Home made vapouriser

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It works.

The ceramic heater I detail in the first post cost about £4.60. I did file it down a bit to slim the depth, and added a sawn down copper end stop for a pan (£2), which I wired onto the aluminium heater, and screwed the whole lot onto a wooden handle. It is slim enough to go into a hive entrance.

It did take about 4 mins to come up to temp and another 5 mins to sublimate all the oxalic ( but I just bunged in a dollop - probably too much), but it was done in the open air so I could observe what was happening.

OK, it is slow and a bit Heath Robinson, but for £7 I have a workable vapouriser.
 
Shaming me yet again Drex - I having just bought a Varrox for £100.
PS: are your bees still alive?
 
It works.

The ceramic heater I detail in the first post cost about £4.60. I did file it down a bit to slim the depth, and added a sawn down copper end stop for a pan (£2), which I wired onto the aluminium heater, and screwed the whole lot onto a wooden handle. It is slim enough to go into a hive entrance.

It did take about 4 mins to come up to temp and another 5 mins to sublimate all the oxalic ( but I just bunged in a dollop - probably too much), but it was done in the open air so I could observe what was happening.

OK, it is slow and a bit Heath Robinson, but for £7 I have a workable vapouriser.

Well done, you! I do like a bit of Heath Robinson, especially if it saves from £20 - £90. I've seen a couple of ideas from your device for when I build mine - I've just bought the last £7 Aluminium enclosed 12V 80W PTC Heater/Heating Plate ~175℃ Max Temperature from Pedgington on Ebay. I'll post pictures when I finish it, which could be some time!

CVB
 
Shaming me yet again Drex - I having just bought a Varrox for £100.
PS: are your bees still alive?

Bees were flying yesterday. They all went into winter with adequate stores, but 3 were low and were given fondant. It has been so mild, I think stores are going to be a problem this year.

I have modified my gizmo. I have removed any surplus metal from the heating element and pan, using a grind wheel, and now having put the correct amount of OA in the pan, the heat up and sublimation times are much better.
Tomorrow will pop into my local garage and see if he will let me have an old battery he is scrapping, that still has some life in it.
What I really like about the heating element is that it does not take the temp much above that required for sublimation, so that there will be less degradation of the OA into Formic acid. I do not know why the proprietary gadgets heat up so hot.
 
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Bees were flying yesterday. They all went into winter with adequate stores, but 3 were low and were given fondant. It has been so mild, I think stores are going to be a problem this year.

I have modified my gizmo. I have removed any surplus metal from the heating element and pan, using a grind wheel, and now having put the correct amount of OA in the pan, the heat up and sublimation times are much better.
Tomorrow will pop into my local garage and see if he will let me have an old battery he is scrapping, that still has some life in it.
What I really like about the heating element is that it does not take the temp much above that required for sublimation, so that there will be less degradation of the OA into Formic acid. I do not know why the proprietary gadgets heat up so hot.

Maybe it's the formic that does the job? What are your varroa drops pre and post Rx?
 
I do not know why the proprietary gadgets heat up so hot.

They don't. They will just heat up more quickly.

Think here of your electric kettle (or saucepan of water on the hob). The temperature rises quickly to boiling point and then no further until all the water has evaporated. Same analogy here.
 
I do not know why the proprietary gadgets heat up so hot.

They don't. They will just heat up more quickly.

Think here of your electric kettle (or saucepan of water on the hob). The temperature rises quickly to boiling point and then no further until all the water has evaporated. Same analogy here.

Erm, no. Never heard of latent heat of sublimation.
 
I use a varrox on a 12 m/cycle battery. Just wondering if I could use it direct from the battery charger instead? Stoopid idea probably but after two hives done I seem to need to do a short recharge for best effect.
 
I don't know how many hives you have but I would definitely buy a bigger battery. Next year I will be leaving a big battery @ the apiary and connecting a solar panel to keep it charged throughout the year
 
I do not know why the proprietary gadgets heat up so hot.

They don't. They will just heat up more quickly.
.

From the instruction leaflet on Dave Cushmans site:-

Attention: Due to the heating action of the pan, there is a danger of melting plastified varroa bars and synthetic hives. The VARROX-vaporiser reaches temperatures of up to 300°C and can create patches of heat on the bottom and frames.

From international safety card:-

Oxalic acid may sublime at temperatures >100 °C at reduced pressure. Optimal sublimation temperature is 157 °C. At higher temperatures it partly decomposes.
NFPA Code: H3; F1; R0;
 
I use a varrox on a 12 m/cycle battery. Just wondering if I could use it direct from the battery charger instead? Stoopid idea probably but after two hives done I seem to need to do a short recharge for best effect.


