 500ft roll of 5\16 too.

[Backyardmaple]

Has anybody ever thought of using a sous vide to help preheat the sap. It is a commercial submersion cooker/ circulator used in restaurants. It has me curious because it can maintain temp of +/- .2 degrees indefinitely and can boil water in a bucket

[Chuck White]

We gathered the sap and made another 13.8 gallons of syrup today!

The run was pretty-well shut down at the time we gathered!

[Hackermatack]

Holly moley did it run last night everything was full or running over at 2 AM. Gathered over 7000 gallons so far and more to do should be a 300 gallon day. Wahoo