Considering Variable speed milk pump and wanted!

[Horn&corn]

I’m hoping to cut the Elec bill. Is a vari speed milk pump worth it? I could put 32mm pipe to plate cooler and then collect water for drinking etc. Anyone got the system and has it cut the cooling requirements much?
Also I’d like the control box etc for a 3phase milk pump ideally. Thanks

 

[Durry cows]

I put in a westfalia gea vari pump this year very pleased we’ll worth it lovely and quiet and as you say cut electric bill

 

[rusty]

I have a vari speed milk pump and really like it. It's quieter in the parlour and plate cooler works better. During milking bore hole water is on full speed continually . Milk pump hardly ever switches off as it just pumps slowly unless receiver gets above half full when it will speed up. This only happens when you get all 20 units on all together.

 

[Penmoel]

I put in a westfalia gea vari pump this year very pleased we’ll worth it lovely and quiet and as you say cut electric bill

What sort of cost are they??

 

[upnortheast]

One of the best ways of saving leccy is cooling milk with mains or ideally borehole water. Should be able to get it to about 10 degrees C for free (if you can collect & use the water for drinking)
Alternativly a heat exchanger taking the heat from the tank compressors to heat the washing water.
or do you heat all your water and generate most of your ice on economy 7 tarriff, Circa 6p Kw against 13p KW

 

[stablegirl]

We have a variable speed milk pump.

I wouldn't bother, caused quite as lot of niggly problems.

We have a very big plate cooler running off bore hole and I don't think the milk pump makes much different, but as you say they are quieter.

I would look at heat recovery, variable vacuum pump. Maybe even swapping your borehole pump from 32mm to 50mm and firing more water through your existing set up.

 

[sjt01]

Variable speed vacuum pump is brilliant, not only saving electric but nice and quiet, lower wear, and if you are out of the parlour and a cow kicks a unit off you can hear it rev up. Variable speed milk pump, if its a normal centrifugal type, will be more questionable. Start/stop operation on a single phase motor is not as kind as it is on a 3 phase, so 3 phase is far preferable. For a variable speed drive the difference in speed between full flow and half flow on a centrifugal pump is quite small.

 

[upnortheast]

so 3 phase is far preferabl

Lely robots use a variable speed vac pump on a single phase suipply using an inverter

 

[coomoo]

Variable speed here on three phase excellent bit of kit. Bus as mentioned a great big plate cooler with borehole water blasting through it.

 

[Horn&corn]

Thanks for all this. We can pump allot of water through plate cooler and catch water for troughs now but the milk pump only runs for perhaps a third or quarter of the milking time so a vari speed milk pump could be great. We’ve installed heat recovery but not convinced it’s saved much money but just added another thing to go wrong. How much did vari speed cost folk and is there any way to DIY a cheap and effective solution?

 

[upnortheast]

I struggle to see how a vari speed milk pump will save much leccy. It will pump X kgs milk through your milk line. Whether it is running full speed or half sped it will take the same power to push that milk.
Now a vari speed vacum pump is a different matter

 

[Penmoel]

I understood the theory was that a slow steady supply of milk to the plate cooler will make that work more efficiently and this save electric in the tank not needing to cool it.

. variable speed milk pump, if its a normal centrifugal type, will be more questionable. Start/stop operation on a single phase motor is not as kind as it is on a 3 phase, so 3 phase is far preferable. For a variable speed drive the difference in speed between full flow and half flow on a centrifugal pump is quite small.

Having read this post does make me think again though

 

[Blue.]

I struggle to see how a vari speed milk pump will save much leccy. It will pump X kgs milk through your milk line. Whether it is running full speed or half sped it will take the same power to push that milk.

Me too!

My milk pump is 550watts,so basically @ max it costs 5p/hr to pump milk in my 32/64,I do have a large vessel and my pump rarely stops during milking.

 

[Horn&corn]

My understanding is that it takes basically the same amount of energy to pump a volume quickly or slowly. When milk is pumped slower through the plate cooler it has more time to loose the heat against the plates rather than the milk going through in quick bursts as ours does at the moment. The electric is saved on the tank cooling capacity as milk goes in much colder. We have 2 tanks and the major problem comes when someone forgets to switch the pipe in milking as too much warm milk takes ages to cool. Then the tanker turns up early and has to wait an hour or more before milks cold

 

[Blue.]

My understanding is that it takes basically the same amount of energy to pump a volume quickly or slowly. When milk is pumped slower through the plate cooler it has more time to loose the heat against the plates rather than the milk going through in quick bursts as ours does at the moment. The electric is saved on the tank cooling capacity as milk goes in much colder. We have 2 tanks and the major problem comes when someone forgets to switch the pipe in milking as too much warm milk takes ages to cool. Then the tanker turns up early and has to wait an hour or more before milks cold

Hence why I have a small milk pump,slow steady pumping.

I also have another pump I switch on for washing,cheap simple and effective.

 

[Horn&corn]

Like that idea. How does the pipe work work for that and does it flood the cut off jar?

 

[Blue.]

Like that idea. How does the pipe work work for that and does it flood the cut off jar?

Only flooded the jar once this year,someone milked a very mastitic 3 quarted cow in by mistake blocked the filter would have stopped any set up.

I just have two pumps piped into a tee on the base of the vessel,on runs through the filter other returns to the wash trough (switched on only when washing)

 

[upnortheast]

When milk is pumped slower through the plate cooler it has more time to loose the heat against the plates rather than the milk going through in quick bursts as ours does at the moment

So is it cheaper to have a bigger plate cooler than a vari speed pump ?

 

[vantage]

Me too!
I do have a large vessel and my pump rarely stops during milking.

Mrs Eulb has a big smile

 

[Milkcow365]

Any update on vari speed milk pumps? Looking at the new electric tariff, my electric usage is a bit to high so looking at ways to save. My compressors nearly never stop cooling milk, hoping to get the milk into the tank cooler.