Worldwide Beekeeping

Beekeeping => General Beekeeping => Topic started by: Perry on December 12, 2013, 07:07:09 am

Title: Hey Apis!
Post by: Perry on December 12, 2013, 07:07:09 am
Hey Buddy.
I've sen this for a while on Kijiji. Sadly, Saltspring Island is about as far away from me still in Canada.

http://bc.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-othe ... Z526298497 (http://bc.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-other-Beekeeping-honey-frame-decapper-and-drip-system-W0QQAdIdZ526298497)

I zoomed in on it and it looks like a jiggle knife, but the price is crazy!  :shock:
The new one by Kellys is electric, and this one is steam heated. What are the advantages of one over the other?
Thanks
Title: Re: Hey Apis!
Post by: tecumseh on December 12, 2013, 04:57:20 pm
looks pretty home made!
Title: Re: Hey Apis!
Post by: Perry on December 12, 2013, 05:04:37 pm
Het tec.
In your opinion, is steam advantageous over electric in any way?
Title: Re: Hey Apis!
Post by: apisbees on December 13, 2013, 12:04:56 am
Looks modified in the least motor not original. sitting off to the side using pulleys to change rpm and knife movement, strokes per minute. $ 1000.00 is a little high IMHO.
Steam is the perfect uncapping temperature Your knife will never get hotter than 212 deg F. Electric gets to hot when sitting idle for a while and the honey sizzles until the electric knifes are cooled by the honey.
Steam can be easy and cheap to make and run 1-electric hot plate 1-Presure cooker both can be picked up cheep at a garage sale. Remove or drill the guts out of the pop off pressure relief valve and adapt a hose to the open relief valve and a small hose to the uncapping knife. Adjust hotplate heat to control the amount of steam. A pot of water will provide steam for 8 hr of extracting.
Title: Re: Hey Apis!
Post by: tecumseh on December 14, 2013, 06:35:30 am
looks like Apisbee handled that question.  I have almost no experience with steam except to say if you need a lot of heat in a honey house then a boiler and steam is really the way to go.

of course one thing about my own kelley's electric vibrating knife is that you do have a thermostat to set the temperature at exactly the temperature you wish but like Apis suggest use/non use may mean this only give you limited control in the heat you have at the knife blade.
Title: Re: Hey Apis!
Post by: Perry on December 14, 2013, 06:53:08 am
I may end up with the electric version ($535), simply because no one makes the steam one anymore (I think anyways). I hardly ever see one come up for sale, unless it's on the other side of Canada and highly overpriced.  :lol: