How to clean plastic foundation

[A_Bee_Guy]

Do those of you who use plastic foundation have an easy method for cleaning your plastic before redeploying it?

Is it good enough to get it like the one pictured and then just put a coating of fresh wax on it?

Thanks in advance for the helpful advice!

framecleaning.jpg

[BeeCurious]

I scraped off some disused pf- 120's and put them back into hives without adding any new wax. Four days later I was amazed to see how well the bees were drawing them out.

If you have the time / patients to add wax that's fine, if not, that seems to be fine too. Try your own experiment...

[danno]

Why are you scaping them?

[BeeCurious]

Why are you scaping them?

I scraped off old dried up cocoons and cruddy wax... Had it been simply wax foundation it would have been tossed in the trash as there wasn't any "wax" worth saving.

[Honey-4-All]

Three words to solve your dilemma.

PRESSURE-WASHER-TIME



Works great to remove any pupa casings below the midrib lines. If you do so the bees will jump on a frame a whole lot quicker than "dirty" foundation.

[gmcharlie]

been pondering that myself, got 700 pf's a cpl weeks ago and they are in varioous forms of crappy.... tried boiling (warps them terrible) tried diswasher (wax everywhere and not clean) I finaly so far have been happiest with just air.....

[sfisher]

What degree nozel do you use with the pressure washer?

[Michael Bush]

When the wax moths are done, the webs just fall off...

[Ross]

I remove it and throw it away and make that frame foundationless.

[hilreal]

Well, if you have investment in lots and lots of frames it might be worth cleaning them. IF you are only talking 20 or less, recycle them and spend the few bucks to buy new ones.

[khaas15]

I have used a pressure washer too, worked well. The bees built the frames right out again.

[A_Bee_Guy]

Sounds like the pressure washer is the way to go. I have a lot of frames that use the plastic, and if there's an efficient way to clean them, I'm all for it. Thanks for all the good comments!

[Fuzzy]

Cleaning--- Use flat end of hive tool to remove old comb material ( scraping into a garbage bag ). The entire process takes about 45 seconds per side.

The frame is now ready to re-deploy. It is still lightly covered with wax and bees will draw it out quickly. I suppose that you could add wax with a brush or roller but why bother.

Fuzzy

[Adrian Quiney WI]

Pressure washer question. Does the pressure washer have to be one with a gas engine or will an electric work? Is the pressure washer water hot or cold?
I have never had a pressure washer, and like the idea of a thorough decoccooning. I see a few pressure washers on craigslist, but don't want another gas motor to maintain.

[krad1964]

I have an electric pressure washer and it works fine. Cold water from the hose works. Prepare to get wet.

[Adrian Quiney WI]

Thanks Krad - sounds more like a July job than a March one.

[krad1964]

Yes. I did it the other day and was sopping wet and covered in wet hive debris. Cleaned them up good though. I did paint on some wax, but probably could have skipped it.

[mattthewlake]

The wax moth answer is the best. Just spend the extra few bucks like hilreal said and redeploy the old frames after the moths have done their work.

[Lburou]

A bee guy, that foundation looks pretty good to me, as long as there is some wax remaining on it.

I saw a youtube video of a beekeeper who dipped his foundation in hot wax (half at at time), swished it a bit and pulled it out clean enough to place back in a frame and put it in a hive.

I got an electric hot plate, put a stock pot on it with about 7 or 8 inches of water and about half inch of wax, then heated it to about 195 F. Dipping plastic frames in the pot produced a nice even coat of wax for the bees to start with.