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FAQ's How much does it cost to operate a steamer? The cost varies according to your electric service provider. The Traveller and StableMate units steam generators are 1500kWh. The Professional and Bale Buster generators are 2750kWh with 220volts. All USA and Canada generators have a maximum kWh of 1500 at 110 volts. 1kW=1000 watts of power. These numbers will allow you to calculate the usage based on your power providers unit rate. How much water should I add to the steam generator? This would depend on the amount of hay you are steaming. If you are steaming to the maximum capacity, a full boiler of water would be necessary. Reduce the amount of water by the reduced quantity of hay for a smaller load. By using just enough water to steam the required amount of hay, you will reduce the steam time and lower the operating cost. How long do I need to steam the hay for? An average steam time is about 35 to 40 minutes per hay chamber on the Stable Mate and Traveller, from when the boiler is at full steam. Times for the Professional will depend on the amount of hay you are going to steam at a time. The time it takes to steam depends on the quality of the hay and how compressed it is. If you are using slabs of hay from a bale it will obviously take longer than hay pulled apart and broken up. You may need to experiment during the first few sessions to set the time to suit your hay. What happens if I forget to switch the unit off and it runs dry? The units all have built in automatic thermal power cut outs, as well as a built in timer on the new deluxe models, so the steamer will switch itself off automatically should it be inadvertently left running. It should be noted that the thermal switch will re-connect when the boiler temperature falls. Prolonged usage of this will result in damage to the boiler and we recommend that for the models without built in timers you purchase a suitable timer to plug the unit into. Any timer used should be rated at 10amp or 3 kW. How long before my horse can eat the hay? You can feed straight away after steaming, unless your horse prefers his hay cold. To your horse, it’s similar to as if you were eating a bowl of soup. You start from the outer edge of the bowl as this is the coolest part, which also then gives the center of the soup more time to cool down. The hay on the outside cools very quickly and will not burn or scald the horse and we have found that horses actually prefer warm hay over wet, cold hay. How do I store steamed hay? In general you should not need to store hay for long periods, it is always better to prepare the hay fresh. You can setup your steamer with a timer so that the hay is prepared in advance and ready to use. For example if you do not have much time in the mornings, you can set your steamer on a timer in order for it to start steaming at a pre-determined time before you are due arrive at the stable. This way the hay is already steamed and waiting to be fed to your horse. If you should need to store steamed hay you can leave it in the steam chamber or bag. All hay prepared should be used the same day and checked that it has not dried out in hot conditions. Why do some of your products require 220 Volt? After testing our products in the USA, we felt the 110 volt steamers did not perform to our standards. Rather than selling a product that would disappoint the customer, we stuck to the 220 Volt steamers which have been used in the UK for years.
You can use any existing receptacle, but we recommend a 3 Prong 240 V, 20 Amp. grounded receptacle, (NEMA 6-20R). What type of timer would you recommend? For 110 volt steamers we recommend the Intermatic Heavy Duty Timer, HB 113C For 220 volt steamers we recommend the Intermatic Heavy Duty Timer, HB 114C which requires a NEMA 6-20R receptacle.
General recommendations
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