Is using both an option? The charger may give too high a voltage alone but the battery would buffer it? Otherwise you need to check with a voltmeter, but a couple of downwind field trials should tell you most of what you really need to know.
 
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I use a varrox on a 12 m/cycle battery. Just wondering if I could use it direct from the battery charger instead? Stoopid idea probably but after two hives done I seem to need to do a short recharge for best effect.

I don't think that would work - my battery charger has a maximum current of less than 3 amps before a fuse blows so maximum output would be less that 35 watts. Most Vaporisers work at near 50 watts so if it did work without blowing up the charger, it would be pretty slow.

As for Drex's concern of Oxalic Acid forming Formic Acid at higher temperatures, I cannot see that that can happen in the open air (i.e. not in a pressure vessel). To get to the higher temperature, the OA has to pass the sublimation temperature of 157 degrees, at which point it vaporises/sublimates.

It seems to me it can never reach the decomposing temperature at atmospheric pressure because it becomes vapour long before then and the ambient temperature in the hive is never going to allow that vapour to reach higher temperatures - in fact as soon as it becomes vapour and leaves the Vaporiser, it must start to cool, surely.

CVB
 
I don't think that would work - my battery charger has a maximum current of less than 3 amps before a fuse blows so maximum output would be less that 35 watts. Most Vaporisers work at near 50 watts so if it did work without blowing up the charger, it would be pretty slow.
CVB

I knew it was a stoopid idea by someone who is definitely losing it - me!!! Join my club?
 
Not so sure it would blow a a fuse. In fact it should not. The fuse should not blow except on reverse connection or short circuit. The battery will still have more volts at the terminals than a severely discharged battery, so although it may draw its full output, it will still be charging into a fairly well charged battery. The sublimator should already be working pitifully slowly if the battery was so badly discharged.

The simple fact is the battery will take some time to recharge for the third sublimation, but may just manage three if there is a pause between each hive. Suck and see or work out necessary recharge times seems to be the order of the day.
 
I've also purchased one of the afore mentioned Ebay ptc heating pads for experimentation purposes.

I can get rechargeable 12v batteries from work (between the size of an average motorbike and car battery) and I also have my own Sundstrom face mask with P3 filter which is good for OA (according to their website at least). I'm also going to use Heatmate silicon as an adhesive - it's good to 300c so should be fine.
 
In exchange for two jars of honey the garage that does my car services for me gave me an old battery with enough oomph to power my gadget. Works a treat. So all in my vaporiser cost me £7 and two jars of honey. Only downside is the ceramic heaters are not wAterproof so I have to let cool down naturally in between hives. No worry. Plenty to do while waiting. I have not bothered with safety mask as I made the leads 3 m long and so can be well away from the hive during treatment. Have handled plenty of noxious stuff in my time.
 
Well done, you! I do like a bit of Heath Robinson, especially if it saves from £20 - £90. I've seen a couple of ideas from your device for when I build mine - I've just bought the last £7 Aluminium enclosed 12V 80W PTC Heater/Heating Plate ~175℃ Max Temperature from Pedgington on Ebay. I'll post pictures when I finish it, which could be some time!

CVB

Well, Drex, I finished mine earlier today and the photos show the finished item - with the Heath Robinson influence!
The base is an aluminium carpet threshold strip (skip). Above that is a strip of insulating heat-proof board (to keep the heat out of the handle - £3.95 for a piece large enough for three vaporisers). Above this is the 80w heating element that cost £7 from Pedgington on Ebay. Stuck to the top of this is a copper dish to hold the OA that I fashioned from a 75mm square piece of copper (enough for three dishes for £2.90). I stuck the thing together with JB Weld heat resistant epoxy that cost £3.99. The crocodile clips cost £1.49 and I already had the cable and the cable tidies so the whole thing cost £19.33 with enough material to make another three if the heaters were still available at that £7 price.

I tried it out with some water and it worked as intended with very little heat getting into the handle. My natural mite drop is very low - almost non-existent - so I now have to decide whether to use the new tool in earnest with OA or just keep it in readiness for when it really is needed. :ohthedrama:

CVB
 
Wonderful. With yours being 80 as opposed to my 50 watt should heat up quicker. I wondered how you were going to mount it. Nice solution. Does the heat resistant epoxy form a barrier to conductance though? If not I will use the idea on mine.
 
I don't know how many hives you have but I would definitely buy a bigger battery. Next year I will be leaving a big battery @ the apiary and connecting a solar panel to keep it charged throughout the year

Nice idea redwood but you may need a large solar panel to charge the battery at the time of year you will need it and even then it could struggle. A good thing to look into could be the 6v batteries used in fork lift trucks join two together and you could easily have something like 200 amps + to play with.
 
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