Post by Lannie on May 2, 2011 14:07:34 GMT -5
Boy have I been through it with this milker recently. I'm about to tear my hair out.
This is a Surge belly milker - it came with narrow inflations and green stripe vacuum hoses that go from the inflations to the pulsator. They fit the vacuum ports on the inflations just fine, but when I got the new lid for Bandit with the medium bore inflations, the vacuum hoses are too big. They pop off with the slightest little jolt. If I manage to get one on and Bandit hmphs, it falls off, at which point I have to shut the pump off, remove the inflation(s), stick the hoses back on. Sometimes it falls off and she hasn't moved at all. So I've been having to milk her one teat at a time, holding the inflation with one hand and the vacuum hose with the other. This takes approximately 20 minutes or so, and she's done letting down before I finish. What a pain.
So I called Hamby's and talked to Paul to ask him what the solution might be. They fit the narrow inflations just fine, but not the medium ones. He said the green stripe hoses were larger diameter and I needed different, skinnier hoses, so he sent me a set gratis. (Bless his heart!) I just got them today and they are certainly skinnier. There was no way I could get them on the pulsator at all. The outside diameter of the hose is the same as the outside diameter of the port on the pulsator. Finally I remembered Joann saying something about boiling water... so I boiled some water, stuck the ends of the hoses in it, then burned the crap out of my fingers getting them on the pulsator, and that was even with my Playtex rubber glove on! But they're on. I don't think they're coming off again, unless I cut them off.
My problem is getting them on to Cricket's narrow inflations. The vacuum ports on hers are ever so slightly larger than the ones on Bandit's. Paul said they would be the same size, but they're not. I don't have a micrometer, but you can tell just by putting the vacuum hoses on them that they're different sizes. I can horse them on Cricket's inflations here in the house at room temperature, and I might not have too much of a problem during the summer when it's warm, but what about winter when it's cold out? Am I going to have to invest in another pulsator as well? I have to change lids out in the barn in between cows, and it's going to be very hard to get these new hoses off Cricket's inflations in order to milk Bandit. I could switch them around and milk Bandit first, then worry about getting them off Cricket's inflations once I'm back in the house, but I'm concerned about doing anything with them in below freezing (or below zero) temps.
Does anyone have any advice? And more to the point, did any of that make SENSE?
~Lannie
This is a Surge belly milker - it came with narrow inflations and green stripe vacuum hoses that go from the inflations to the pulsator. They fit the vacuum ports on the inflations just fine, but when I got the new lid for Bandit with the medium bore inflations, the vacuum hoses are too big. They pop off with the slightest little jolt. If I manage to get one on and Bandit hmphs, it falls off, at which point I have to shut the pump off, remove the inflation(s), stick the hoses back on. Sometimes it falls off and she hasn't moved at all. So I've been having to milk her one teat at a time, holding the inflation with one hand and the vacuum hose with the other. This takes approximately 20 minutes or so, and she's done letting down before I finish. What a pain.
So I called Hamby's and talked to Paul to ask him what the solution might be. They fit the narrow inflations just fine, but not the medium ones. He said the green stripe hoses were larger diameter and I needed different, skinnier hoses, so he sent me a set gratis. (Bless his heart!) I just got them today and they are certainly skinnier. There was no way I could get them on the pulsator at all. The outside diameter of the hose is the same as the outside diameter of the port on the pulsator. Finally I remembered Joann saying something about boiling water... so I boiled some water, stuck the ends of the hoses in it, then burned the crap out of my fingers getting them on the pulsator, and that was even with my Playtex rubber glove on! But they're on. I don't think they're coming off again, unless I cut them off.
My problem is getting them on to Cricket's narrow inflations. The vacuum ports on hers are ever so slightly larger than the ones on Bandit's. Paul said they would be the same size, but they're not. I don't have a micrometer, but you can tell just by putting the vacuum hoses on them that they're different sizes. I can horse them on Cricket's inflations here in the house at room temperature, and I might not have too much of a problem during the summer when it's warm, but what about winter when it's cold out? Am I going to have to invest in another pulsator as well? I have to change lids out in the barn in between cows, and it's going to be very hard to get these new hoses off Cricket's inflations in order to milk Bandit. I could switch them around and milk Bandit first, then worry about getting them off Cricket's inflations once I'm back in the house, but I'm concerned about doing anything with them in below freezing (or below zero) temps.
Does anyone have any advice? And more to the point, did any of that make SENSE?
~Lannie