# Please share, Bee vac designs, performance and experinces



## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I am interested in tinkering with bee vac design.
I recently acquired a motor from a Hoover Commercial Port-A-Vac.







I hope that link worked. if not you can see it here.
http://govex.ngap.com/product.aspx?zpid=2403378
Listed there at $124.36 and worth every penny. I have 25 years of extensive experience with this motor. I selected it to last a lifetime. the motor is completely rebuildable if needed but in 25 years with dozens of these vacuums I have never known one to break down. I have heard reports that fine dust clogging the air flow will cause them to burn up. They need air to stay cool.

I also have a lot of experience in designing and building dust collectors, how air moves and why, what will cause problems etc. 

This is an amazing site for researching how to move air specific to Cyclone Dust Collectors. http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm It is far more detailed information than most would want but is very good. Ii is also geared toward moving air fast and furiously. basically read it understand it and then do everything you can to get it wrong. that should be quite suitable to bees.

I have quite a few ideas of my own but want to invite anyone with bee vac experience to share it.

What worked and your best guess as to why. what didn't and why. 

Materials that appear to work better for you are especially welcome.


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## MichaelShantz (May 9, 2010)

The following bee vac is at least cheap and trivial to make.
https://picasaweb.google.com/MichaelJShantz/BeeHive4302010#5618492356089282370
I wanted to avoid modifying the vac/blower utility, otherwise I would have mounted the air pump on the top bucket to make it more portable and hangable. It has vacuumed up bees without damaging them but it is critical to adjust/reduce the vacuum strength to limit the air velocity. The main input hose would be better if it had a smoother interior. The input air velocity is fast enough to dislodge bees, then slows down in the larger diameter hose. Offhand, your vac looks overly expensive and excess power.


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## pannu96 (Mar 7, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKlXsXwnNNA, check this video out


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## jbeshearse (Oct 7, 2009)

Get a clear Plastic box with lid. Make sure it is large enough to hold a 5 frame nuc without the lid. Put inlet and outlet vacuum hose connections on each end. Screen the connection that goes to the vac. Put you nuc in the box then put the lid on it and start vacuuming. Once the bees are covering the nuc trade it out for another. If there are not that many bees leave them in there overnight and then remove. Takes a out 30 minutes to build and you can see the bees in the vac. Good luck


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## REN (May 7, 2011)

I did my first cutout last fall. I like the 5-gallon bucket idea that has been suggested. That seems cheap to build and portable. This is what I built.

http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii530/REN5789/PA090006.jpg

I used a couple of deep brood boxes. Similar to the bucket design, on the bottom deep I have a hole for the vacuum suction hose and I stapled masonite on for a bottom. The deep on top, I cut down so that I had two sections, one about 3/4 of the depth of the deep and the other 1/4 of the depth. On the shallower section, I cut a slot in it and slid piece of screen in. For the top deeper section, I stapled on a masonite cover and drilled a hole for the vacuum attachment. I also drilled an extra hole with an adjustable cover to regulate the vacuum velocity, which is important, as Michael Shantz pointed out. Add some weather stripping, place another deep box between the top and bottom, strap them together and you're good to go. 

This worked very well. It isn't as portable or cheap as the bucket design, but I can just put it in the truck when I'm done and drive it to the yard. The bees move up into the deep box. I unstrap it, take off the top, move the deep onto a bottom board, add a cover and I'm done.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

I'd excellent results with an Idee-style bee vac I made. It sits atop a hive body and puts bees right into it with minimal damage to them. 
http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/BEE VAC/

It's big enough to minimize overheating concerns.
My concern with the bucket style is overheating if I get too involved and don't empty it... which would be a pain if it involved climbing up and down a ladder to do it.

If you make one just be sure to make a snug seal btw the plexi top and the cross bar supporting the angled screen, or bees will find a way thru.


