Home Made Oxallic Sublimator

[For want of a better word]

Well having read this thread, I am going down the DIY vapourising route.
I am trying to decide on glowplug vs water heater for source of heat.. I fancy glowplug as smaller and cheaper..

I intend to buy and make for under £30 including a 12V battery..

I reckon 120Watt x2 mins =0.33AmpHrs..
So a 7AH 12V battery in theory could do 21 hives if fully discharged..As that is unlikely to be practical (battery damage etc), say 10 hives... which would suit my requirements just fine.. (ebay item 130918310649) £13

Or maybe 9AH ebay item 130982996181 £15.

Glowplug under £3. Or water heater under £7.

Wiring? (I have some spare ) £0



Cup: made from surplus aluminium sheet. £0

Oxalic Acid 500g £5


Total £23 to £27..

Handles etc from surplus material lying around..

Please buy a mask + goggles and you could use the old grimey beekeepering gloves now reserved for nettle pulling to handle the hot kit!

Have fun
Dyffen da

 

[Canary Honey]

Glowplug under £3. Or water heater under £7.

I bought one of these last year (ebay no 281791815221 also £7) with the intention of wrapping around some thin copper sheet, forming a cup/tray. The qualities of this type of element look ideal.

I have not as yet got around to the doing, finishing and trying parts of this project.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Well having read this thread, I am going down the DIY vapourising route.
I am trying to decide on glowplug vs water heater for source of heat.. I fancy glowplug as smaller and cheaper..

I intend to buy and make for under £30 including a 12V battery..
.......

Glowplug under £3. Or water heater under £7.

Wiring? (I have some spare ) £0

Cup: made from surplus aluminium sheet. £0

Oxalic Acid 500g £5


Total £23 to £27..

Handles etc from surplus material lying around..

Steady, you'll have the Api Bioxal police after you!

CVB

 

[For want of a better word]

Steady, you'll have the Api Bioxal police after you!

CVB

Why.... cleaning the hive internals with sublimated OA is no crime... now if it accidentally also has some influence on the dreaded varroa mite is pure serendipity!
Just like scrubbing the hen house with disinfectant Shirley!

Nos da

 

[madasafish]

Steady, you'll have the Api Bioxal police after you!

CVB

I only use it for hive cleaning.

Cough.

 

[BrianO]

Any downsides to vaping, as in surely with the acrid vapour chance of die off ? ( question )

Any reports of losing Queen ?

 

[madasafish]

Any downsides to vaping, as in surely with the acrid vapour chance of die off ? ( question )

Any reports of losing Queen ?

It appears to be efficacious and safe for bees. And dangerous for beekeepers if applied carelessly.

And a source of considerable profits for equipment sellers, I reckon the cost for the typical equipment on sale at c£100+ is under £15...

 

[BrianO]

Yeah, I hear ya, going to change tack and try DIY option first.

Will be interesting to try assemble, and from posts seems to be the way to go , as in sublimation versus other methods of treating.

Is open mesh floor left fully open / ventilated whilst vaping ?

 

[pargyle]

Is open mesh floor left fully open / ventilated whilst vaping ?

No ... you need to close off the mesh floor and make sure the top of the hive is closed as well .. you can vapourise through the entrance as long as you stuff the rest of the entrance with foam rubber or a cloth. Or, if you construct a tray of some sort to go under the mesh floor you can do it from under the mesh floor (check what the mesh is made of - the heat will melt anything plastic covered). After the battery is disconnected you need to leave the hive sealed for a time so that the OA has time to sublimate onto the interior of the hive .. somewhere about 5 or 6 minutes I reckon but it varies depending on how much OA/how big the hive is. You need to leave it long enough that the 'smoke' has gone ... and don't try lifting the roof or you will get a lung full !!

 

[BrianO]

Cheers Pargyle, Thanks Appreciate the advice !

 

[Stiffy]

This is the route I am going to try with my poly hives. Ebay 301071199068 to stop the poly from melting. I believe Falesh has a video on you tube using it.

