Tag Archives: vaporiser

If Carlsberg did vaporisers …

… they’d make the Sublimox sublimator.

I wonder how many beekeepers have one of these on their wish list for Santa?

Sublimox vaporiser

Sublimox vaporiser …

From being a bit of an imported oddity (I had to import mine from Icko Apiculture in France three years ago) they’re now becoming mainstream … over the last year or so they’ve been sold by an independent importer, then Abelo and – just this month – the ‘Big Daddy’ of UK beekeeping suppliers, E. M. Thorne (Rebecca at Thorne’s kindly asked if they could include links in their December newsletter to previous posts here on the Sublimox and vaporising Api-Bioxal).

The Sublimox is also now being discussed more widely on the online forums, with much of this discussion emphasising the price (they are expensive). Aside from this disadvantage, I think there are a number of significant advantages of this design of sublimator (vaporiser) which are worth emphasising.

The general principle of active and passive sublimators

Sublimators (vaporisers) are designed to heat oxalic acid (OA) crystals sufficiently that they sublimate i.e. go through a phase transition from a solid into a gas without an intervening liquid phase. As readers of this site should know, oxalic acid is highly effective against the Varroa mite – both by sublimation and trickling in solution, which has recently been covered in excruciating detail so won’t be elaborated on here.

Varrox

Varrox

Many sublimators (vaporisers) are passive. You add the OA to a pan, slide it into the hive entrance, apply a current to heat the pan, allow the OA to sublimate, withdraw the pan and start again. You usually need to cool the pan in water before addition of the next dose. This heat, rinse and repeat cycle takes time, but is very effective and the pan-type vaporisers are relatively inexpensive (£35-£100).

The Varrox vaporiser is one of the original and best known models, though there are any number of much less expensive copies sold by beekeeping suppliers and on eBay. Most require a 12V supply of some kind.

In contrast to these, the Sublimox is ‘active’, as is the US equivalent machine, the ProVap 110. In these the pan is pre-heated, the OA is ‘dropped’ into the pan in such a way that the vapour is generated in an enclosed space which it then escapes under pressure through a nozzle.

Probably the best sublimator in the world …

In terms of speed, convenience and ease of use I’d argue that the Sublimox is hard to beat.

Quick

Delivery of a single dose takes no more than 45 seconds from inserting the Sublimox nozzle into the hive. It’s appreciably faster than the pan-type passive sublimators. There’s a preliminary warming up period before use, as the machine reaches operating temperature. After that it’s simply treat, refill, treat, refill ad infinitum. The rate-limiting step is sealing the hive and refilling the small plastic ‘cartridge’ with OA.

For one person, a hive-a-minute is just about possible – if you have 10-20 closely spaced hives, sufficient entrance blocks and buy additional white plastic cartridges. But, to achieve this you’ll be rushing about like a mad thing and it’s not realistically achievable1.

But speed isn’t the major benefit.

Convenient

Sublimox vaporiser

Sublimox vaporiser

It’s convenient because you can ‘squirt’ the gas through a small hole in hive. You don’t need to open the hive and so it works with any hive type or entrance. My favoured kewl floors cannot be used with a sublimator that needs to be pushed through the entrance. Instead, all my hives have a neat 6mm hole drilled through the sidewall of the floor which is usually plugged with a small foam bung or twist of grass2. Vapour quickly permeates throughout the hive, ensuring all surfaces are reached.

The only exception are the all-poly hives, such as the garishly coloured Abelo’s I’ve been using for work this season. The nozzle of the Sublimox gets hot and melts polystyrene (been there, done that 🙁 ). With poly hives I usually use a simple shallow eke with a Sublimox nozzle-sized hole in one side. In this case you do need to remove the roof and crownboard, add the eke, replace the roof (upside down), treat and then close up the hive.

Foam bung ...

Foam bung …

The alternative is to simply squirt the gas through the open entrance. This isn’t ideal as some of the gas will escape, potentially exposing the beekeeper and definitely not exposing the bees/mites. One way to avoid this loss of gas is to use a wooden block with a small hole through the middle held over the poly hive entrance.

It’s important to have a clear space into which the gas is ‘squirted’. If you don’t the OA tends to not permeate through the hive properly.

