Shop Vac = Bee Vac

[TwT]

the bee vac i have been using is a 16 gallon shop vac but i modify it a little, here is what I do.

I get 2 peg board hooks and put the between the top where the motor is (between the latches) and the tank to keep alittle space open, I stuff a big sponge in the exaust of the vac, wrap a hand towel around the cage (where the float ball is inside) and tie it with tie straps ( you know the electrical sinch straps). and when I'm through vac-ing bee's, I take the sponge out of the exaust and take the hose loose and put the sponge in the hole where the hose was. and it doesn't kill the bees or injure them but this settup does reduced the suction were the vac hose has to about touch the bee's to suck them up. I have used it on 3 removals. the last 2 removals had about 5-6 gallons of bee's ( all healthy) just thought I would share my little not homemade trick. i'm going to try to see if I can get a smooth hose ( ON THE INSIDE ) fit up to it , I seen they have some clear hose about 1 1/2" I.D. at Lowes and home depot FOR A SMOOTHER RIDE DOWN THE PIPE,

[wayacoyote]

Ted,
I had wondered this same thing...
All the BeeVacs I've seen and used were simply shopvacs with a separated tank. The purposes of the separated tank were that it includes a valve for manipulating the suction through the hose, and it allows one to switch out between swarms. I wondered about putting the valve on the shopvac tank itself and cutting down on some of the extra supplies dedicated to beekeeping.

It sounds like that is what you've done.

(Although it was still a bumpy ride, I aquired a swimming pool vaccuming hose that was damaged and use it for the long reaches into trees etc...)

Waya

[Joel]

We used a bee vac years ago that we built. It was a standard hive body with plywood top and bottom. The bottom was sealed and the top could be placed on and off with foam on the edge to seal when it was closed. We just used 4 of those old screen door hooks. There was a hole in one side for a vaccum hose for intake of the bees. We drilled a whole the same size in a 5 lb screen cage(like package bees come in) and attached a vaccum hose connector through both holes. Inside we had blocks cut so when we but the package in place we could shim it in with the blocks. The other end was the vaccum side and had a whole which once on scene we could attach to just about any vacuum. We had a couple of vent holse also with metal moving covers that allowed us to adust the amount of vacuum. After vacuming the swarm we had cutouts to cover the whole and staple down(cardboard works well) and, voila, packaged bees.

[TwT]

here's a link were I posted some pics

http://beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=2775

[KSbee]

I recently made a bee vac using one of the small $30 vacs found at the big box stores. To control the amount of suction I cut the electrical cord and spliced in a rheostat switch (dimmer switch). It works great with the small motor and you can turn it all the way up to and use as normal when needed. Just need to make sure the switch is rated for the amps that your motor draws.

[Patrick Scannell]

KSbee, Your dimmer switch idea is very appealing, but wont it burn out the motor? I thought rheostats were just for resistive loads.

[KSbee]

Pat- I'm currently using one with no problems, although you are correct. Standard dimmer switches and AC motors don't mix well. While using mine I'm cautious not to turn the motor down too low to the point where I'm hearing more humming than fan. Generally I run it just less than it's maximum output which seems to be working fine for the motor and the bees.
A person could spend a few extra $ and get a rheostat control that's used for ceiling fans. This should work fine on a vac motor.

[Tom H]

Harbor Freight is currently running a router speed control on sale that I believe would work on a shop vacuum.It is rated for 110VAC up to 15 amps. The regular price is $24.99 but is now $9.99.
Item #43584-3CAB. Their phone # is 1-800-423-2567