Yup. Exactly. It releases about 30 litres of sap at a time.

Ohhhh, so it's part of the sap collection process. That makes sense that you gotta get the sap out of the vacuum side as it fills up, without pressurizing the whole system

It's like an airlock. The whole system is under vacuum. The vacuum sucks the sap in from the trees and it fills the top chamber. When the top chamber is full valves change that isolates the vacuum pump and releases vacuum in the upper chamber by letting air in. That forces a check valve in the tubing from the trees closed so the tubing stays under vacuum. Then, the weight of the sap pushes another check valve open and lets the sap run into the lower chamber. When the sap has all run out of the upper chamber the valves reset and it starts sucking sap in from the trees again while a pump pumps the sap from the lower chamber into a IBC.

I love the DIN stuff.

The vacuum releaser is like an airlock. I draw the hole system down to a moderate vacuum which pulls the sap in from the trees. Once the upper tank is full I have to get the sap out somehow. If I just open a valve the vacuum will suck air in but the sap won't run out. The vacuum releaser closes a valve to the vacuum pump and opens a valve to the air. That releases the vacuum. When the air rushes it it closes a check valve that keeps all the tubing in the woods under vacuum then the weight of the sap pushes another check valve open and the sap runs into the lower tank. When the sap has all run out the valves reverse, a vacuum is drawn in the top chamber, and the sap starts coming in from the trees again.

The idea is to get the sap out of the vacuum without letting all the vacuum all the way out to the trees go. It takes a while to get the whole system back down to vacuum so I preserve as much of it as I can.

What's a vacuum releaser? Are you doing this to reduce the amount of boiling the sap you need to do?

DIN supremacy

What is it for?

McMaster Carr is not inexpensive, that's sure, but they have everything I need and normally deliver the next day if I order before 4 PM. I don't normally buy from them but there are times where the length of time that it takes me to source something and have it delievered is outweighed by the convenience of just ordering something and having it delievered to my door the next day.

I'm spoiled here in the hammer I got hydraulic shops, tubing suppliers, and fluid power suppliers galore.

I like McMaster Carr but damn they have a premium price and a Soviet style approach to their products. No brand choice. You get what you get, brands be dammed.

There's a hydraulic place in Smiths Falls. I'm actually on the McMaster Carr website right now making up an order. I might order from Granger instead because they always throw an Atomic Fireball into the box.

Wait until you see the home made controller that runs the whole system.

I love me a good fluid delivery system. I personally I do alot of hydraulics. But you tree thumpers got some wild shit going on.

Got a good hydraulic shop in ottawa area?

mmmmmMaple!

Very thoughtful. I will make sure not to reuse these holes, so that the sapwood under the bark can heal fully.

They're added in post to help people who might not know what they're looking for.

Well, I'm pleased to have you experience it vicariously through me. Please feel free to ask any questions that might come up.

Do the red circles help make sure you don’t use the same hole twice?

Not at all. I can't possibly engage in maple engineering but I'm happy watching from the bleachers. 😄

I hope you're not too disappointed. I created this community so that I could share all the things that I do and build to make maple syrup and so that other hobbyist and artisan maple syrup makers could share their stuff.

Don't know what I expected when I subbed to this community but it wasn't actual maple engineering. 😄

As built that one drove me crazy. The slot was not alligned with the center of the straight coupler. I cut it off and welded it in the correct position. I would really like the slot to be narrower so that it catches the small couplers like the flat hooks better andI would like them a few millimeters longer and with a bit more of a bend in it. It's an easy fix but it's one of those things that I just never seem to get around to.

It works really well as it is but it would be that much better with a bit of modification.

Yes. No tape means that the line is as put to bed with the taps capped and the lines full of isopropyl alcohol. Orange is the color my son puts on the loops once he has been through with the chainsaw if there is something that needs my attention. As I work my way through the system once I have the lines tightened and any repairs made I put green tape on the loop. I start at the far end of the system and work my way forward. When I go back out I start at the first line that doesn't have green tape and continue to work my way in. When I start testing I will start at the far end and once I have each line free of leaks and rinsed with hydrogen peroxide I remove the green tape. Any fittings that need attention or and points where there is a leak in the line gets orange tape if I don't repair it immediately or if someone other than me finds the problem. When everything is ready to run there will be no tape anywhere on the system.

Once the run is finished I go back out, pull the taps, and run in isopropyl alcohol. I put a green flag on the last line that I worked on, moving it forward as I go. When I hit the sugar shack the lines are free of flags and put to bed for the year.

Babe, wake up, there are new Maple Engineering posts!

Do you deliberately use different colors to identify when repairs happened?

I love specialized tools. I love specialized tools modified to become more specialized even more