what kind of old dairy pump is good

[twitch]

I saw a dairy vacuum pump in a guys barn a few weeks ago when i was borrowing some cattle gates definitely has not been used in a long time. Just looking for info on what I should look for if I go back to check it out.

[michiganfarmer2]

my first thought is see if it is rotory, or piston, and if it spins freely. I use a surge sp22. It is a twin piston pump. It will pull 22" continuously, and handle 1800 taps with a tight tubing system. Surge also made an sp11 witch is a single piston. Bothe the surge pumps are very durable. I dont know anything about rotory pumps.

[Dill]

One that turns over. Its amazing how you can just walk up and plug in one of those old pumps that haven't milked in decades.
I borrow an old rotary surge with the original motor . The old guy who refuses to sell it to me, milked cows from the late 50s to the 80s with it. I changed the belt and oil and away we go.
Any pump is better than no pump.

[j parker]

I use a surge sp11 piston pump works great just over 500 taps and holds a steady 23 inches of vacuum. very durable. mine works well with a 6 horse gas engine at idle speed the rotary vane pumps have to turn faster though. last season I was getting about 8 hours of run time from one gallon of gas. Like the other guy's said any vac pump is better than no pump.

[farmall h]

Massport 5. They are ALL good!!

[Bucket Head]

I believe the SP11 pumps are twin piston pumps also, not single cylinder units. And the others are right- all the old dairy pumps will work for sap harvesting and any amount of vacuum is better than no vacuum.

Steve

[lpakiz]

I use an SP 11 and run it on a 3 1/2 HP gas engine. Plenty of power. About 20-22 hours runtime on 2 1/2 gal gas

[michiganfarmer2]

Ive been using a generator to run the electric motor on my sp22. The generator uses about 10 gallons of gas a day. I REALLY need to put a small engine on the vacuum pump, and stop using that generator.

[lpakiz]

Michiganfarmer, Some smaller snowblowers and garden tillers had those 3 1/2 HP gas engines. You Need to make sure it is a float type carb, not one with the carb mounted to the gas tank. You need to be able to feed it gas by gravity from a larger tank, mounted above the engine.