Tubing and vacuum
Six calculators for laying out and running a tubing system.
Mainline sizing#
How many taps a mainline carries at that size and slope, and when to go wet/dry. Type the taps on the line and its slope, and pick a diameter.
It tells you whether that line is comfortable, the range of taps it carries, and the smallest size that carries yours. The table is the manual's Table 6.3. Add the run's length and the pump's CFM for the Cornell check on friction.
What size vacuum pump#
The pump this many taps needs, and the room you want above it. Type the taps on the system.
One CFM per hundred taps at 15 inches is a floor, not a target. It buys no headroom for the taps you have not put in yet, and none for the leaks every system develops by March.
What the install takes#
Every foot of tubing and every fitting a woods needs, from its tap density. Type the acres, the taps an acre and the taps on a lateral.
It gives the 5/16 tubing (laterals, drops and loops), the mainline, the mainline wire, the side tie wire, and the spouts, tees and end Ys.
3/16 line: will it work here?#
Whether this hillside has the fall for 3/16, and how many taps belong on the line. Type the fall from the top tap to the bottom of the line, the slope of the run, and the fittings in it.
It answers yes or no, gives the natural vacuum that fall makes, the taps to put on the line, and what the tubing could carry. Below that, what one leak does to the vacuum.
Are my lines tight?#
Whether the pipeline holds the vacuum the pump makes, and what the loss costs in yield. Type the vacuum at the pump and at the far end.
Measure during an average or better run; a tight reading on a dead day tells you nothing. If the far end is uphill of the pump, add the elevations: a gauge reads against the air around it, and the air is thinner uphill.
Lifts and ladders#
How high sap will lift at your vacuum, and how many legs the taps call for. Type the vacuum at the lift and the taps to lift.
About 15 taps a leg, 3/16 or 5/16 star. More legs than that lifts worse, not better. Below, the Cornell figure for lines by the mainline size the ladder sits in.
FAQs
Comfortable means it has room for the taps you have not put in yet. If you plan to add a lot more, check the line against the taps you will end up with.
A normal, well-kept system reads in the high eighties. Each point of vacuum lost at the far end costs yield; the calculator puts a number on it.
Have a question this doesn't answer? Email info@sapspy.com or call 920-809-4811 — we're producers too.
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