Pay back on ice builders

[Cuthbert]

As the title says really, is the pay back worth the investment as electric price is going one way at the moment.

 

[Will Blackburn]

Is the difference between cheap rate and day rate growing?

 

[Cuthbert]

Don’t think so it’s around 4p

 

[Barmyfarmer]

When we had a new tank a few years ago, after doing some sums our ice builder got ripped out

 

[stablegirl]

The difference between the rates is falling all the time.

Would be a useful feature with on farm renewables, as you could build ice whenever you thought your renewables would be producing.

 

[frederick]

We have an ice builder to rapidly chill the volume of milk. Without one we would need huge compressors beyond the size of our single phase.

Those of you without is your milk fully cooled at the end of milking

 

[Will Blackburn]

We have an ice builder to rapidly chill the volume of milk. Without one we would need huge compressors beyond the size of our single phase.

Those of you without is your milk fully cooled at the end of milking

It would be if i put both compressors on, only one heats the water though. To be fair even that's not far off.

 

[vantage]

Do ice builders cope with large changes in milk volume? No point building a lot of ice if it is not used. What about afternoon/ evening milkings,do they have enough ice for that or have to build more on normal tariff ?

 

[Bald Rick]

Install a glycol snap chiller. Only cools the milk you produce down to an instant 3-4 degs so dx hardly or never kicks in plus use the waste heat off the compressors to preheat washdown water
Capital cost is highish but not when written down over 20 years

 

[Jamer]

We have an ice builder to rapidly chill the volume of milk. Without one we would need huge compressors beyond the size of our single phase.

Those of you without is your milk fully cooled at the end of milking

We have 3 ph compressors now but are looking at s/h ice banks for the same reason of cooling speed. Our issues arise from variable mains water pressure through the plate cooler. -Sadly no bore hole.

 

[vantage]

Install a glycol snap chiller. Only cools the milk you produce down to an instant 3-4 degs so dx hardly or never kicks in plus use the waste heat off the compressors to preheat washdown water
Capital cost is highish but not when written down over 20 years

Had thought of glyco cooler linked to the new tank,no compressors,just the cooler but costs were more than expected and no guarantee the cooler wouldn't cut in during the day to cool the tank,could get expensive with a 30kw cooler?

 

[Will Blackburn]

Presumably it would be saved for the pm milking?

We have 3 ph compressors now but are looking at s/h ice banks for the same reason of cooling speed. Our issues arise from variable mains water pressure through the plate cooler. -Sadly no bore hole.

How about 2 x 10,000l+ tanks and a decent pump for the plate cooler, its what we do to have enough water. One to hold cool water and one to receive warmed water.

 

[Jamer]

Presumably it would be saved for the pm milking?


How about 2 x 10,000l+ tanks and a decent pump for the plate cooler, its what we do to have enough water. One to hold cool water and one to receive warmed water.

Yeah, can see the sense of this but we are short on room and I'm talking max. 7-8k fitted c/w another plate cooler. We have power going to waste from pv so can build ice in the daytime cheaply as well. Tanker driver is in yard waiting for end of milking so we are up against it.

 

[Will Blackburn]

Cheaper than battery storage. I'll just concentrate on keeping my usage down along with those pesky renewable and feed in taxes.

 

[Jamer]

Cheaper than battery storage. I'll just concentrate on keeping my usage down along with those pesky renewable and feed in taxes.

Will, what temp is milk dropping in the tank at and does the temp of your stored plate cooler water drop enough on a summers day to be effective for pm milking?

 

[Bald Rick]

Had thought of glyco cooler linked to the new tank,no compressors,just the cooler but costs were more than expected and no guarantee the cooler wouldn't cut in during the day to cool the tank,could get expensive with a 30kw cooler?

No I would still spec the tank with dx in case the chiller goes down. We have 12hp dx capacity on 35k silo but haven’t heard it run at all since chiller was installed.
Milk is going in to the silo at 3.5 dog and stays there for every other day collection

 

[Will Blackburn]

Will, what temp is milk dropping in the tank at and does the temp of your stored plate cooler water drop enough on a summers day to be effective for pm milking?

We use the old milk tank to store the water so it is insulated. Milk goes in the tank at 16C, water is 9-10C, 2 litres of water per milk litre. The used plate cooler water is used to wash down and for cow drinking troughs. Its always fresh spring water into the plate cooler.