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## Rick 1456 (Jun 22, 2010)

I have a bee vac, but it is for mite count sampling


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## millerwb (Oct 31, 2011)

Beregondo said:


> I'd excellent results with an Idee-style bee vac I made. It sits atop a hive body and puts bees right into it with minimal damage to them.
> http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j226/Iddee/BEE VAC/


Is that a Router Speed Control that you are using to slow down the vac and reduce suction?


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## MichaelShantz (May 9, 2010)

One comment about air velocity. This may be obvious but the cross sectional area times the air velocity is the same at every point along the hose since the same volume of air per unit time is flowing through all. So A1*V1 = A2*V2 or V1/V2 = A2/A1 ie. the velocity is inversely proportional to the cross sectional area. And since A = pi*r^2, the ratio of velocities is proportional to the squares of the radii. So the air velocity will increase by a factor of 4 if the radius is cut in half.


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## REN (May 7, 2011)

I like some of the design features of the Idee-style bee vac that Beregondo posted. It is similar to the one I built, but I wish I'd seen this before I built mine. I might have to make some modifications to mine. I like the plexiglass, because you can see how the bees are doing. I kept peeking in periodically, but the plexiglass top is a good idea.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I agree my design so far is excessively expensive, If the items have to be purchased. Mine do not. I am lucky in that I have access to come highly extreme materials at no cost. Mainly it is a waiting game. 
I have seen and looked at many bucket or shop vac type designs. My plan is my entire vac including hose will be smaller than the shop vac alone much less the box or bucket attached to it.

Actually I am hoping to come up with something like a Back Pack vacuum.
http://www.pro-team.com/vacuums/default.aspx?style=1&id=100182

I also work on these and the tank is pretty much an empty canister. This vacuum exhausts from the bottom so you cannot set it on the ground while it is running. It will burn up. It would also cause huge transfer issues. But it is almost a self contained bee vac all on it's own. We have only had these for a couple of years so I do not know about longevity. I have personally seen two burn up so far.


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## quevernick (Feb 22, 2011)

I made one very similar to the bucket design. I used a kitty litter box and cut 3 holes in it. One for the vacuum hose to go in. One for the 30 ft or so pool hose that I had laying around and one with some screen over it and a flap that I can use to adjust the vacuum. With the cheapo $30 shop vac I got it works pretty well. The only thing I would change is to go to a smooth hose instead of the corrugated pool hose I have now but it works well enough that I couldnt really justify the expense unless I happen to find something that will work for free/cheap. The other thing that can be a problem is opening the lid. Sometimes it can be a pain to open, that added to the fact that the bees dont tend to be incredibly happy after being bounced through a 30ft corrugated pool hose makes it interesting when I have to open up the bees when I need to switch out containers when its full and I've got more bees to vacuum. The entire setup only cost me $30 for the shop vac, some stuff that was headed for the dump anyways, and some duct tape  I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

millerwb said:


> Is that a Router Speed Control that you are using to slow down the vac and reduce suction?


Those pics aren't mine (they're Iddee's), but yes, it is a router control that was being used.

I used a screened hole w/ cover to bleed off 'vacuum'


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## SteveBee (Jul 15, 2010)

http://honeysunapiary.wordpress.com/tech-tools/bee-vac/


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## Stingboy (Feb 6, 2010)

I built one a few years ago that was just too ruff on the bees' then built a nuc size "Robo's World » Bushkill Bee Vac.url" vac and after I transfer the brood comb in the nuc, I just vacuum the bees' up with a minimun of dead girls. Works great and less handleing of the bees because with the use of folding frames, you just transfer the frames with the bees in a box and feed them back they honey that you removed from there hive.


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## Daddy'sBees (Jul 1, 2010)

This is my home-made bee vac. Works great!! https://picasaweb.google.com/110129302850842696588/BeeVac


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Well my first attempt is in the bag except for the inner cage. I will work on that today. I will also get pictures. I am really bad about getting pictures but think they help a lot.

