Hello Ryan,
Happy New Year and happy bees!
Any comments by users of my vaporizer are encouraged! I can implement changes to my design if I am told what is needed.
Thank you for your questions and I will try to answer them for you & others.
I build & sell the current 110.04 for about a year. My first prototype was build about two years ago and is still my standard unit while I always try my newest model to make sure all works as assumed.
Now, all band heater type vaporizers work on the same principal: a bowl with not to much size and very conductive material (welded copper in my case), a band heater with the highest watt rating possible (300 watt in my units), a plug to drop the required OA charge in to the hot bowl and a discharge tube also highly conductive (again copper in my case). Many tests have been conducted by others and myself on what size is best and we all have come to agree that the 3/16" works the best. No way really around that and you are correct, it is the weakest point in all units, mine and from other builders. My unit is sturdy, well build and tested many times. The interesting part is that I receive many questions before a purchase, but once delivered I hear nothing anymore. The old saying is still valid 'no news is good news'.
Your current process will take about 4-5 minutes per treatment and you need to let the pan cool before charging for the next hive, remove the entrance reducer (if installed) and you will defiantly have to change your mode of action. With 60-100 hives, you will not have single hives, but probably four per pallet and I would work in pallet (or group) increments. Four hives in a group means four plugs prepared with charge and once the unit is at 420-430F, you will push the up-side-down bowl on the plug, insert the 3/16" tube in the front entrance, side hole or wherever you want to treat from and turn the unit so the charge drops. From here on, you will not have much time to do anything else, 30-45 seconds on and your first charge is gone, you take the next and want stop and get a break until all for charges are gone. This is best done in a team with more then 10-20 hives, one preps, one does the treatment.
I have left the tube for a minute or two in the entrance when I tested and it does not bend that easy, but one needs to remember what is important, to get the required result and it is not a large, strong tube bubbling the OA on the bottom board, but the thin tube to vaporize as much as possible to push the OA vapor through the hive.
The PID position could be a concern, but what better place then opposite from the vaporizing tube at all times, not pointing up at one position and pointing down in the 'loading, charging' position. Once you are going, this becomes a non issue since you only glance at the value to confirm the charge is spend and the temperature is rising again (indicating the OA charge is spend).
About efficacy, this has been debated in this and other forums for a long time and I believe the common understanding is this: if vaporized as much as possible with a good band heater and controller through a narrow tube into a hive that is not fully clustered, then the results are as good as any other method, but it should and needs to be monitored since every location is unique and the operator needs to be able to judge if his approach yields the necessary results. This includes other treatment options, mite counts before and after, treatment intervals etc. If you want the easy way out, Apivar is the way to go, say four strips in fall and four strips in spring for a double deep brood hive, CAD3.00-4.00 a strip= CAD24 to 32 per hive per year plus opening to install and remove after 6 weeks is money too. 100 hives = CAD2400 plus time.
I have not used Apivar miticide for two year and my hives are healthy, but one needs to be on guard all the time as you will know.
My units have a normal one year warranty and I would be a foul not acting on customers problems and remedy them as quickly as possible since bad news travels much faster then good news. Excluded from the warranty is the 3/16" tube breakage since this is user related and should (and has not) happened with any unit.
The unit is setup relatively simple, the bowl is mounted with two SS screws and acorn nuts, washers and thermocouple to the frame and exchanging the bowl can be done easily, but it takes the right tools and about 15-30 minutes, but holding or supporting the unit for the 30-45 seconds of actual action makes more sense to me. One would not leave a loaded gun unattended either.
Again, I build the OA VAP110.04 for a while and I am confident it is a good tool and had not to act on any claims to date.
I hope this helps you to make your decision. Let me know if you have additional questions.
With best regards, JoergK.
I have worm holes in quite a few hives anyways.
