Vertical Versus Horizontal Extractor....

[HoneySeeker]

I would be very interest in the opinions about Horizontal versus vertical extractors. Have used vertical as that is the most used type in the U.S. But having seen but not used the horizontal I would like to know how good they are.

Thanks To All,

HoneySeeker

[Fernhill]

If I'm not mistaken the horizontal extractor is primarily geared toward extracting honey from TBH combs. Obviously you can't put those in a traditional extractor without wrecking the comb.

Mike

[tecumseh]

the only horizontal machine I ever saw (I did not operate it myself) was for convential frames and had a track that allowed a box of frames to be loaded on one side of the machine and the same physical movement unloaded a box of frames on the other side of the machine. very much a high volume kind of machine.

[ekrouse]

Horizontal extractor have nothing to do with top bar hives. I saw a nice state of the art setup at Dyce Labs at Cornell University made by Cowen. The purpose of horizontal is efficiency. The uncapped frames are slid along a track into the extractor. The locking bar is lowered to lock them in place. Then it is rotated half way around and another batch of frames added and locked down. Then the lid is closed and it is run on spin cycle. Afterwards the frames are slid of on a track from the other side.

Vertical extractors require the operator to pick up each frame individually flip it vertically and low it into the extractor. Aftwards, each frame has to be lifted back up out of the extractor, flipped horizontally and put back into the super. Lots of wasted movement.

-Eric

[tecumseh]

nice discription eric... sound like pretty much the same machine I watched in action 25 years ago.

[Sundance]

I do door work for a couple outfits with them. They are high volume and very smooth to load and unload. Looks like the way to go if you have the need and the $$$$$$.