[SCFarms]

For those of you who buy syrup by the semi load and transfer into a holding tank what method are you using to heat it?

 

[sqkcrk]

I have a friend who gets tanker loads and this is what he does.

Firstly the syrup comes warm. Also he puts water in the storage tank to keep the syrup thin enuf not to set up before use. And then he uses it.

Time your use. You can get half loads, I believe. And find other beekeepers who only need a barrel or two.

 

[BEES4U]

Some of us add 10% by volume of good quality drinking water to the empty container/tank and have the delivery truck pump the warm syrup into it.
The 10% addition of water thins out the syrup for easier pumping into the hive feeders and it prevents crystalization.
There is no need to heat the syrup.
Ernie

 

[dbest]

In Michigan we have an old milk tanker trailer that I had bulkheads welded into. I then took 1/2 inch soft copper tubing and ran it back and forth accross the bottom of the tank. I took 2 quarts of honey to a local plummer and traded them for a used gas water heater. I plummed the water heater in via the bulkheads to the soft copper. I just use an extension cord to plug in a circulation pump. The water heater is hooked to an RV propane duel tank rig I got used off of an old travel trailer that a friend had purchased to make into a flatbed. I have the temp set very low. The idea is just to keep it from turning solid and flowing.

 

[SCFarms]

I haven’t purchased my tank yet, but the tank I am thinking about buying is a 5000 gal. vertical poly tank and I was concerned about getting the tank to hot in one spot but dbest’s copper tubing sounds like the solution for that. getting that much water for me might be a problem right now, there is no rural water district available in our area to hook into and our area dose not have vary good wells to support that kind of volume.

 

[dbest]

I just filled the tank on the water heater with a barrel of water and a dipping pail. I made a supply tank with a piece of 6" PVC on top. We add water to the tank using a feed tote and the syrup pump.

 

[Beeslave]

Make a coil of 1/2" plastic pex tubing. That will eliminate getting kinks in your copper and finding out later a soldered joint gave out. Wrap the outside of your tank with the silver bubble wrap insulation to keep the heat in when it gets colder.

 

[dbest]

Make a coil of 1/2" plastic pex tubing. That will eliminate getting kinks in your copper and finding out later a soldered joint gave out. Wrap the outside of your tank with the silver bubble wrap insulation to keep the heat in when it gets colder.

I like the pex tubing idea better. I didn't use any solder on my tubing. I used compression fittings.

 

[pahvantpiper]

Mann Lake sells submersible (sp?) heaters that are sized to heat a tote of syrup and keep it at a good temperature for pumping. I own two and they work really well.

If you're ever in Bakersfield or Wasco in January or February at the Best Western and you see a bee truck with 2 totes of syrup and extension cords from the heaters through a window into a room...it's just me.