Life's little mysteries

willow_girl · #1 02/03/12, 10:15 PM

Halfway through milking tonight, the pulsator system quit working.

We shut everything down and started it up again ... it came back on and worked fine.

Never did figure out what was wrong with it!

I'm sure the cows thought we were going daft.

Karen in Alabam · #2 02/03/12, 10:34 PM

Don't you just hate that

springvalley · #3 02/03/12, 11:17 PM

Gremlins, Thats what does it, hehe, yep been there done that. > Marc

myersfarm · #4 02/03/12, 11:31 PM

I had that happen a lot in cold weather when I milked outside with a bucket milker

willow_girl · #5 02/05/12, 08:49 AM

I think the system can vapor-lock or something when it's really cold. I can remember that happening on a couple of subzero mornings up in Michigan, but it always was right when I fired it up. My boss loved those 6 a.m. phone calls ...

It wasn't very cold Friday night, though, so I don't know what was up! Guess I'll find out tomorrow, when I go back to work, whether they had any problems over the weekend ...

sammyd · #6 02/05/12, 11:55 AM

I coulda made a fortune selling cardboard cutouts of myself when I was a dairy equipment service guy. I heard it many times....but it wasn't working before you got here......

DaleK · #7 02/05/12, 02:08 PM

I had a little mini-breaker inside the pulsation control that would heat up enough to break the connection without tripping. Turn everything off for a few minutes about 3/4 through milking, start it back up and it would be fine. After about three weeks trying to figure out what was going on it finally started tripping all the way like it was supposed to and I replaced it.

**gone-a-milkin** · #8 02/05/12, 08:33 PM

Oh gosh. This reminds me of the last time we had the fed inspectors out to the farm.

They took apart the milk lines to check the sanitation in them.
Then they put it all back together.

For about 3 days I would get halfway through the shift and the pump would quit taking the milk.
That means the machines all fall off and milk pours on the ground.
I would shut it all off and take out the filter (hey, it might be a clogged filter, same symptom).
Then I would put it all together and finish up, adding at least half an hour to the whole job.

Finally, the Farmer Boss had a turn in the barn and he spent half that day tearing everything apart to figure out why it was happening.
Ended up being a ball valve in the line that was put in upside down. Grrr.

For your problem Willow Girl, I would guess it is going to go how DaleK says.
Something in there is BREAKING, but it isnt completely broken yet.
Stupid little electronic components with spiders in them or corrosion. BTDT.