{"id":2133,"date":"2025-03-24T19:31:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T00:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/?p=2133"},"modified":"2025-03-24T19:31:41","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T00:31:41","slug":"r-o-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/?p=2133","title":{"rendered":"R\/O Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Identified the root cause of the R\/O performance problems. While the older membrane may have contributed, there is a cracked fitting on the bottom of the pressure vessel. The membrane rests on this fitting so the pump can inject sap into the membrane for concentrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"398\" data-id=\"2132\" src=\"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_1.jpg\" alt=\"Broken fitting on bottom of pressure vessel\" class=\"wp-image-2132\" srcset=\"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_1.jpg 300w, http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_1-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Broken fitting on bottom of pressure vessel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"398\" data-id=\"2131\" src=\"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_2.jpg\" alt=\"Top view of broken fitting\" class=\"wp-image-2131\" srcset=\"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_2.jpg 300w, http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_2-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"398\" data-id=\"2130\" src=\"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_3.jpg\" alt=\"Bottom view of broken fitting\" class=\"wp-image-2130\" srcset=\"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_3.jpg 300w, http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Fitting_3-226x300.jpg 226w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After inserting the new membrane, the high pressure pump wouldn\u2019t even start. Swapped back the old membrane. Same result: the high pressure pump wouldn\u2019t start. Started troubleshooting. Since the pumps tried to start, it pointed to the pressure vessel. The broken fitting was reveled when we removed the pressure vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two screws that fasten the fitting are directly across from each other. This creates a hinge across the fitting. As the high pressure pump engages, this fitting will move up and down slightly but parts not screwed down, will move on the hinge. It\u2019s isn\u2019t much movement, but over time, the plastic on the hinge weakens and eventually, it failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This didn\u2019t just happen. Performance felt like it was declining over several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The R\/O is down until we get a replacement part. If it arrives by Wednesday, we\u2019ll continue with the season. Otherwise, we might end the season. It\u2019s hard cooking without the R\/O. With the sap we\u2019ve collected, we are within 2 gallons of an average season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Into the woods by 6:00 AM. Took four hours to get ready. We collected the taps left over from yesterday: 40 gallons. Pumped sap from the collecting tank to the storage tank, then worked on swapping out membranes and running a 100 gallons rinse on the new membrane. When the high pressure pump wouldn\u2019t engage, we suspected a problem with the new membrane, so we swapped back to the old membrane. We it still wouldn\u2019t engage, we switched to cooking without the R\/O.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We cooked until 4:00 PM. For the first time in many years, we didn\u2019t finish. There is close to 200 gallons left to cook tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>3\u201d of snow overnight and into this morning. Temperature upper 20s to lower 30s. This afternoon, temperature rose to mid-30s. There will be sap tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back to the farmhouse by 4:15 PM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Identified the root cause of the R\/O performance problems. While the older membrane may have contributed, there is a cracked fitting on the bottom of the pressure vessel. The membrane rests on this fitting so the pump can inject sap into the membrane for concentrating. After inserting the new membrane, the high pressure pump wouldn\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2025-season-108"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2134,"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2133\/revisions\/2134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mapleacres.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}