Deluxe Italian Compact Extractor from Betterbee?

[Sparky]

Has anyone used this extractor?

http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=1249

Looks like a good deal for the money.

Sparky

[scsasdsa]

I bought one last year and extracted 240 lbs from 2 hives with it. It holds four med/shallow or 2 deep frames works well. Screen and tank attached to extractor work well I don't filter any further than that and only heat to reliquify. no problems well built high grade stainless. I'm Happy with it!

[basil]

Can anyone tell me if the Italian Compact extractor is a radial or tangential extract, as the advertising does not specify. Also, do you have to keep the gate open to drain the honey constantly, or can you let the honey drain into the tank that comes with it. With the small tangential extractor I currently have, unless you drain honey constantly while extracting, the honey will rise up to the bottom bearing of the spinning basket and bearing grease will get into the honey.

[drobbins]

basil

I'm not positive but I'm pretty sure when they refer to a "basket" it means it's tangential

Dave

[SGebauer]

Hi Basil,

It is a tangential extractor. As for the gate, the tank holds close to 100 pounds of honey so you can keep the gate closed until the tank nears capacity. However, be sure to drain off honey before the level reaches the extracting basket.

Cheers,
Shane

[lloyd@rossrounds.com]

Dollar for dollar, almost certainly the best small extractor available today.

How could you go wrong? I can't imagine how you not sell it for 3/4 of what you paid for it if you wanted to upgrade to a higher capacity.

[JWG]

I have one, have used it heavily for 2 years and am quite happy with it. Light weight, smooth running, very compact and it does a fine job. That is, if you don't mind turning the frames around. Even so,it's much faster than a small radial. The honey drawn from the gate is ready for containers and so one doesn't have to mess with strainers set over the honey buckets.

The only problem I've found (not terrible) is that when you are extracting partially granulated honey, there is no way to see when the strainer is all clogged without taking the thing apart. I've had the honey back up into the bottom of the extractor a couple times. But if you check and clean off the strainer on a regular basis in such cases, you can keep it humming along. The way it is designed, you cannot use the extractor alone without the strainer/tank attached.

I'd readily recommend this little extractor.

[Ross]

Even so,it's much faster than a small radial. How?

[Sundance]

faster than a radial.............. Not.

[Sundance]

Looks like a fantastic deal. May even get more than you paid for it on ebay!! ;)

I like that the replacement parts are inexpensive as well.

[Michael Bush]

>Even so,it's much faster than a small radial.

I'm having trouble picturing any non-reversible tangental that is faster than any radial. Could you elaborate?

[JWG]

There is more force and the honey is removed faster tangentially! I have seen and used small radials (6 fr) that could never empty the combs (with hand power). When I did come close to emptying them, it took _forever_. Longer than it would have taken to just spin the honey out tangentially in multiple loads and be done w/it.

I even discussed this with one manufacturer and was told that the honey just needed to be warmed first. I tried that, too and it made little difference.

(There is a whole discussion in the older ABC & XYZ under "Extracting" that deals with the inefficiency of small radial extractors. If anyone cares to look it up, it's interesting.)

Eventually with larger diameters, electric power and the capacity for larger numbers of frames in one load, the radial ends up being more efficient, even though the load takes longer to spin off.

We are talking about a tiny 2 frame extractor and IME it is faster to use tangentially than, say, a similarly sized radial, esp. with hand power.

[bleakley]

Sparky,

We have one . . . it works very well . . . easy to use, easy to clean . . . we recommend it.

[amymcg]

I have one of these extractors also. It's nice. Works well and stainless is easy to clean with a hose.

[Aspera]

$300 bucks less beekeeping equipment though. I'm thinking that I wand to wait or rent until I can afford something bigger.

[amymcg]

I bought mine used. Still a good purchase though with the bottling tank and strainer attached.

Renting is always a good option. Most bee associations have rentals for their members.

[Murphy]

What about this one. http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=916 . Its compact and a radial.....

Kieran

[Mreed]

Just wondering if any one has been using this extractor and your feedback. I am a new beekeeper with two hives. The plans are for no more then five hives in a couple of years.

Any feed back would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mreed