# Hive Dipping Tank



## kyfarmer (Feb 4, 2008)

Looks good. Where did you get your rosin? And who buit your tank? I am in West KY near the lakes


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## Texas Bee (Mar 21, 2008)

I like that setup. I'am like kyfarmer, where can you get that parrffin and rosin at ? 

Better than painting...


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## Kentuckybee (May 11, 2008)

*Gum Rosin and pariffin wax*

Thanks to both of you, I am kind of proud of my setup.

I got the pariffin wax from http://www.candlewic.com/store/Product.aspx?q=cParaffins,p1075

They are $51.50 for 50 pounds I don't think you kind find it cheaper.
The Gum rosin can only come from one place I know of http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page17.html

That was the only place I could find it, if you ask they will sell you 50 pound quanitys.

I dipped 3 complete hives top covers, inner covers, 2 supers, 2 large broad boxes, hive stand, and base.
It doesn't even go down. Once you buy everything you could dip 50 hives I think.
My purchase was 200 pounds of wax and 50 pounds of gum rosin.
I think I will be OK for the 5 or 10 years.

The tank is 23 inch X 19 inch X 20 inch deep.
If you make one make it about 26" deep, to give your self more boiling room.

I had a friend make it for me. I bought him a 6 pack of beer. hehe

Anyway I will be happy to give you guys more information if you need it.
I moved it inside tonight, it was still hot and liquid inside the center 24 hours later.
The gum rosin has a sweet smell to it.
I believe it to be pine sap gum rosin froom Argentia.

Bruce


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## Texas Bee (Mar 21, 2008)

Thanks for the reply, Kentucky......that's a nice setup.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Kentuckybee said:


> it was still hot and liquid inside the center 24 hours later.
> The gum rosin has a sweet smell to it.
> 
> Bruce


I had a flange welded on mine and then I bought a valve so I could drain it.

Your lucky it didn't leak, it's a bit tricky to make a tank that is leak proof.

That is quite the investment for a couple of hives, but you are right you have enough to do about fifty more. It's a great feeling to know that you will never have to paint again.


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## Kentuckybee (May 11, 2008)

*Tank*

Thanks Bullseye Bill,
Yes it does have a bung weld in the bottom, so I could drain it if I every felt the need to. I just put a set screw in it so it would stick out. I will walking around this thing in the garage for years to come.
Also another good point you brought up, I should of mentioned.
This was done at a large manufacturing company that I work at weld by one of the best welders we have. One of the products made there are holding tanks, this does need to be done right. It is holding about 225 pounds of hot molten material that would be very dangerous if it started leaking. The open flame underneath would be bad news.
I have to say I never left this unattended the entire time.

Bruce


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

I had a pin hole in the one I sold MB. Until I got it fixed it would sizzle and pop, it had me worried but never caused a problem on an electric stove. I now use a turkey fryer like yours. I cut off the ring on top and shimmed it up until it touched the bottom of the tank.

When I was done the first time using the tank I used a paint brush and painted the tank sides with wax to protect the steel while in storage. It seems to retard the rust and is cleaner to the touch.

If I had a way to move the tank with the wax in it I would not have needed to drain it. Your lucky to be able to store all that wax in it.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

> They are $51.50 for 50 pounds I don't think you kind find it cheaper.


I just got off the phone with Mann-Lake and their price is now $97.50 for 50 pounds.


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## Texas Bee (Mar 21, 2008)

magnet-man thats $97.00 + shipping.

I think I'll stay with free paint.....


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## Eaglerock (Jul 8, 2008)

Can of primer, 15 dollars, can of paint 14 dollars... did 20 hives and have only used 1/8 of the cans.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Eaglerock said:


> Can of primer, 15 dollars, can of paint 14 dollars... did 20 hives and have only used 1/8 of the cans.


Save it, you'll need it in a few years.


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## mgmoore7 (Jul 6, 2007)

Anyone have any knowledge of the UV protection of dipping with paraffin/gum rosin? I am in FL and UV is a concern year round.

What is the life expectancy of the dipping protection?


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## Grant (Jun 12, 2004)

Kentuckybee said:


> I had a friend make it for me. I bought him a 6 pack of beer.


I trust the beer wasn't tapped until after the project was complete!

But seriously, what guage metal/steel did you use? It looks like stainless until you painted (?) it. Could you get the mix heated to 250 degrees on that one tank of gas? You've got a really sharp looking cooker!

