Dry tip or water flotation

• Dry tip operations will only be justified in a small operation. Where dry tipping is used the tipper should always be of the type unloading from the top of the inverted bin, reducing movement of fruits within the bin.
• Other types of tipper where fruit is down loaded from the bottom cause fruit to be bruised, blemished or punctured by stalks. In addition, any rots within the bin will break up causing rot residue to infiltrate the packed product.
• Dry tipping should make use of a water cleansing system (spray bars fitted in line using potable water) to remove where possible any undesirable foreign matter (rot residue, dust etc.).
• Ideally water flotation systems will start with automated bin down loading, allowing fork-lift truck loading of the equipment and automatic selection (usually from stacks of three, on a roller feed entry system) of fresh bins into the water flotation system, reducing unnecessary labour input. Empty bins will be collected and removed in the same manner.
• Once down-loaded the fruit will travel in water flumes to the grader.