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Author Topic: Well That Worked  (Read 1853 times)

Offline Beeboy01

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Well That Worked
« on: June 21, 2021, 02:22:19 pm »
About three years ago I switched over to a home made oxalic vaporizer wand that runs off a 12 volt battery. I've been happy with it so far except when I forgot to cap off the charge in the battery and dragging a car battery out to the bee yard. So one of my projects has been setting up a 120 volt power supply to use instead of a car battery. Well I was standing there out in my shop today looking around for a step down transformer and everything else needed for the build and low and behold my eyes fell upon my trusty battery charger. Not one to reinvent the wheel I hooked the charger up to the wand and gave it a try. Son of a gun it worked !! I've plenty of extension cord to reach around the back of the shop to my yard so I guess I'm in business for the year.   
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Offline Ben Framed

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Re: Well That Worked
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2021, 03:41:58 pm »
Glad you found a solution. Beeboy, I have never used a wand type vaporizer. How long does it take in-between doses until the next dose is ready to start? In other words what is the process from start to finish for two hives for example, if you don?t mind. Thanks
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Offline Beeboy01

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Re: Well That Worked
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2021, 05:35:27 pm »
Ben, I custom built my wand using a heater rod for a diesel car engine and a block of 1/2 inch aluminum with a built in temperature shut off switch set at 350 degrees. I load up the heater block with a 1/4 teaspoon of acid crystals and slip it in under the screened bottom board on a piece of tin. The wand takes about three minutes to heat up to where the block reaches 350 degrees and then automatically shuts off the heater element and a indicator light I wired into the circuit. After that I wait about another 2 minutes before pulling the wand and piece of sheet metal out. I move the piece of sheet metal over to the next hive while cooling the end of the wand in a shallow container of water. After that I wipe of any remaining water from the wand tip and repeat. It takes about six minutes per hive for a complete treatment and I can treat my six hives in under an hour.
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Offline paus

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Re: Well That Worked
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2021, 05:49:59 pm »
I have been wondering about oxalic acid and corroding the bottom screen , actually top screen but usually referred to as DSBB.  I am treatment free and so far it has worked OK for me but I have an oil pan between my top screen and bottom screen, I have no doubt that it is 99% effective on SHB, but I have no idea about effectiveness on Mites, since I read anything from 10% up for mites.
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Offline Beeboy01

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Re: Well That Worked
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2021, 07:50:35 pm »
So far the #8 screen in the screened bottom boards are holding up fine with no corrosion. The bases are my own design made out of red wood to keep them from rotting. I also use a tray under the SBB as part of my mite and small hive beetle integrated pest management.
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