Mid 20s overnight. Sunny and low 40s during the day. Started melting by 10:30 AM. Trees warmed slowly and started dripping by Noon. Not enough to collect today, but hopefully tomorrow we can collect. There is ice in the buckets. Trees will drip into the evening. Low 20s tonight so ice will re-form. We’ll need to evaluate the ice situation tomorrow.
Into the woods by 8:30 AM to fix a broken spout and replace the zip tie on a sap-sak. Also brought the top cap of the pressure vessel to the farmhouse for maintenance. The O-ring has a larger cross-section than the spare O-rings we have so we couldn’t replace it. But the O-ring looks OK and is pliable. We removed the buildup of food grade grease to restore good surfaces for the O-ring to seal against. Also replaced bolt with burr on the threads that could affect how it tightens down.
A note on food grade grease. This grease isn’t the type used to lubricate other machinery like vehicles, engines, other other equipment. This grease is specifically designed and blended for use in the food industry where it could have contact with food. If you ingest this grease, you won’t get sick. Don’t eat it, but incidental contact isn’t harmful. It conforms to FDA Regulations CFR 21 Section 178.3570 for Incidental Food Contact. It’s also: NSF H1 Registered; Halal Certified; and Kosher Certified. With the R/O, we use it as a sealant for the O-rings where it is exposed to incidental contact with sap in the R/O.
Tomorrow’s forecast is partly cloudy and low 40s. Monday and Tuesday’s forecast is low 50s. That’s warmer then we like.