Bens bees 5 Posted June 27 Ok so i dont post here much but i have done lots of reading over the years . during this covid break i had no work for a long period of time so had some time up my sleeve. over the last few years ive developed a vaporiser for treating my bees here in new zealand i got sick of using a wand as it took to long so developed a quick blow in system out of junk in my garage and a couple of parts from china. i re built it a few times during covid. Then i decided to make 10 stainless steel units to sell to help make ends meet due to not having a job. so here they are im hoping to sell them to people in the auckland end of nz so i can get feedback and discuss the operation of them. If they work well i am thinking of setting up making them more often but need to see feedback first. im looking at selling them for 800 each as they where quite a bit of work to make but they are fast treating the bees. and oxalic acid is cheap so i feel there worth it. I had a friend who was using one of my older versions on his commercial operation (who wants to remain anonymous) and found that during the warmer months he would just use it to treat each apiary just after he worked it as a extra boost in conjunction with his strips and then he would do a full 3 hit treatment during mid winter and found that it helped keep the varroa down. I only have 10 hives and i have never used strips in any of my hives, not for any major reason i just started with the vaporiser and haven't felt the strips where necessary. here are picture's of the unit and a video showing its operation Accidentally i did leave out of the video the cleaning process. All i do to clean it is to poor water down into the chamber which melts any bits stuck inside and then poor it back out again. This also has the benefit of cooling down the device before putting it in the truck to go to the next spot. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,295 Posted June 27 That looks interesting . I'd be curious to put it to the test for a week ...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stoney 1,370 Posted June 27 If you have mesh pallet floors @jamesc take my word for it... you’ll need a way of blocking it. When I worked for James we vaped the whole outfit but found without blocking the floors was no good.. first we tried sacking to block them, but was slow so made up a piece of ply with a screwed on wedges on one end and would slide it under two hives on one end of pallet then place another wooden wedge under it to secure it to the hive mesh, blocking it. this unit I like because you can do 3 before a refil unlike the provap but the operating temps for vaping oxalic is also important so it’s not heated past 230deg.. is there a controller here to maintain the burner temp? 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
olbe 222 Posted June 28 If you have mesh floors and a vaporiser that pushes out a decent amount of vapor like the one shown you extend the nozzle and fit an elbow then just vaporise from below the mesh floor quick and effective , don't see a need to block anything. Not good for those plastic floors though. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bens bees 5 Posted June 28 On 6/28/2020 at 6:59 AM, Stoney said: If you have mesh pallet floors @jamesc take my word for it... you’ll need a way of blocking it. When I worked for James we vaped the whole outfit but found without blocking the floors was no good.. first we tried sacking to block them, but was slow so made up a piece of ply with a screwed on wedges on one end and would slide it under two hives on one end of pallet then place another wooden wedge under it to secure it to the hive mesh, blocking it. this unit I like because you can do 3 before a refil unlike the provap but the operating temps for vaping oxalic is also important so it’s not heated past 230deg.. is there a controller here to maintain the burner temp? The temp I have found stays low due to the water content in the oxalic acid as long as you load and vape strait away It's easy to see if the temp is no longer working as the colour and the quantity of vapour coming out changes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bens bees 5 Posted June 28 On 6/28/2020 at 6:48 AM, jamesc said: That looks interesting . I'd be curious to put it to the test for a week ...... Where are you if your near Auckland I have a demo one you can try out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yesbut 6,085 Posted June 28 1 hour ago, Bens bees said: Where are you if your near Auckland I have a demo one you can try out Check out James's location on his profile on the left ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,295 Posted June 29 Yeah .... quite close to Auckland ..... Nah . 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NickWallingford 139 Posted June 29 22 hours ago, yesbut said: Check out James's location on his profile on the left ! It's on the Internet - it must be true... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CHCHPaul 421 Posted June 30 Looks cool @Bens bees What are you selling the prototypes for? (I’m in chch, so not much good for a guinea pig... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jamesc 4,295 Posted July 6 How about sending one down to NZ Beeswax open day in a couple of weeks ? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fieldbee 228 Posted July 6 On 6/27/2020 at 7:42 PM, Bens bees said: I only have 10 hives and i have never used strips in any of my hives, not for any major reason i just started with the vaporiser and haven't felt the strips where necessary. Hi Ben, so how often do you vaporise. i.e. 1) how many times a year 2) How far apart? 3)Have you ever lost a hive to PMS (Varroa) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maru Hoani 485 Posted Tuesday at 07:03 AM On 6/28/2020 at 6:48 AM, jamesc said: That looks interesting . I'd be curious to put it to the test for a week ...... Looks better than waiting on the provap, today I done 24 hives in just over an hour but that's unstraping, putting inspection trays in and feeding my doubles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bens bees 5 Posted Wednesday at 12:21 AM On 7/7/2020 at 9:20 AM, fieldbee said: Hi Ben, so how often do you vaporise. i.e. 1) how many times a year 2) How far apart? 3)Have you ever lost a hive to PMS (Varroa) Vaporise 3 times 5 days apart about 3 times a year and often just give them a puff when I'm on site I've never lost a hive to PMS have had a few sick swarms that never realy got going but dont think it was varroa I did leave my hives to someone else for a year as I had to go over seas and they did a #### poor job of looking after them and did lose a couple to PMS/hunger then but was able to get on top of it for most of the hives Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bens bees 5 Posted Wednesday at 12:28 AM (edited) Im not selling prototypes this is the model I use and thought I'd make some extras before I go back to work to see if there worth producing but there hasn't been much of a response so not sure it's worth it or not. work will start back up soon and once I'm on set I dont have much spare time for anything else. But thought if they where worth making I would get someone producing them Maybe the price is a bit high any thoughts on a good price point Edited Wednesday at 05:23 AM by Mummzie spelling 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mummzie 652 Posted Wednesday at 05:34 AM IMO, the price is high for a hobby beekeeper, and the vaporiser capable for a commercial operation. Via how many other channels have you introduced this product ? You might be a bit quick to judge the 'lack of response" given you limited it to near Auckland. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie James 699 Posted Wednesday at 07:27 AM (edited) If it works beekeepers will definitely buy it. With regards to hobbyists, same applies, they will buy it banding together, or maybe a club will purchase one to rent out to members. If I were you, I would take up James Corson's offer to trial it - freight it down to him - that's a sizeable operation. Then perhaps ChCh Paul can trial it. He's a smaller operator, so you would have two at both ends of the commercial semi/commercial spectrum. Get them to trial it, and if they think it's successful contact the Apiarist's Advocate for editorial interview & advert. Maybe contact the committee of a Club such as the Auckland Beekeepers Club. They have a huge amount of members Auckland Beekeepers Club AUCKLANDBEEKEEPERSCLUB.ORG.NZ Auckland Beekeepers Club Edited Wednesday at 07:30 AM by Maggie James 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maggie James 699 Posted Wednesday at 07:37 AM Do you think you need to think about a patent before lending it out for trial? I think perhaps you need to get some good advice on this. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alastair 8,093 Posted Wednesday at 10:01 AM (edited) Ben this somewhat similar device is selling for $2,700 Canadian VMeliminator WWW.VMELIMINATOR.COM Here's one even more similar to yours but I couldn't price it, but as memory serves it is over US 2k So Edited Wednesday at 10:04 AM by Alastair 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alastair 8,093 Posted Wednesday at 10:04 AM So if you can sell yours at NZ$800 you better be looking at exporting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
