settling tanks and baffle plates

[guatebee]

Theres is this group of beekeepers that need some help building an adequate settling / clarifying tank.
Basically, they are bringing in honey from the apiaries, extracted and pre-strained through coarse mesh.

I know when honey is poured into a settling tank, there are usually baffle plates along to hold debris behind. I just don`t remember shich plates go to the bottom and which ones stay short from the top and why.
Any help on this will be greatly appreciated.

[Sundance]

I too am interested in this. Setting up my first ever honey house this spring.

[Walt McBride]

Have you looked at the Dadant and Kelley catalogs showing their equipment?
Walt

[guatebee]

Guess what: I went through the notes I took down when working for Nygren´s Nevada Honey back in 1980, and there I noted that all baffles leave a 1/4" gap at the bottom.
Prior to the settling tank, honey from both 50 frame radials flowed into a sump tank where most coarse wax was kept from going into the pump.

So, as honey flows into the settling tank´s first compartment, it started to "settle", meaning that light wax particles started floating. Honey at the bottom continued into the second compartment, and it also settled; and so on into the fourth compartment.

I guess the size of a settling tank has to be calculated according to the volume of honey expected in a days work.