This one looks a lot like the one Daddy'sBees linked to except my vac motor and all is in the box. The cage is going to be to small also. Limitations of the materials I had just laying around. It is also heavy for it's size. This si for two reasons. One the motor itself is fairly heavy and two I wanted one side of the box to be plexi. The only plexi I had around was some 1 inch thick stuff.

I had to go buy a 4 foot long piece of smooth wall tubing that has a 1 inch inside diameter. I want larger tubing but they did not have anything that I was willing to pay that much for. I also think it is the smooth wall that will make any difference. the bees are going to ride down the wall of any tube of any diameter and I can slow the air flow in any size tube. I woudl rather the air speed be an automatic result of the design but ow well. I will work on that another day.

THE hose will have a 3/4 inch diameter nozzle that is about 3 inches long. This is only to create an air speed that will pull a bee off of cob. then the air speed can slow down some to transport the bees 4 feet to the cage.

As I build the cage I want to make a removable bottom that slides out. the idea is that the cage can be placed over a hive box with an adaptor on top. the bottom is slid out and the bees only have down into the hive as a way to leave the cage. I am also working on a door for the hose opening in the cage that will close when you pull the hose out. this preventing any escape of bees. an outer cover will then be placed over that opening once the cage is removed from the vac. but at least this will be a flap of some sort that closes and temporary keeps the bees confined. 

As far as reach. my hose/wand can be lengthened as much as needed by simply changing the length of the 3/4 inch pvc pipe at the nozzle end. Making a whole range of nozzle lengths will require buying one 10 foot length of pcv and cutting it to various lengths. If I had to I could suck bees off comb 16 feet in the air. not sure they would fair the ordeal well. we will see.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

my quick easy no cash bee vac got built Friday evening, my instruction, my guys' execution. Medium Super, Drilled a hole for the bee intake hose with a keyhole saw, it was a bit too large for the tubing (interior noncorrugated), put a pond pump elbow attachment on it. Drilled then jig sawed opening for my big shopvac hose. Used paneling for top and bottom, the little lines that run vertically bleed off enough pressure that it pulls in bees slowly, no slam into the side of the box. If I need more pressure, I think some chewed gum applied to the exterior would do a quick non-scientific adjustment. With a couple of old hinges and a real low-end hook and eye, total cash outlay for this bee vac was Zero. I already owned the stuff. The bee hose belongs to a different brand of shopvac - unit is too big and bulky to haul for pond work, so it only gets used for drywall dust cleanup - and rarely.


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

And total dead bees in my beevac were: zero! They weren't happy with me, I wore a suit to open it, but all were alive. Very very gentle pull. Almost not enough


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

Gypsi said:


> Very very gentle pull. Almost not enough


That's PERFECT!
...when there's just enough airflow to get the bees to the box, and you have to gently nudge them to break their grip on the comb or each other.

the price was right, too. I think it is always better to solve a problem with you head and your hands than it is to do it with your pocketbook, especially when it comes to bee related problems.

Congrats!


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

I forgot - did use 1/8th inch hardware cloth over the opening for the tube that goes to the shopvac, to keep them all in the box. Downside - had to leave the tube attached to box on the trip home, stuffed a piece of insulation in the end just as shutting vac down to keep the bees inside. Cut tape attaching THAT tube to fitting on the box would have been smart, and will be used the next time, just for security. Not a super tight fitting.


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## D Semple (Jun 18, 2010)

I really like Robo’s bee vac catch-box design, I have two of them. 

http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/bee-vac/


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## Gypsi (Mar 27, 2011)

It is a neat design. But mine is a standard medium box, I don't put frames in it, when I am done, I am usually getting home at night, one hook and the lid opens, I flip it over the top of an empty langstroth and let the bees sort themselves out. I like the "removable blower" idea, but based on what I see with my shopvac, I don't think that's going to work out so well - big base is the intake, and it would be far too likely to pull bees in. 

Gypsi


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