Cleaning frames with steam

[odfrank]

Has anyone made or have something like this? All of his frames look brand new and even foundation only so I am suspicious about it working on old brood combs. I need something for the non solar season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NJN0G4_oYM

[Cleo C. Hogan Jr]

odfrank...Never seen anything like this, but a friend of mine made a device that would hold 10 frames and used a steam cleaner, just like a pressure washer, and it worked great. Steam cleaners just cost a lot more, and a little more dangerous.

cchoganjr

[Mbeck]

I have one of the units made to steam wallpaper off, I think that would be easy to hook up to a container.
If I made on I would try to attach to a migratory style lid and create a V shaped bottom to drain wax. Less to store and melt wax off frames in boxes.
Do you think that would work?

[Rolande]

I have one of the units made to steam wallpaper off, I think that would be easy to hook up to a container.
If I made on I would try to attach to a migratory style lid and create a V shaped bottom to drain wax. Less to store and melt wax off frames in boxes.
Do you think that would work?

Hi, there's a similar piece of kit available in Europe called the Easi Steam, wax generator piped through a metal roof cove, which sits over the hive body which itself is sat on a metal floor/mesh strainer. Works OK.

[Rolande]

Has anyone made or have something like this? All of his frames look brand new and even foundation only so I am suspicious about it working on old brood combs. I need something for the non solar season.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NJN0G4_oYM

I've a similar (older) steamer which contains an integral water bath and a direct heater element but otherwise looks much the same, works really well but of course, the older the brood comb the longer it takes to get a good finish.

As a side note 'Swienty' tends to equal 'Quality'. Chek out their 'Api-melter' if you can find an online video.

[Daniel Y]

One thought I had was that they should screen the wax flowing out. The way they are doing it requires the wax to be reheated in order to clean it up. each time wax is heated it breaks down more. I am not sure that the screen woudl not get cooled wax built up in it though so maybe it wouldn't work. Otherwise it looks like a system that leaves a huge mess to clean up. I can't say a better idea can be hatched but this one looks like it has room for a lot of improvement. Sloping floor to the frame area so everything flows out. another chamber still heated to hold a series of screens and filters so the wax remains melted but gets reasonably cleaned and then it can flow to a container. Some attention to the ability to clean the entire mess such as screens that can be removed and dumped. finally the spout needs to go to molds that make wax ingots that are the final or nearly final product. Basically avoid the time and cost of melting the wax more than once.

As for the frames. they seemed clean to me. How clean do they need to get and what would survive the temperatures of steam. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius. but steam can be as much as ten times hotter than that. In fact I was told that when water expands into steam it absorbs ten times the heat energy that it had when it reached the boiling point. that is why steam burns you instantly.

I agree that playing with steam can be dangerous. it is unforgiving of mistakes. like scars for life unforgiving. I would not want it around my grandchildren.

[HTC]

I like the concept and it would help clean the wax. I have seen pictures of wax steamers that are a double bottom boiler. Water goes in the bottom to make steam and the second bottom catches the wax and it is piped out the side of the drum. I have a gas burner and old drums are cheap Hmmm. OK I am to lazy to make the second bottom so I will hang the frames above the water and let the wax drip into the water. Then when it cools down I can punch the wax off the top of the water. This may not work but it could.