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Bee Hive building & a place to share howto's on equipment
 #11576  by JoJo36
 25 Jul 2021, 18:39
How long will it take you to drain the remaining 300 frames??!! :)
 #11577  by Alfred
 26 Jul 2021, 07:33
By Sunday teatime the waxmoths had got impatient and pushed me aside.....

My embryonic thoughts on that dryer is its basically an OMF on casters with a couple of large computer fans playing air over two or three of these:

https://www.toolstation.com/tubular-heater/p32265?&mkwid=s_dt&pcrid=509979112735&pkw=&pmt=b&gclid=Cj0KCQjwl_SHBhCQARIsAFIFRVVizmJT9ii45uKat1pvI5sNQ2I6PrJsPVxo6DjTLwIncuHTe0lIhngaAsbXEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 #11578  by JoJo36
 26 Jul 2021, 07:55
I wonder whether a small fan heater would do the same in a small enclosed room/cupboard??!!
 #11579  by NigelP
 26 Jul 2021, 08:23
Yes, you can do the same with a fan heater and use bricks/wood to direct air flow inwards an up through the supers. BUT you need fine control over the temperature......as I found to my cost several years ago when the wax collapsed in several frames due to too much heat.
 #11580  by AdamD
 26 Jul 2021, 10:26
Alfred wrote:
26 Jul 2021, 07:33
My embryonic thoughts on that dryer is its basically an OMF on casters with a couple of large computer fans playing air over two or three of these:
I did make a board with some fans attached to (gently) blow air through the stack. It didn't have a heater however and with OSR setting so quickly, it wasn't too effective as with OSR you just need to get it out quick.

Like Nigel, I have managed to melt a few frames trying to get the honey out :lol: - however, this was in my warming cabinet (old fridge).
 #11581  by NigelP
 26 Jul 2021, 12:47
Alfred wrote:
25 Jul 2021, 17:18

My raging apathy towards honey production has somewhat diminished over the weekend
You might be wise to retain the apathy. Honey extraction is one of the most boring jobs in the world. I'm currently part way through a large stack of full supers. I expect to get my life back around tea time.......
 #11582  by Alfred
 26 Jul 2021, 13:41
AdamD wrote:
26 Jul 2021, 10:26
Alfred wrote:
26 Jul 2021, 07:33
My embryonic thoughts on that dryer is its basically an OMF on casters with a couple of large computer fans playing air over two or three of these:
I've been extracting redundant broodframe halos from springtime expansion.Some very tasty produce according to a committee,but still not crystalline so I think my lot don't venture far as there is Osr deployment just outside their valley.

I did make a board with some fans attached to (gently) blow air through the stack. It didn't have a heater however and with OSR setting so quickly, it wasn't too effective as with OSR you just need to get it out quick.

Like Nigel, I have managed to melt a few frames trying to get the honey out :lol: - however, this was in my warming cabinet (old fridge).
What temp should a cabinet run at Adam,and what does your super dryer warm to Nigel
I'm sure I have a Hostess trolley lurking at the back of a shed somewhere which could be adapted if feasable
 #11583  by AdamD
 26 Jul 2021, 14:19
My warming fridge has a perfect 17" spacing across it so super frames can be hung inside it on the plastic shelf supports. However, even with uncapped OSR and the frames upside down to ease the flow of honey out of wired super frames, the wax still gets too soft to support itself a lot of the time and collapses. Even with minute adjustments to temperature. You can recover some of the honey in this way but, in my opinion, not worth the hassle.

I had the equivalent of 2 supers of set OSR this year. (My drier allowed me to get the supers off a little more quickly this year). One super went under a hive, under an excluder with entrance between the super and brood box. This has been cleared out. The other is undergoing the same process now although I could have left it another month and used it for winter stores - topped it up with syrup and then put it under the brood box in September.
 #11584  by Patrick
 26 Jul 2021, 15:33
[/quote]
What temp should a cabinet run at Adam,and what does your super dryer warm to Nigel
I'm sure I have a Hostess trolley lurking at the back of a shed somewhere which could be adapted if feasable[/quote]

It’s a good question. If honey crystals melt at say 50 - 52 degrees C and beeswax melts at say 62 degrees C. so ten degrees difference then? No, because melting is not the same as softening until no longer load bearing and combs collapsing in a messy pile.

Have you discovered the temperature sweet spot?
 #11585  by NigelP
 26 Jul 2021, 16:15
Remember we are drying here, not trying to melt solidified OSR honey in frames which is very very tricky.

My set up is on top of dryer 1 empty super followed by up to 4 supers of honey that needs their moisture reducing. On top is an abelo crown-board with the centre disc removed. This way warm air is flowing upwards and outwards. And it's nearly always unripe heather honey that it is used on for me. I place the thermostat amongst the frames in what is the 2nd super (1st one with frames in) and temp is set at 35C. This will reduce moisture by up 5-7% overnight in the first super with frame's, less so in the other ones above....when ready remove/rotate boxes as required. It more than paid for itself in its first year of use where approx 5 supers of unripe heather honey where turned into nearly 60lbs of 20% moisture heather honey that I sold for over £10/lb.
The supers heater will also get up to 55C if required and has seen service as a honey melter using a brood box, poly lid and bucket of set honey