The Abelo hives have a hole in one face of the brood box. This is usually plugged. I think it’s intended as an upper entrance. I’ve yet to try poking the Sublimox nozzle through this hole to deliver the OA … this might not work as it may be too close to the frame, so impeding the spread of gas through the box. Time will tell.

Safety considerations

There’s an additional benefit of the way the Sublimox is used. Operator exposure to OA should be minimised. The gas isn’t generated until the machine is inserted and inverted and takes no more than ~45s to deliver. If the hive is sealed properly there’s very little exposure to the gas.

… but all this comes at a cost

The Sublimox is three-times the price of a Varrox vaporiserIs it worth it? That’s up to the purchaser to decide, based on the number of hives to be treated, the depth of their pockets, the perceived benefits of the speed, ease of use, convenience and safety etc.

Many will baulk at the cost. Some build their own. Others don’t bother vaporising, but solely dribble OA solution in midwinter. This is the cheapest and fastest way to treat colonies. I estimate it costs about 0.5p/hive to trickle treat if you buy OA in 25kg bags. Dribbling is probably even faster than using the Sublimox. However, dribbling is really only practical for broodless colonies – swarms and for midwinter use – and should only be done once per season. In contrast, repeated sublimation is tolerated well by colonies.

Would I buy another one?

Almost certainly.

Before you splash the cash

Generator

Generator …

Be aware … the Sublimox requires a 240V supply. One of my apiaries has mains power which is the best solution, but unlikely in the corner of a farmers field. You can use an inverter from a car battery which is fine if you can get your car close enough to the hives. Alternatively – and this is what I do – you can use a portable generator. I’ve got an 700W Impax one from Screwfix which works perfectly.

But that’s another £190  🙁

You’ll also need to periodically buy replacement sealing rings for the OA “cassette”. These wear out or perish rather fast. Icko sell them for a daft price, but they’re now available in the UK.

Single use ...

Single use …

You should also be aware that Api-Bioxal, the VMD-approved oxalic acid-containing miticide, has glucose in it which caramelises in the pan of the Sublimox (and other vaporisers) and is a bit of a nightmare to clean out properly. I’d go further and suggest that Api-Bioxal is unsuitable to use with a Sublimox. If the nozzle is blocked the gas has to escape and there could be inadvertent exposure of the operator.

Safety first

I’ve touched on safety above. However, just because OA vapour is generated for a very short and well defined time doesn’t make it safe. There are still exposure risks which must be taken seriously.

You’ll need PPE – personal protection equipment – to prevent exposure to the OA vapour when treating colonies. This includes eye protection and a suitable vapour mask. Don’t skimp on this and assume you’ll just stand downwind. If the hive is poorly sealed, swirling gusts of wind will expose you to vapour and it’s – at best – very, very unpleasant.

Entrance block

Entrance block …

Unlike passive vaporisers, the Sublimox generates a very large volume of gas immediately the OA is added. There’s no opportunity to ‘stand well back’ as the pan warms up as you can with the passive machines. You have to be holding the Sublimox to invert it and drop the OA into the pan. You’ll be bent over the hive and unable to avoid the swirling fog of acidic vapour if it escapes. To help minimise this seal the hive thoroughly. I use a full-width entrance block and tightly fitting Varroa tray. Even then, particularly on ageing cedar hives, there are all sorts of little gaps from which the OA vapour can be seen escaping.

Entrance block in use

Entrance block in use …

Finally, as if gassing yourself with an evil smelling acidic cloud of OA wasn’t enough, remember you’re using a 240V supply outside, probably on damp grass … or possibly even in the rain. Don’t get electrocuted. Make sure you use an RCD (residual current device) that’s been tested and you know works.

Take care.

Share the costs

At the time of writing the Sublimox costs over £300. Perhaps competition will force the price down a bit? When you consider that these machines are used relatively infrequently during the season it makes sense to consider purchasing them as an Association item (or with a group of friends), in the same way that some associations have extraction equipment available.

When compared to a reasonable extractor the Sublimox doesn’t seem so outrageously priced.

Of course, like an extractor, everyone needs it at about the same time of the season (at least in midwinter). However, unlike an extractor, it’s generally needed for a relatively short period, is easy to transport and easy clean after use. There should be no reason it couldn’t be shared by association members.

I appreciate that many associations don’t have shared equipment, or many beekeepers don’t belong to their local association. All I’m doing is suggesting a way in which a good quality and highly effective piece of equipment could be purchased so that many can benefit.

