Surge Milker repair parts pageSurge Milkers are an excellent way to milk family cows.  Clean Milk. Easy to wash.

  Every week there are dozens of surge milkers on ebay.  If you are a seller, here are some listing tips to better present and sell your bucket.   If you are a buyer, then you will want to look for theses things when bidding.

1. Use good photos.   Take a photo from the top, side, inside and show the lid latch and handle area clearly.  Clean up the background.  Keep clutter and other junk out of  your picture.    a picture of the pail on green grass is a nice contrast.  Red is also a good background color.  avoid gray or silver or concrete as these colors are too close to the stainless color and they reduce the quality of your pictures.  Crop your photo down to get close.  Close up photos more clearly show the quality and condition of what you are selling

2.  Indicate model.  Surge made 4 sizes of seamless stainless steel  buckets.  They made a seamed stainless steel bucket from 1936 to 1954 in one size only.  The buckets with seams were soldered together.  the inner solder seam is not easy to clean, so I do not recomend these old seamed buckets for milking.  Pleas put a photo of the side of the pail, so the buyer can see if it has a seam or not.  The only good way to know what size you have is to fill it with water and measure the water.  Just take a gallon jug and add water til its full. Keep track of how many gallons and you will have the size.   The serial number on the pail does not indicate when it was made or what size it is.  Listing the serial number offers the buyer little help in determining the value of your Surge Bucket.

3. A clear photo from the side or 45 degree angle should show if the handle is bent or if the lid holding latch is missing or has been re welded or soldered on.  Almost all repaired lid latches result in tarnished stainless, slag, or other mess that is not sanitary.  A bucket with a good lid latch is worth much more than one that is missing.

4.  What is included:  are you selling a bucket only?  or a bucket with lid, shells and pulsator?   Take a picture of all the items together and more closeups of the individual components.  You can add up to 12 photos.  The extra pictures could make your surge milker bring a lot more.

5. No used rubber components.  Do not sell or ship used rubber components.  Buyers should never re-use used rubber components on a surge milker.  The used rubber items are not sanitary and could give your cow an udder infection (mastitis) or could make your family members sick from bacterial contamination.  Sellers please discard the used rubber items. That will make the milker lighter to ship and reduce the risk of someone getting sick from old contaminated rubber.  Several sellers,  including my company, sell rebuilt Surge milkers.  If you are selling a Surge Milker that you have replaced the rubber components with new, clearly state that in your listing.

6. Pulsators;  List the condition of the pulsator and the model.   Such as used and working,  used and unknown,  Rebuilt and tested.  Surge Pulsators were made from 1921 to 1999.  they are no longer available new.  Interpuls offers a replacement pulsator and mount that fit 'c' style lids.  You can purchase them from Hamby's or other online mail order companys.   There were three models of Surge metal pulsators - the style is determined by the first letter of the serial number on the bottom of the pulsator.  To remove the pulsator, turn it 1/4 turn and it should pull straight up and off.  'C' model pulsators have serial numbers that begin with a c or a p.  S model pulsators have a serial number that begins with an s.  S model pulsators were made from 1921 to the 1950's.  Both pulsators parts interchange.  the only basic difference is the center block where the pulsator mounts to the lid.  C model pulsators have a rubber o-ring under the pulsator.  S model pulsators mounted metal to metal. The third pulsator was a variation of the c model that was used on Surge's first pipeline milker.  it has a shallow mounting hole in the middle.  It will not work on a Surge bucket lid

7. Logo;  Add a picture of the surge logo.  Logo's were either soldered on or etched into the top of the milker.  If there is not a Surge (in cursive writing) name on the pail, chances are it is another brand.  Most Surge buckets were made in the USA (indicated on the oval logo).  A few seamless models were made in Belgium (indicated in the handle).  Tell us where your bucket was manufactured

8. Boxes to ship your Surge Bucket.  You can find a box at your local hardware store, Sears appliance store or similar.  Good choices are Microwave boxes, Push mower boxes, computer boxes, etc.  These boxes are usually just thrown away.  Go get one for free,  re-use it and save a tree.

9. Pine Tree Surge Milkers;  Pine Tree branded Surge milkers were made from 1921 to 1936.  they are NOT stainless steel and I do not recommend them for milking use. They are collectable though, so it may bring a good price on ebay.  If you have a pine tree milker and it has the rubber components, sell them with the Milker.  This is one case you should not discard the rubber components.

10. Instruction book; You can view/print  the instruction book for Surge milkers.  Add value to your listing by printing off this instruction manual and including it with your Surge Milker or add the link to your listing so your buyer can read the instruction book. You have my permission to reprint the manual for your Surge milker sale. You will have to email or call us to get the adress.  ebay will not allow me to post the link here.

Learn more about surge milkers at the Surge Milker history page. surge milker (dot ) com  You can use some of the text from the history site, so your customers can also learn more about what you are selling.