3/16" Tubing Vacuum System
Building a temperature controlled maple tubing vacuum system For the 2021 season we converted our operation to 3/16" tubing and built a temperature controlled vacuum system that uses a diaphragm pump. The setup worked amazing and we averaged over 1 gallon of sap per tap each day, totalling 19 gallons of sap per tap and 0.275 gallons of syrup per tap on the season. In 2022 this system averaged over 0.35 gallons of syrup per tap on the season. We used Leader clear check valve spiles with approximately 100 taps on a total of 6 lateral lines of tubing (~16 taps per line). Our lateral lines have fairly good elevation drop to them (over 100 feet total and at least 10 feet from the final tap in most cases). This resulted in good natural vacuum and increased our sap yields. Additionally, the small diaphragm pump induced additional vacuum in the lines, further increasing sap yields. We consistently saw approximately 29 inHg of vacuum at the top of each line and 23 inHg at the pump