Haygain users help please

[Cobbychic]

I recently bought a Hay gain, the one that takes a full bale.

The fuse on the main fuse board keeps tripping after it’s been on for a minute or so, any ideas what would be causing this?

 

[lizziebell]

Could be that you haven’t got a sufficient power supply with everything else being drawn off the same supply. Have you tried it with everything else turned off ?

 

[Cobbychic]

Could be that you haven’t got a sufficient power supply with everything else being drawn off the same supply. Have you tried it with everything else turned off ?

It’s in the house electrics so it should be ok. I did think that when it happened up the yard so brought it home but same thing happens

 

[Hobo2]

They do give sockets a beating and have burnt out ours in the past so they do take some power. the socket you are using may not be set up for the sort of power they need. I would get an electrician to check the set up. Also do make sure you put it through a timer so it turns off after the hour required . It is to easy to forget and then you risk burning it out. Otherwise they are great machines and well worth it.

 

[TPO]

Mine has melted a few plugs, including sparking, tripped the fuseboard numerous time and the plug gets very hot.

Dad is an electrician so he checks everything regularly. I use a timer switch to make sure it's on for as short a time ad possible. Since thr sparking incident (in thr hay shed!!) it never gets left unattended. It's unplugged immediately to cool down and the electrics are turned off in the shed every night.

I'll ask dad tonight if there's anything causing the tripping and any fix. It does sound just like it's overloading. When my haygain is on I can't run anything g else in thr shed like the rug dryer or kettle

 

[Exasperated]

Mine has melted a few plugs, including sparking, tripped the fuseboard numerous time and the plug gets very hot.

Dad is an electrician so he checks everything regularly. I use a timer switch to make sure it's on for as short a time ad possible. Since thr sparking incident (in thr hay shed!!) it never gets left unattended. It's unplugged immediately to cool down and the electrics are turned off in the shed every night.

I'll ask dad tonight if there's anything causing the tripping and any fix. It does sound just like it's overloading. When my haygain is on I can't run anything g else in thr shed like the rug dryer or kettle

that is plain DANGEROUS, melted plugs and sparking!?!
No way acceptable, what on earth do Haygain have to say about it?
Or your Dad? Can’t imagine he’s happy about the risks you’re running, and better a coughing horse than a roasted one, surely?

 

[KatieDM]

It might be like when you have a larger cooker and it needs a different amp/voltage? I remember our range cooker needing 32A!

 

[Gingerwitch]

I was told not to use a timer ?

 

[Ditchjumper2]

I never used a timer and plugged mine in in either garage or stable. It was a full bale one and never had any issues.

 

[TPO]

that is plain DANGEROUS, melted plugs and sparking!?!
No way acceptable, what on earth do Haygain have to say about it?
Or your Dad? Can’t imagine he’s happy about the risks you’re running, and better a coughing horse than a roasted one, surely?

The load is just so high for them.

The plug and fuse get checked very regularly. One time it melted the socket and I couldn't get socket to turn off or pull the plug out.

Got new circuit breakers put in too.

Haygain said they'd never had anything like that and plugs shouldn't get hot?! I've not contacted anyone since they changed hands

 

[ElleSkywalker]

My haygain melted two plug sockets before we got a 16amp plug socket and plug sorted at great expense. They 'never heard of a plug socket melting before' when I told them about it too. Although the product is very good in a lot of ways I found their dreadful gaslight-y behaviour very hard to take. I owned two full sized ones in my time. Hopefully the new owners won't be the same.

Now I just buy haylage

 

[Hobo2]

I was told not to use a timer ?

When I say timer ours is a booster switch that you would use on your home boiler to run it for an hour . So there are two sockets linked and the steamer goes in the one above so it only works if you trigger it. I am of an age when it is to easy to forget it is on and this prevents any boiling dry and wreaking it.

 

[July dreamer]

I bought a second hand Haygain One last year, picked it up the day before they announced they were going into liquidation! Worked perfectly for 2 months, running it between 1 and 3 times a day. Then I descaled it for the second time (aiming for once a month), ran one load of hay, perfect, loaded up the second lot, turned it on and it tripped the electrics and has done so every time I've tried since. I keep meaning to try somewhere else but since It worked perfectly for 2 months I assume it's the boiler that is the problem. The plug would get warm but not hot.
Never used a timer but set the timer on my phone and never went too far away.

I will try and contact the new people to see if it is fixable but I lost the enthusiasm for it. Shame.

 

[Exasperated]

My haygain melted two plug sockets before we got a 16amp plug socket and plug sorted at great expense. They 'never heard of a plug socket melting before' when I told them about it too. Although the product is very good in a lot of ways I found their dreadful gaslight-y behaviour very hard to take. I owned two full sized ones in my time. Hopefully the new owners won't be the same.

Now I just buy haylage

Bloody hell!
don’t need an electrician to know there’s something badly wrong with that appliance, or badly wrong with the way it has been marketed - necessary to re wire your property before safely usable? - that is outrageous.
My experience with Haygain was a smaller machine, no issues whatsoever, so can’t really comment on after sales service - and sold it with the horse we bought it for. It was regularly de scaled using ordinary vinegar, worked well for three years.
However, it’s possible to safely DIY hay steamers, seen this done, and our vet actually advises COPD owners to do this rather than fork out for branded versions. Should we need another, I would consider home made, certainly having read all this!
A wheelie bin (or similar container); drainage hole in the bottom; low set hole to put steamer hose into; metal grid fruit rack / baking rack / type thing in the bottom to raise your haynet above the incoming steam; ordinary domestic wallpaper steamer; ordinary timer to plug steamer into - a lot less than I paid for the Haygain, for sure, and possibly a darn sight safer?

 

[Tiddlypom]

I’m still using my original boiler from 2017 on my Haygain one, I use it on a timer. It’s been faultless and is used at least once a day.

The boiler for the Haygain one is only 1.5KW, though. What is the KW rating for the boilers for the bigger Haygains?

 

[Ditchjumper2]

My haygain is very old and never had issue so makes you wonder if they changed the spec?

 

[Exasperated]

I’m still using my original boiler from 2017 on my Haygain one, I use it on a timer. It’s been faultless and is used at least once a day.

The boiler for the Haygain one is only 1.5KW, though. What is the KW rating for the boilers for the bigger Haygains?

Still should be within household wiring capacity though, or carry warning advice to the contrary.
From memory when the decorators were last here, two of them were full-time using large, commercial-type, wallpaper steamers and boiling endless cups of tea all day (fast boil kettle, too!), no issues....
Haygains need to be cleaned / de scaled every week to optimise performance, so any build up in the boiler could affect function and safety, but melting sockets and causing sparks is potentially lethal.

 

[Exasperated]

I was told not to use a timer ?

?but without any timer, you’d just have to babysit it for an hour? That doesn’t align with the marketing blurb on convenience, peace of mind, saving time, all the rest of it!
industrial wallpaper steamers may be available with built in timers - trying to remember what our last lot of decorators had on theirs, kind of looked like a clock at the plug end and temperature / pressure gauge on the body.

 

[Steerpike]

Never had that issue with my haygain, I set a timer on my phone to remind me to turn it off after an hour whilst I go and do other things.

 

[Ceifer]

Never had that issue with my haygain, I set a timer on my phone to remind me to turn it off after an hour whilst I go and do other things.

I do this also. I’m sure it says in the literature not to use a timer plug on it.

I can’t remember the details but we had the plug changed on ours by an electrician to one of these

I’ve also had a few people say they’ve had melted plugs and reported it to Haygain so they are lying.