I use a soldering mat secured with wire under the heater, costs a tenner from screwfix. The water car water heaters work okay but get very, very hot indeed glow, so need to make sure your timings are spot on.
S



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[madasafish]

Well since I last posted I decided on the glow plug route: far more likely to survive and less bulky. I have made the handle from surplus pipe , cut a piece of copper pipe lengthwise to provide copper to make the heating pan and ordered the glow plug,oxalic and face masks from ebay. All I need now is a battery(to buy), wiring (to find in garage) and some heat resistant mat (ebay).

I'll stay within my £20-25 budget for it all.

 

[BrianO]

I've seen worse that work but there are a few things about the video that you should be aware of:

1. You need to be sure that you have enough room to get it into or under your hive. The conventional way is through the entrance although with a bit of jiggery pokery you can do it under a mesh floor.

2. You will need to do a test to see how long it takes for 1gm 2gm or 3gm to evaporate fully so you know how long to to have the battery connected. HOWEVER... this is not something to do inside the workshop !!

3. OA Vapour is not very nice .. you really don't want to get a whiff of it - ideally you should have a fume mask when you are using it and even then stay well away from the vapour. You really will not enjoy getting any in your lungs ... you will cough like you have never coughed if you do ...

There are quite a few on ebay ... from a couple of quid upwards ... but if it was me I'd pay a bit more for this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-kettl...330302?hash=item589d6da3be:g:07sAAOxygPtSsZBK

As it's only got a single coil and it looks a bit thinner than some ... the leads look a bit thicker as well - with 12v dead load through it and delivering 120watts I don't like the idea of those that appear to have little more than bell flex on them.

Thanks !!! Ordered.... Will report back if works and how well... after looking at the Varrox for 165$ ... think this is worth a try. Even if the element lasted a season still would be worth it at a fraction of the cost.

 

[madasafish]

Completed and tested home made glowplug based:
Total Costs for vapouriser
1 glowplug (ebay) £2.75

1 length of surplus 15mm copper pipe for handle - F.O.C.
1 length of surplus 22mm copper pipe cut open
and shaped for heating tray - F.O.C.
1 surplus set of cheap jump leads for car - F.O.C.
1 used Yuasa 42Ah calcium battery ex Gumtree £10.00

Solder,flux and gas for heater to solder handle
to tray Wood for handle cover. Tape. -F.O.C.

Total cost of Vapouriser £12.75

Oxalic acid/mask £12.00


Total expenditure £24.75


Tested without oxalic acid: works perfectly . Pictures to follow ..

Key "design " !!!! aim - keep height under 12mm to ease entry into hive.

 

[Anduril]

I use a soldering mat secured with wire under the heater, costs a tenner from screwfix. The water car water heaters work okay but get very, very hot indeed glow, so need to make sure your timings are spot on.
S
E


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Tested the Mocal heat resisting cloth today, worked well, didn't even glow.

 

[Stiffy]

Tested the Mocal heat resisting cloth today, worked well, didn't even glow.

It's the heater that glows not the mat, sorry if I gave wrong info. Mats work really well and keep heat away from floor.
S


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[Finman]

Opening the hive in midwinter and pouring OA over my bees is a treatment that cannot possibly be good for them -er.

That makes no sense. And you have not even winter out there.

We use to have 2 tricklings during winter. In October and in March. Results are splended. Second is just after cleansing flights when colony has not started to reard brood yeat.

That second treatments is based on carefull researching in Finland during the period when econd treatment was absolutely forbidden.
. However many beeks here feels that OA is bad thing, but it is their business if they feel so.

.

.

 

[BrianO]

A couple of questions , hopefully some wiser heads in the DIY dept can answer.

http://www.ie.screwfix.com/soldering-drip-mat-240-x-240mm-87e23e.html would this suffice for under the element ? How do you fix it to under the element ?

http://www.ie.screwfix.com/sealed-lead-acid-battery-12v-2-1ah-67-x-35-x-178mm.html
Battery good enough , approx how many operations would this cover ?

http://www.ie.screwfix.com/ring-rcb104-4a-car-battery-charger-12v.html sufficient to recharge ?

Think I need to lie down !

 

[Thymallus]

That second treatments is based on carefull researching in Finland during the period when econd treatment was absolutely forbidden.

Love it Finman....unofficial research I presume

 

[For want of a better word]

Love it Finman....unofficial research I presume

Has the Finnish equivalent to the UK Quango not banned OA as well to comply with the EU Leglislureists?

Yeghes da