MAPLE SIRUP PRODUCERS MANUAL 



25 



ALUMINUM WIRE 



VENT TUBE 



^ ID. TUBING 

 16 V 



Chart 5.— Vent tube and drop line assembly. 



Spouts. — Spouts have two tubulations, one 

 for discharging the sap and the other for vent- 

 ing gases. 



Tees and Connectors. — Plastic tees, connect- 

 ors, and other fittings of appropriate size are 

 required for connecting droplines, lateral lines, 

 and main lines. 



Hypochlorite Solution. — A commercial bleach 

 containing 5 percent of sodium hypochlorite is 

 diluted with water at the rate of 1 gallon of 

 bleach to 19 gallons of water. 



Germicidal Pellets. — One germicidal pellet is 

 required for each taphole. 



Some producers find it desirable to flush all 

 new tubing with a stream of pure water for 10 

 to 15 minutes before putting it into use. This 

 removes any soluble material in the tubing, 

 including that which might produce an off- 

 flavor. 



Droplines can be completely assembled at odd 

 hours before the sap-flow season. They are 

 assembled before they are installed in the 

 sugar grove and are not disassembled until 

 they need to be replaced. A complete dropline is 

 used for each taphole on each tree. 



To install the lateral and main-line tubing so 

 that it will have the desired pitch without sags, 

 lay out the route it should follow before the sap 

 season when the ground is bare and the trees 

 along the route have been blazed. Painting the 

 trees with vertical lines (blaze marks) will show 

 the number of tapholes to be made per tree. 

 The paint can be applied in a fine stream from 

 a pressure paint can. 



Where the slope of the ground is not too 

 steep, it is recommended that a tractor with 

 scraper blade be run over the route to level it. 

 A short time before the sap season, the trees 

 should be tapped and the tubing installed. Al- 

 though this can be done by one man, a three- 

 man team is more efficient. Not more than 25 

 droplines (tapholes) per lateral line should be 

 installed. 



V/f 



Li, 



Beginning at a location farthest from the 

 storage tank and where two lateral lines con- 

 verge, main lines should be laid in the most 

 direct route to the storage tank (figs. 44-49). 

 Low places should be avoided if possible. The 

 first length of the main line should be V2-inch 

 LD. The size should be increased as the quan- 

 tity of sap entering it increases. On level 

 ground, a V2-inch main line will carry the sap 

 from 75 tapholes. Where two or more V2-inch 

 I.D. main lines converge, they should be at- 

 tached to ^/4-inch or 1-inch main lines. These, in 

 turn, are connected to still larger main lines as 

 the number of converging lines increases. In 

 many sugar groves only V2-inch LD. main lines 

 are required. 



There is no absolute rule regarding size and 

 length of main lines except that they must be 

 large enough in diameter to prevent buildup of 

 back pressure. Pressure buildup can easily be 

 seen by installing 6- foot lengths of ^/is-inch vent 

 tubes in a vertical position at the junction 

 points. If sap rises in the vent tubes, the main 

 line is too small. The carrying capacity of a V2- 

 inch main line equals three to four ^/le-inch 



