Cleaning Extractor

[ApisM]

What is the best way to clean an extractor?  lots of cappings and sticky honey all over in the inside.  What are some methods.  This is my first extractor.

[Kathyp]

most of mine comes off with the hose.  then i take a rag with some hot water and get the rest of it.  make sure you dry it well when you are done.  they can get rust on them.

[thegolfpsycho]

I usually set it out for the bees to do the initial clean up.  If I am late pulling the honey, as I frequently am, they make pretty short work of it.  Then pull the reel, lots of hot water and dishwashing liquid, reassembly with some food grade grease in the appropriate spots.

[glenn c hile]

My first year I just set it out on the driveway and let the bees, yellow jackets, etc. clean it out.  Don't recommend that as I ended up with a lot of dead bees stuck in the honey.  Now I just take a garden hose or power washer and clean it out.  I only have a 9 frame and it is bolted onto a piece of wood so fairly easy to slide out the garage door and hose down.

[ApisM]

Thanks everyone.  I guess the question now is to let the bees do some of it or not?  Two schools of thought.

[Kathyp]

i'm not sure i'd let them do the extractor.  they tend to get stuck in the stuff and you just have to wash them out along with everything else.  you can let them clean up the broken comb and stuff like that.

[Finski]

.
Spin the gage and pour there warm water 30-40C.

Let it saty some hour and pour again that it is clean.

When you spin it it dries it up.

Too hot water clue resins and wax on surfaces.

[Finski]

make sure you dry it well when you are done.  they can get rust on them.

Honey may rust what ever. But extrator cannot rust. If it do so, it is wrong material.

[tandemrx]

I hook my hose up to our hot water supply and spray it clean, add a little detergent towards the end and rinse that off.  With warm water it cleans off pretty quickly.

[OzBuzz]

How do you clean it if you've hired an extractor and don't want to run the risk of possibly infecting your hive with AFB if someone has used it before you who has that? Is hot water sufficient to remove all the spores?

[bee-nuts]

As soon as your done extracting is the easiest time to clean.  I take the hose to it immediately before any wax and such can dry and stick too things.  I rinse it out as best I can then fill the extractor to the brim with water and leave over night.  come morning any hone should have dissolved in the water and then I poor it out.  I then gie it a couple more good rinses till im confidant that all particles of wax are gone and then I tip extractor up side down to let all water drip out so it can dry out as fast as possible.

Even though your extractor is made of stainless steel, you likely will find that bolts and screws are not stainless cause they will rust.  This fact may make my way off cleaning not such a great idea.  The only rust I have seen though is on the screws or bolts on top lid.

Not all extractors out there are new and made from stainless steel.  There are many extractor out there from the good old days that have many years of service left in them if they are taken care of properly.  Kathyp is one of the most knowledgeable member of this forum and if she says something that dont make sense, than it is likely she knows something you dont and you might want to think or ask a question before you jump to a conclusion in my opinion.