Post by simplynaturalfarm on Apr 6, 2011 16:15:14 GMT -5
Well, While I can not get anything on the jetter to work (it will not get the pulsator going!), I did decide to try the clean in place idea with a plain bucket of water and putting the claws down into it with the pulsator facing up the correct direction (like several people mentioned). I do not have Dawn's knack for cutting vacuum off so put plugs in them all and then would pull a plug quickly and drop that one into the bucket etc. It pulsed (slower than it should), but it sucked up 2 gallons of water YEAH! and while pulsing YEAH! I sat there for half an hour (and have a royal headache from oil fumes and no filter on the exhaust) pulling plugs, flipping inflations this way and that to get the silly things to kink properly - Lannie I feel a tiny bit of your frustration and that was bad enough! I was convinced it was the line with the hole that was the problem, but with a plug it maintained vacuum perfectly at 13lbs pressure. I finally finally finally after practicing with one inflation unplugged and three plugged (so I wouldn't have so much to think about) figured out where the thing has to be when it is hanging down (mine sucks air if it just hangs upside down naturally), and then slowly unplugged a second and practiced holding the two under the pulsator and then pulling one up and down and then up to let it suck air, and push it down slightly to build vacuum again. I eventually got so I could put all four without plugs in one hand under the pulsator to cut off leaking air and then hold one up onto a fake cow and it required some serious dexterity - Dawn does not tell us what dexterous hands she must have LOL. I will definitely have to train relief milkers in how to use this system!
I still have odd issues where if it loses vacuum it doesn't want to pick it up properly even with hoses kinked or inflations plugged and I have to unscrew the pulsator dome slightly and it whooshes air and then starts pulsing and I screw the dome back on. I don't know if that is a defect or what . . . I'll have to talk to Bill when he comes back from vacation.
I am going to practice it quite a few more times before attempting it on a cow who is not used to being machine milked - I can just see tangled feet, inflations picking up straw, dirt or something they shouldn't etc. And I'm thinking maybe I will let Freddy nurse off one teat while I milk the other three with a machine and she will stand still for him - I have vacuum on my mind and was trying to figure out how not to lose vacuum if Freddy lets go of the teat then I figured the other three would drop off LOL (sorry, headache and need a break from this machine *G*). Thankfully the cow does not work that way!
If I could just get the jetter to work, but until then I could do the old tub full of water.
Oh, and in re. to the vacuum pump. I have a HVAC JB 1/2 hp that does 7 CFM and I put the gauge, regulator and stallcock on myself. I get 25-28 with the stallcock shut abut only top out at 15 with it hooked up to my milker. I am assuming this means I am leaking air somewhere in my milking system, but as long as I can get what I want (it is set to 12.5 right now), does that matter? I am just tickled it is pulsating, sucking liquids and keeping the pressure where I want it!
Heather
I still have odd issues where if it loses vacuum it doesn't want to pick it up properly even with hoses kinked or inflations plugged and I have to unscrew the pulsator dome slightly and it whooshes air and then starts pulsing and I screw the dome back on. I don't know if that is a defect or what . . . I'll have to talk to Bill when he comes back from vacation.
I am going to practice it quite a few more times before attempting it on a cow who is not used to being machine milked - I can just see tangled feet, inflations picking up straw, dirt or something they shouldn't etc. And I'm thinking maybe I will let Freddy nurse off one teat while I milk the other three with a machine and she will stand still for him - I have vacuum on my mind and was trying to figure out how not to lose vacuum if Freddy lets go of the teat then I figured the other three would drop off LOL (sorry, headache and need a break from this machine *G*). Thankfully the cow does not work that way!
If I could just get the jetter to work, but until then I could do the old tub full of water.
Oh, and in re. to the vacuum pump. I have a HVAC JB 1/2 hp that does 7 CFM and I put the gauge, regulator and stallcock on myself. I get 25-28 with the stallcock shut abut only top out at 15 with it hooked up to my milker. I am assuming this means I am leaking air somewhere in my milking system, but as long as I can get what I want (it is set to 12.5 right now), does that matter? I am just tickled it is pulsating, sucking liquids and keeping the pressure where I want it!
Heather