# Vacuum Pressure, etc., on Surge Milker



## DairyLove (Nov 1, 2014)

We are just setting up our milker with new inflations and shells, and vacuum gauge. It belongs to my daughter and son-in-law, but I'll probably be the main user. From what SIL could tell, the vacuum gauge should read between *20-24 in / Hg*. Is that correct? For now we will only be milking one goat at a time.

My other question regards cleaning the inflations and shells. Should they be separated for cleaning or not? I've seen it mentioned both ways. The instruction manual from Hamby says (on page 8.):

"With the patented Surge Shell the inflation never goes back in exactly the same way, and you prolong the life of the inflation by removing it from the shell. This is the ONLY way to make sure the inflation is properly cleaned."

http://www.surgemilker.com/instructions/surgebucketmilker2013.pdf

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.


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## Goat Town (Nov 20, 2010)

A reading of 20 in./hg is way too high to milk anything. In fact it could cause severe damage to teats and udders. Rather you should milk goats at no more than 12 in./hg vacuum.

The answer to your question about cleaning shells and inflations depends on what type of shells and inflation you are using. Remember the source of the quotation is original Surge documents. Those instructions were meant to apply to rubber inflations.


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## DairyLove (Nov 1, 2014)

Thank you for that. I did find a video that said to go no higher than 12 -15, and we have kept it closer to 10-12, except a little higher for one older doe that is a bit harder to milk. However, we've been having trouble getting it to work as intended, and have temporarily gone back to hand milking. My daughter does most of that, as I have tendinitis, but she's gone more this week, so ....

As to the shells and inflations, that explains a lot. Ours are clear and somewhat flexible--plastic? We haven't taken them apart, as it isn't easy and I've gotten the impression that most people nowadays don't do so. Thanks so much.


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## Goat Town (Nov 20, 2010)

They sound like clear plastic shells and silicon inflations. I would not take them apart nor would I use an inflation brush on them.


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## bbrealey (Nov 3, 2011)

DairyLove said:


> Thank you for that. I did find a video that said to go no higher than 12 -15, and we have kept it closer to 10-12, except a little higher for one older doe that is a bit harder to milk. However, we've been having trouble getting it to work as intended, and have temporarily gone back to hand milking. My daughter does most of that, as I have tendinitis, but she's gone more this week, so ....
> 
> As to the shells and inflations, that explains a lot. Ours are clear and somewhat flexible--plastic? We haven't taken them apart, as it isn't easy and I've gotten the impression that most people nowadays don't do so. Thanks so much.


I've been using One Step cleaning solution which I get from a brewery supply or Amazon. It's what they use to clean micro brewery equipment and works beautifully for my Hamby milking machine. You don't need to rinse your milking machine after using (but I give mine a quick rinse). Try it as it's so much easier than anything else I've tried.


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