Plate Cooler

case 5150

How many use a plate cooler in there parlour and do you fiind them neccessary.
personnally i dont have one, but i wonder are they neccessity and if so for what reasons
thanks

case956tom

case 5150 wrote: »

How many use a plate cooler in there parlour and do you fiind them neccessary.
personnally i dont have one, but i wonder are they neccessity and if so for what reasons
thanks

they will cool the milk quickly should help a bit with tbc too, the lad i milk for has two one supplied from the mains water the other one supplied from an ice builder.

pms7

I was going to get one just to save on electricity costs. Presume it is worthwhile.. Anyone know anything about newer honeycomb design ones?
If you check out your water and milk flow rates, talking a big cooler to match them up properly.

whelan1

we have one, drives me mental in the winter time as sawdust blocks the bleed hole and we have to open it every 2 weeks:mad: but it is great for cooling the milk quickly, the water then goes for the wash down pipes in parlour and to the power hose for washing down

flat out !!

whelan1 wrote: »

we have one, drives me mental in the winter time as sawdust blocks the bleed hole and we have to open it every 2 weeks:mad:

Is your milk filter not on the line before the plate cooler?

freedominacup

flat out !! wrote: »

Is your milk filter not on the line before the plate cooler?

Yeah that doesn't sound right to me either but I'm no expert.

whelan1

flat out !! wrote: »

Is your milk filter not on the line before the plate cooler?

yes it is.. thats why its such a pain in the arse... it shouldnt be blocking up

freedominacup

whelan1 wrote: »

yes it is.. thats why its such a pain in the arse... it shouldnt be blocking up

Your standard stainless sock filter housing c/w spring and rubber bung/seal?

whelan1

freedominacup wrote: »

Your standard stainless sock filter housing c/w spring and rubber bung/seal?

yup takes 24 inch x 3 sock... only use good socks , there are crappy one out there

bt12

whelan,
so should a micro filter and this will sort it out, bad job to be ripping
the cooler so often you will damage the seals

whelan1

bt12 wrote: »

whelan,
so should a micro filter and this will sort it out, bad job to be ripping
the cooler so often you will damage the seals

more like damage my hands, everytime i open the fecking thing i get a cut:mad: i have said it to milking machine man before , must get on to him again

freedominacup

bt12 wrote: »

whelan,
so should a micro filter and this will sort it out, bad job to be ripping
the cooler so often you will damage the seals

Our milk machine guy would need a very good reason to rip the plate cooler. A lot of things need to be done right putting them back together.

jayc12

I used to have a problem similar to whelan, our milking machine man told me to put in a new filter after milking before washing and it solved the problem. You would be surprised by what dirt is still in the line after milking.

bbam

whelan1 wrote: »

more like damage my hands, everytime i open the fecking thing i get a cut:mad: i have said it to milking machine man before , must get on to him again

This must be a right royal pain... I always hated opening a plate cooler. We would have recommended opening them once a year...

When your man is back ask if the filter is sized big enough to manage comfortably for your number of cows..

If the area of the sock is too small it will become overly contaminated and possibly force very fine particles through.. I presume this is what is blocking the bleed hole rather than large chuncks of sawdust... A sort of very fine dust??

I'd say a larger filter might help.. Often parlours are extended, sometimes more than once and the inline filter is forgotten in the upgrade.

mf240

jayc12 wrote: »

I used to have a problem similar to whelan, our milking machine man told me to put in a new filter after milking before washing and it solved the problem. You would be surprised by what dirt is still in the line after milking.

+1

td5man

jayc12 wrote: »

I used to have a problem similar to whelan, our milking machine man told me to put in a new filter after milking before washing and it solved the problem. You would be surprised by what dirt is still in the line after milking.

Could you leave the filter housing open for the first stage of rinsing and then close it up to rinse the plate cooler. Does rinsing with the filter in not leave sediment in the line.

bbam

jayc12 wrote: »

I used to have a problem similar to whelan, our milking machine man told me to put in a new filter after milking before washing and it solved the problem. You would be surprised by what dirt is still in the line after milking.

How long do you leave in the new filter???
For a rince maybe, but I wouldn't recommend a filter in for the main washing.. It can slow down the flow too much and reduce the effectiveness of the washing..

mf240

bbam wrote: »

How long do you leave in the new filter???
For a rince maybe, but I wouldn't recommend a filter in for the main washing.. It can slow down the flow too much and reduce the effectiveness of the washing..

Dosent slow it down. I change the filter after every second milking here and in the summer it might be every fourth milking,only tbc problems we ever have are tank related. 17 to 20 for the last few months.

bbam

mf240 wrote: »

Dosent slow it down. I change the filter after every second milking here and in the summer it might be every fourth milking,only tbc problems we ever have are tank related. 17 to 20 for the last few months.

I've seen clients get away with similar use on filters and then some who would be hammered with TBC or with ruptured filters if its not changed with every milking... Often it can be down to plant design, milking practice and initial water quality.. chemical usage too!!

Back to OP's query..

Water supply is something to consider when weighing up the plate cooler idea.. Are you on a metered supply from a cost perspective, if not how good is your supply, lads with marginal supply wells are often shocked with the water consumption. Can you do like whelan and re-use the water..

I've seen cases where lads are looking at installing plate coolers, single or double stage but they really should have been looking at tank capacity and efficiency. OP are you sure your tank is operating 100%, if not you could consider looking at this first..

mf240

BBAM you seem to know your stuff whats your take on icebank versus d expansion.

I have nightrate meter installed and the d. expansion takes a nice while to cool down the milk.

Serviuce guy told me to stay away from icebank tanks but I am half thinking of changing to one.

bbam

mf240 wrote: »

BBAM you seem to know your stuff whats your take on icebank versus d expansion.

I have nightrate meter installed and the d. expansion takes a nice while to cool down the milk.

Serviuce guy told me to stay away from icebank tanks but I am half thinking of changing to one.

Sorry...
I worked on the machines but not tanks...
I'm sure some of the lads here who have researched their purchases will have opinions... I've seen a good few two stage plate coolers where the second stage was ran through the ice bank on the tank.. lads would have sworn by it..

keep going

With the electric milk pu p the plate is not as effective and I have more plates I can put in , I have 44 already and I have 20 more and im wondering will it make a difference

bt12

have u variable speed milk pump, i'm not a fan of a solenoid on water
cools way better with water on full time

Buford T. Justice XIX

keep going wrote: »

With the electric milk pu p the plate is not as effective and I have more plates I can put in , I have 44 already and I have 20 more and im wondering will it make a difference

I was the same and was told that it would make only a marginal difference. The extra cooling from more plates will only take a couple of degrees of temperature out.

I put in a variable speed milk pump and it helped somewhat.

I am going to put in a second plate cooler after the first (on mains water) and run it with well water. Hope to have it in start of next month.

milkprofit

whelan1 wrote: »

we have one, drives me mental in the winter time as sawdust blocks the bleed hole and we have to open it every 2 weeks:mad: but it is great for cooling the milk quickly, the water then goes for the wash down pipes in parlour and to the power hose for washing down

Put filter before plate cooleer

milkprofit

bbam wrote: »

How long do you leave in the new filter???
For a rince maybe, but I wouldn't recommend a filter in for the main washing.. It can slow down the flow too much and reduce the effectiveness of the washing..

Put in new filter before washing no problem
If affecting slowing finding something wrong with design
Why would u reside filter at less than 50 cents