Shayne, that was an interesting article. We don't use a vacuum system, because our sugar bush is about a half mile from our sugar house. We do use gravity lines, though. We are small, in that we only have 300 taps...it's just the two of us and therefore we don't have to rely on anyone to help. Maple syrup production varies from your back yard producers to your large commercial producers. It is a lot more scientific than most can imagine. My husband is very technical and as a result we are very precise in our production. That's why we can produce a quality product that we are proud of. Thanks for posting the link to the article. Oh, and the article was right that it takes approx. 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of pure maple syrup (actually 43). But that is assuming the sugar content of the sap coming out of the tree is 2%. If it is 1%, then it takes 86 gallons of sap. So, being a maple syrup producer is truly a labor of love. If you use pure maple syrup, you can appreciate it's value.