HOT WATER FOR DAIRYING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17833, 14 July 1921, Page 9

HOT WATER FOR DAIRYING.

i.wi "ni 1.11 ■ \j n unin I uiu, o ADVANTAGE OF ELECTRICITY. Discussing the use of electricity on dairyfarms Mr. L. Birks, the Government's electrical engineer, writes in the Journal of Science :—"'Once the mains are run for driving the milking-machine, the power can be used for heating water during the intervals when the milking-machine is shut down. One horse-power of energy is capable of heating up 12 gallons of water from 50 degrees F. to the boilingpoint in nine hours. This is sufficient to scald out thoroughly the whole of the milking and separating plant. The apparatus is very simple indeed, consisting only of a 10 gallon cistern with the small elec-tric-heating element brazed into the bottom, and provided with a change-over switch which automatically connects up the heating-element when the motor k stopped and disconnects it when the motor starts up again. At a small additional charge another such cistern might be fitted in the kitchen and another in the bathroom. These cisterns must, of course, be thoroughly and carefully lagged with a good heat-insulating material, such as felt, pumice, or asbestos composition, to prevent the loss of heat by radiation during the long period of heating if the above efficiency is to be attained. As compared with the usual method of scalding by carrying across a couple of kerosene tins of fairly hot water from the kitchen—probably several chains away—spilling and cooling it on the way, until there arrives at the milking shed some six gallons of only fairly hot water, the innovation of 12 gallons" of electrically-heated boiling water right on the spot may work a revolution in dairying second only to that due to the introduction of the milking-machine itself. Owing to the reduction in the labour of milking, the milking-machine has resulted in the large quantity of butter-fat now produced in New Zealand. Owhi" to the improved cleanliness of the apparatus the electric hot-water system mav yet have as important an influence on its quality, and with the increasing amount of milk that is going into preseved and dried-milk processes the high quality is of increasing importance."