Whether you’ve got one of these on your list for Santa or not …

… Happy Christmas!


1 The rate-limiting step is probably having enough entrance blocks. If removed too soon you’ll lose lots of vaporised OA goodness. Leave it a good 5 minutes if at all possible, which is easily enough time to treat another 5 hives. See what I mean?

When treating a hive for the first time I’ve even drilled this hole through an occupied hive.

† Actually, this hole isn’t suitable. It opens onto the face (rather than end) of a frame, and the vapour is therefore restricting from spreading. Don’t bother.

‡ I’ve regularly treated colonies in the dark. Sometimes the only time I can get to the apiary is after work. The bees are all ‘at home’ but you can easily seal the hive up and treat them. Use a headtorch with a red bulb. Since bees can’t see red, any that escape won’t directly target your head and you can probably work safely without a veil.

Colophon

If Carlsberg did … is one of the most recognisable advertising campaigns of all time. Originally created in 1973 it has achieved near-universal recognition and remains in daily use, though predominantly these days as internet memes. The opening three words of the adverts were as recognisable as the closing seven … probably the best lager in the world.

There are any number of comedic If Carlsberg did ‘advertising’ campaigns, including some from Carlsberg itself … Probably the best poster in the world, featured the distinctive swirly underscore, colour scheme and font, together with a real tap dispensing lager installed in Londons Brick Lane.

If Carlsberg did ...

If Carlsberg did …

Carlsberg revamped the advertising campaign in 2015 (the poster above was part of this), over 40 years after it was first used. You can view these adverts on the Carlsberg website.

I’ve used a variant of the If Carlsberg did … phrase previously, when describing the large Dadant smoker. It’s still a great smoker.

Sublime sublimation

Sublimox vaporiser

Sublimox vaporiser …

Sublimation is the conversion of a substance in the solid phase into the gas phase without going via the intermediate liquid phase. With suitable heating oxalic acid (OA) powder can be converted into a vapour which, when spread through the hive, provides a quick and effective way to reduce the mite levels … hence it’s often referred to as oxalic acid vaporisation (or vaporization … if you search the web on this topic you’ll find at least four variant spellings). With too much heating OA decomposes to formic acid and carbon monoxide, so the temperature of the vaporiser is critical to generate the optimal cloud of OA vapour (or vapor!). I’ve been using a Sublimox vaporiser this season with good results and provide a description of the machine and its use here.

Vaporisation vs dribbling

Most beekeepers are familiar with midwinter treatment with 3.2% OA solution (in syrup), applied by ‘dribbling‘ 5ml per seam across the clustered colony. Under these conditions the colony needs to be broodless as a) it’s not effective against mites in capped cells and b) the OA dissolved in syrup is toxic to brood. It’s also reported that the ingested OA may be suppress subsequent brood rearing, at precisely the time the colony should be getting started for the upcoming season. Vaporisation or sublimation avoids this toxicity … the OA is introduced to the hive as a gas which permeates the entire colony, recrystallising as tiny crystals on all surfaces – bees, comb, internal walls etc. Studies of OA vaporisation has shown it is ~95% effective in reducing phoretic mite numbers. I recommend you read the extensive coverage by Randy Oliver @ Scientific Beekeeping who covers efficacy, mode of action and toxicity (though I’ll return to this last bit later).

Sublimox vaporiser

This is an active vaporiser which blows a jet of vaporised OA through a small (8mm) nozzle. The machine consists of a handle, a box of electrickery (which I’ve not opened) and a heating pan surrounded with a safety guard. The machine is rated at 230V AC and 300W so you need either a car battery and inverter or a suitable generator (which is what I use). The vaporiser is simplicity itself to use. One gram of OA powder is placed into a small plastic ‘cup’, the preheated vaporiser is inverted and the ‘cup’ engaged with the heating pan. The nozzle is pushed through a hole in the hive body and the vaporiser is inverted again (so it’s now the correct way up – see the top photo on this page). The OA drops into the heating cup, immediately vaporises and is blown through the nozzle into the hive. It takes 40-50 seconds to use all the OA, at which point you can move on to the next hive.

