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kingOFgEEEks

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It's that time, isn't it?

My youngest tagged along last night for the sap collection. It takes a half hour to empty the barrel into the one on the back of my side by side when using the little 12v pump, but that just means time to check lines and goof off.
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Thesandman

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Our deer got some relief from the hard crust snow and ice but now 4" forecast overnight. Looks like I might tap some Saturday.
 

Ryan Browne

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It's that time, isn't it?

My youngest tagged along last night for the sap collection. It takes a half hour to empty the barrel into the one on the back of my side by side when using the little 12v pump, but that just means time to check lines and goof off.
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Looking good!!


Thanks for the tag, I was just thinking that we need a thread for this year. Glad Chris took care of business.

Still cold here too, but hopefully we'll start tapping next week. Buncha new $hit for me to figure out this year. Ran 2/0 aluminum down to my shack this fall to run my RO. Added about 1700' of 1" mainline suspended on high tensile fence wire through the woods to get better vacuum transfer to the taps. Of course that also meant a real vacuum pump. 3 phase Quincy rotary vane pump with a VFD and an electric releaser to separate sap and pump it right to my shack.

My dealer was having a 24% off sale last spring. I guess I went off the deep end. Hopefully it will save a ton of work and really increase yield. I only wish I had another 500 taps on my property. All this equipment would handle it and is way overkill for 300 taps, but that's all I've got. Anyway, I'm almost done running lateral lines. Still need to plumb up my pump and releaser and cut in a bunch of drop lines. Looks like I should be able to get it done just in the nick of time.

Hope the rest of you goofballs with taps out have a great year!
 

kurtz

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Cleared all the blowdowns off of our lines today. Next step is to start fixing all the bad spots in the lines.


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kingOFgEEEks

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Cleared all the blowdowns off of our lines today. Next step is to start fixing all the bad spots in the lines.


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Never ending job. Especially with ash trees mixed into my hardwood stand. At least it's free firewood!
 

Ryan Browne

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Here's what I was working on this morning: after I hung the mainline through the woods I ran "lateral lines" out from the mainline. Each has 2-6 taps and is under 100' long. They connect to the high tensile wire using these nifty slide fittings. 20220228_121708.jpg

After that the tail is connected to these saddle fittings (there's many designs but this one from DSD Star seems like the best to my eye:20220228_121702.jpg

When it's finished the saddle fitting isn't under any tension and you have a nice loop. 20220228_121712.jpg When you're checking for leaks you push the loop down and observe how the sap is moving. If it's slow that's good, if there is air flying past the liquid you head up the lateral looking for vacuum leaks.

The forecast shows at least a week until we need to tap. Hopefully I'll have my ducks in a row by then.
 

kurtz

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Do you use the DSD Stars taps? If so what style and hole size? Do you like them?


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ramrat

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Here's what I was working on this morning: after I hung the mainline through the woods I ran "lateral lines" out from the mainline. Each has 2-6 taps and is under 100' long. They connect to the high tensile wire using these nifty slide fittings. View attachment 328928

After that the tail is connected to these saddle fittings (there's many designs but this one from DSD Star seems like the best to my eye:View attachment 328929

When it's finished the saddle fitting isn't under any tension and you have a nice loop. View attachment 328930 When you're checking for leaks you push the loop down and observe how the sap is moving. If it's slow that's good, if there is air flying past the liquid you head up the lateral looking for vacuum leaks.

The forecast shows at least a week until we need to tap. Hopefully I'll have my ducks in a row by then.
Ryan my boys and I plan on stopping over to visit on the 13th.
 

Ryan Browne

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Do you use the DSD Stars taps? If so what style and hole size? Do you like them?


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I'm using the clear h20 innovations 19/64 taps this year. I tacked them on to my spring order while I was taking advantage of the discount. Only the slides and saddles are from dsd. Next year I'll switch to the leader check valve spouts. I've used them before and had good results.
 

Ryan Browne

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Working on my "pump house" this morning. Pump on the right, moisture trap on the left, releaser in the middle. Space heater under the vacuum pump. Sap will enter in the back. There's two ports in the releaser that aren't visible from this side. Then it gets pumped out through the check valve on the top right. Pretty excessive for 325 taps, but that's what I've got. Wish I had about 800 more I could hook up right here. 20220301_104205.jpg
 

Ryan Browne

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Ryan my boys and I plan on stopping over to visit on the 13th.

Looking forward to it Lee. Send us some warm weather at least a few days before you head north.
 

Ryan Browne

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I've got about 90% of my taps in. Not a crazy number, but looks like I'll be at about 330ish when I'm finished. Up from 270 last year. My new mainline allowed me to reach some taps I couldn't previously. Today is the start of our first stretch of warm weather, so hopefully we'll be swimming in sap by the weekend. I'm finishing up some coffee right now and then @ramrat and his crew are dropping by on their way back to Iowa. I wish we had some sap to cook for their visit, but maybe next year.
 
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