Vacuum limitation of SS Dairy receiver/releaser

[S Wright]

So, my family was finally forced out of the dairy business about a year ago, and they've been gradually getting rid of the equipment from the parlor and milkhouse. I am finally getting ahold of all of the SS pipeline for plumbing up my sugarhouse and bulk tanks, and they still have the receiver/transfer pump and controller that it looks like I'm going to be able to get ahold of. For 2 years I have been using a mechanical releaser, but I am at work during the day and can't keep tabs on stuff and had issues with ice a few times last year, so I'd like to go to an electric releaser. The only thing that I am a little wary of is whether or not I can pull high vacuum on one of the SS receivers. I know lots of people do it with the glass jars, but I wasn't sure if the SS style can handle the higher vacuum. I've seen enough pictures of people turning Zero tanks into a crumpled pile of SS to make me a little wary. So has anyone used one of these or seen one used with vacuum of 27"+?

This is almost identical to what they've got:
receiver.JPG

If it wasn't costing me anything, I'd give it a shot and hope for the best, but since it is a multi-member family farm and a couple of the uncle's are a little territorial about stuff, I've got to tread lightly and give them a fair price for it even though Dad would be fine with me just taking it all.

[Paddymountain]

I have a BB2 and a glass receiver. The most I can pull is about 22" of vacuum. Now, that's with the pump on the bottom of the jar to
dump it. I think the problem you will have is there, the pump is not strong enough to overcome the vacuum. Mine actually struggles at 18".
What I did to alleviate the problem was install a solenoid bleed valve in the vacuum line between the pump and the jar. I had to orifice
it to bleed through about an .060 hole. The solenoid is turned on by the pump switch. When it calls to dump the pump kicks on
and the solenoid opens bleeding vacuum down to a manageable 18" of vacuum. This way you don't loose that much vacuum and it
recovers fairly quickly.

[BreezyHill]

WP_20150331_21_26_09_Pro.jpgWP_20150324_14_05_21_Pro.jpg
I have for a few seasons been using a glass delaval releaser and glass tees to connect the incoming wet lines to the releaser. No issues at all. The pump below the jar has a check valve after the pump so the pump is all ways wet so there is no issue.

Glass is great for tours nd watching the system cycle. If you have an issue with the probe sensing let me know Ill explain the fix.

These units make vacuum not consume it like a mechanical releaser.

[S Wright]

I've got a glass receiver jar that I bought with my Surge Alamo 60 a few years ago, never used it yet since I didn't have a pump for it, so I could plumb it up instead of the stainless tank, but since the pump is already plumbed for the stainless receiver, I was hoping to use it since I'd have to buy it with the pump & controls anyway. It sounds like people have mixed results overcoming the vacuum, which is likely just a matter of setup or the condition of the pump, but so far I've still only ever seen it done with the glass jars, which leaves my original question still out there. Will I collapse the SS receiver since it was never designed to do that? The fact that there is a vacuum relief valve mounted 2 feet away from it and not just at the pump makes me wonder if that was a source of concern and the reason Delaval added in the additional safety.

[mellondome]

is it a relief valve or is it an air injector used in washing the pipeline?

[S Wright]

Well, I guess I'm not positive on that. It appeared to be a relief, there is just a spring loaded ball under the filter when I remove the cover, but I'm really not certain. My family has done dairy since long before I was even a thought (or my dad for that matter), so I've just grown up around everything and the older I get, the more I've come to realize that there is a lot of stuff that I never stopped to think too much about what/why it was, I just did my chores and if it didn't break while I was around I may have walked past the same piece of equipment for almost 30 years without taking a closer look. That was definitely the case with vacuum systems in general, it was not until I had actually started setting up vacuum for my woods that I walked into the milk parlor and realized that aside from my mechanical releaser, there was really no difference between the pipeline and pump and what I had done in my woods. Would have made wrapping my head around everything a whole lot easier if I'd made that connection much sooner, but since I wasn't around it every day anymore it just never even crossed my mind.

[S Wright]

Breezy, are you using a milk transfer pump for yours or something else? I keep going back and forth over whether to buy the setup from my family and hook it up as is, or to use the glass receiver that I have and just source a pump. I have the old control panel that came with the glass receiver (he had already sold the pump from it) but it is in rough shape, so I'm not sure if I'd be able to salvage parts and rewire or if I'd be better off to start fresh.