This video shows the effect of dropping a few millilitres of water into the heating pan … it’s almost exactly the same when using OA, but less likely to cover my camera with a fine dusting of OA crystals 😉

Preparing the hive

Entrance block

Entrance block …

To fill the hive with vaporised OA it’s important that as little as possible leaks out during the short period of treatment. I use a Correx Varroa tray underneath the open mesh floor. In addition, the kewl floors I use are easy to block using a simple L-shaped piece of softwood (I use these when transporting hives; when screwed onto the front of the floor there’s no danger of bees escaping). Part of the beauty of OA vaporisation is that the hive does not even need to be opened. I’ve drilled 9mm holes just above the open mesh floor level, through either the side or back of my floors. This is a better location to insert the nozzle of the Sublimox as there’s space under the frames to allow the gas to spread evenly and quickly throughout the hive. This is easier than the alternatives of using an eke with a suitable hole in it, or drilling through the side wall of the brood box (this is too close to the frames and you get poor spread of the gas – I’ve tried this on hives with a perspex crown board and it’s very obvious).

With a standard floor you could use a simple entrance block with a suitable hole in it. The nozzle gets hot … keep it away from poly hives or nucs! I treat my Everynuc poly nucs directly through the (cavernous) front entrance which I block using a thick piece of wood with a 9mm hole through the middle.

Preparing the beekeeper

OA vapour is pretty unpleasant and causes significant irritation to the eyes and lungs if exposed. Take care. You will need suitable eye protection and a mask of some sort. I use standard (and very inexpensive) safety goggles and a 3M dust/mist mask. You should also wear gloves when handling OA. It’s also wise to stand upwind of colonies being treated and to take care not to breath in any OA vapour that leaks out of gaps in the hive.

In use

I’ve treated four swarms this year using OA vaporisation. Three had very low mite levels, but the small churchyard swarm dropped several hundred mites in the 2-3 days following treatment. I don’t routinely count the mite drop on each day post treatment (I have a life) but have noticed it can increase over the first 2-3 days and then tails off over the following week or so. In large scale studies in Europe 95% efficacy was reported with mite drop continuing for up to a fortnight. There are a number of useful references on the Scientific Beekeeping site if you want to follow this up further.

I’ve also used OA vaporisation on almost all my colonies this autumn, instead of Apiguard treatment. If the colony has sealed brood the usual estimate is that at least 80% of the mites are occupying capped cells. These mites are unaffected by OA vaporisation (until they emerge) and it is therefore necessary to perform repeat treatments. Taking account of the life cycle of the mite and empirical measurements made by Hivemaker reported on the Beekeeping Forum, three treatments at five day intervals are required to have the maximum effect. Ideally this should be on a day or at a time when most of the colony is ‘at home’ … though the crystallised OA continues to be effective for several days after initial treatment. Fortunately, OA vaporisation has little or no effect on the queen, unlike many other mite treatments. The colony gets mildly agitated during treatment but calms down again within minutes and resumes foraging. In the colonies I’ve looked at after treatment there appears to be no gap in egg laying (I’ve also treated casts with virgin queens that have gone on to mate successfully). This is ideal for the autumn treatment when you want the colony to raise as many bees for overwintering as possible. In contrast, Apiguard regularly stops the queen from laying.

And finally …

There are other OA vaporisers made, and instructions on the web for a variety of DIY items – some looking more dangerous (to the operator, not the mite) than others. The majority of these are passive vaporisers, in which the OA is placed in a cool heating pan which is then placed on the floor of the colony and heated up. I’ve not used this type. They have the advantage of being less expensive and only require a 12V supply. However, they are slower to use as the pan takes longer to heat up and then needs to be cooled in a bucket of water between applications. They are also incompatible with the kewl floors I use and I presume – depending on how hot they get – with poly hives and nucs. I think the efficacy of the two types is supposed to be broadly similar.

I listened to Bob Smith talk at the MSWCC conference last week on shook swarms. I sat there thinking that a shook swarm followed shortly afterwards by a single shot of OA vapour would give a colony a really good opportunity to build up well, free of pathogens that have accumulated in the comb and free of the majority of phoretic mites and their viral payload.

Economics

The Sublimox vaporiser is not inexpensive. It costs about €380 from Icko Apiculture. This is a lot, but is about the same as three 3kg tubs of Apiguard (C. Wynn Jones list this at £87 a tub at the time of writing) which is enough to treat 90 colonies with two treatments per colony. In contrast, OA dihydrate powder in bulk (not from Thorne’s) is about £20 for 5kg … enough for 1250 colonies (assuming 4 treatments per colony – 3 doses in the autumn and one midwinter). For beekeeping associations, particularly those with large shared apiaries when treatments could and should – see a later post – be coordinated, it might be a very good investment.

 

Late arrivals

Stacked boxes

Stacked boxes …

I’m moving house in a couple of weeks and so stacked unused ‘bee equipment’ in a pile on the patio for packing. Some of the supers contained drawn comb from previous years, some of the broods were empty and some contained prepared foundationless frames. I thought I’d taken care to align everything reasonably well to ensure they were ‘beetight‘ when I finished up late on Thursday evening. However, I’d misaligned a chest high stack in the middle and unknowingly left a finger-width crack which allowed some scouts to decide it was a desirable site. Sometime mid-morning on Friday – when I was in the office – a good sized swarm arrived. I hadn’t noticed any scouts checking out the location. I originally thought it was robbers cleaning out honey from the supers, but a quick peek under the roof (there was no crownboard on the stack) showed they were busy drawing comb. Going by the numbers of bees present it looked like a prime swarm, but you can’t be sure unless you find the laying queen.

They couldn’t have chosen a much less suitable (for me … it obviously suited them 😉 ) stack to set up home in. The bottom three boxes were empty broods, topped with three supers, two of which were part filled with drawn drone foundation. Inevitably the spacing of the frames in the supers was all over the place. Removing the roof gently showed they were already building brace comb, attached to the roof and/or the frames. The bees were accessing the stack somewhere in the middle, on the face against the wall. What a mess.

Rearranging the hive

Rearranging the hive …

I fired up the smoker and got kitted up. It was relatively easy to split the stack and put a temporary floor below the supers (with the entrance facing the wall) and put a crownboard in place. The colony were agitated but not aggressive. There were far too many bees to try and find the queen. It was a hot day and there was a whirling maelstrom of bees. I was concerned that the queen – if she was mated – would start laying up the drawn drone foundation in the supers. By evening the stack was quietly humming away, with all the bees inside, so I moved them a few feet away to a purpose-built stand (the ubiquitous milk crate) … swarms can be relocated within 24-48 hours of arrival during which time the “3 foot, 3 mile rule” can be safely ignored.

Blackberry

Blackberry …

Early on Saturday morning I put a new floor and brood box filled with frames on the stand, then added a clearer board and put the two supers full of bees on top. The hope was that many of the foragers would move down into the brood box, leaving the queen and attendants above the clearer. I peeked through the perspex crownboard on Sunday morning and the number of bees in the supers was much reduced. A quick inspection located a very dark unmarked laying queen in the supers. One wing was pretty tatty so she might be quite old. To my surprise the bees had re-engineered a big patch of the drawn drone comb in the super frame to make worker-sized cells and that was the area she’d laid up. In addition, they’d also piled in a surprisingly large amount of nectar – presumably from blackberry which is just developing well at the moment. I rearranged the brood box, moving the queen on the laid-up super frame into the bottom box, then shook the remaining bees off the super frames and closed the colony up.

Ready for OA treatment ...

Ready for OA treatment …

Finally, late on Sunday evening I treated the colony by oxalic acid vaporisation. With no sealed brood in the hive it’s a perfect time to reduce the phoretic mite numbers by at least 95%. Since I have no idea about the provenance of the swarm – other than being sure its not from one of my colonies, all of which have marked and/or clipped queens – this gives at least some peace of mind that a range of unpleasant diseases aren’t being introduced to the apiary with the bees, or the mites they’re carrying. I’ll check the Varroa drop over the next few days and monitor the quality of sealed brood before deciding what to do with them. However, I suspect they’ll either be requeened or given away to an association member still wanting bees, or quite possibly both as I unite other colonies in preparation for moving.

The faint sniffing is my hay fever … I’m not testing the OA vapour. The latter is a significant lung irritant and I’m wearing safety goggles and a mask for personal protection. I’ll post something separately on the Sublimox vaporiser later in the season.

Note Unlike an earlier swarm only about ten mites dropped after OA vaporisation within the first 24 hours which is very reassuring. Some claim that only healthy colonies swarm and, although there is some truth in this (i.e. only strong healthy colonies build up sufficiently to swarm), it doesn’t mean the swarm won’t have a high phoretic mite load. Since, by definition, swarms are brood-free it’s an ideal time to treat them.