Grant
Jackson, MO


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## Kentuckybee (May 11, 2008)

I check the metal thickness it appears to be 12 guage metal. It is made from just standard steel. I heat the mix up to about 280 degrees keeping a very careful eye on this, never leaving it alone. It takes about 2 hours to get it up to temp but after that it holds just fine. I boil each piece for about 15 minutes, you will actually be able to tell when it's finished you start getting a lot more foaming when it is completely cooked.

Make sure that there is no rain schedule for at least that day, or you will have a problem. Like putting water in a pan with bacon grease. Also I leave it sit outside allnight to cool. It will still be warm the next day, but hardens into a solid. Then I use a dolly to pick it up and put in my garage until the next time.
Also I use maybe a 1/2 tank of gas doing 20 hive bodys with the tops and bottom boards. Maybe less.

Here is a website that I was able to get some ideas from. Unfortunately it is not in English but pictures speak a thousand words. They have a really nice tank.
http://www.vcelky.cz/fotobanka-23.htm
If you have anymore questions just let me know.
Bruce


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

they have a really nice cooker there. looks like all stainless steel. kinda like a little woodstove with a built in wax kettle on top.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

check out the rest of the site.:thumbsup:


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## rkwool01 (Dec 15, 2008)

Kentuckybee:

I have heard of dipping in a mixture of gum rosin and paraffin wax. How did you determine the ratio to mix? I have also heard the dipping will kill Amercan Foulbrood.


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## vcelky.cz (Jul 13, 2009)

Kentuckybee said:


> Here is a website that I was able to get some ideas from. Unfortunately it is not in English but pictures speak a thousand words. They have a really nice tank.
> http://www.vcelky.cz/fotobanka-23.htm


Hello everybody, it took me some time to get through registration process on besource.com, so sorry for late reply.

I am the autor of quoted website. The tank is made from 2 mm stainless steel - inside only. Reason was to make it ready for processing the beeswax as well, but never used (we use steam instead). The outer cover is from normal metal - 1,5 mm thick. We use a fire to heat the wax. It is less flexible to set up, but with 70 kilos of parafin in the tank it doesn´t matter too much. It happens twice to fire the parafin to my friend. Even he had the tank build in the barn (???), he estinguished it by powder estinguisher quickly. Since his experience we allwas have one closely to us. The metal lid on the tank is aslo very handy - it speeds the heating proces and can be used in case of fire as a cover.

The most information about hot wax dipping I have found on https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/downloads/01-051.pdf.

We use just cheapest parafin on the market with the temepratue of melting about 60 °C. The lowest temerature for dipping should be 160 °C - when lower then more parafin stays on the surafceof the stuuf and melts on the sun afterwards. The highest I did 220 °C by misteak, normaly I do 180-200 °C. 

We decided for hot wax dipping because of 2 reasons:
1.) desinfection (5 minutes at 160 °C kills even AFB in the wood)
2.) mainteance and steadiness of wood (once dipped in parafin wood doesn´t bend by humidity changes - it lets us make boxes joints by the easiest possible way)

Ufff - that´s all. If anybody interested and have question don´t hesitate and ask me.


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## Kentuckybee (May 11, 2008)

Wow !!!

There you go everybody these are the words from my main source of information. ( The masters )
I just did dip 30 medium supers and one complete hive body and the amount of product in my cooker did not change.
I believe I could dip about 100 hive bodies without having to buy more product ( gum rosin or parrfin wax ).

It looks great when your finished and it will last a long time. I think you will never want to paint again.

Also I wanted to to say thanks to the people from the website I found this information from for not getting mad at me sending everyone there.
I found their website very useful. ( http://www.vcelky.cz/fotobanka-23.htm
)

Thanks to you and your information.

Bruce Stevens
Kentuckybee


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## rkwool01 (Dec 15, 2008)

Kentuckybee:

Thanks for all the details. I made a copy for my folder on hive boxes for future use.


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## Tony Rogers (Oct 18, 2012)

BULLSEYE BILL said:


> Save it, you'll need it in a few years.


LOL! Good one! That's even funny several years after you posted it!


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## minz (Jan 15, 2011)

I wonder if you are doing all the same size boxes if a solid center in the tank would reduce the amount of material needed (at least for initial purchase). I was thinking just from the photo of building it out of the bricks and strapping them together. Set them on some a couple of bricks in the bottom. That would allow the bottom to have only a couple of points of contact to allow the burner to work. Would the bricks stay too cool to allow the mixture to melt around them? The cost of finish would be the same as the paint.


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## Mtn. Bee (Nov 10, 2009)

I bought an even bigger tank that can do 4 deeps or 2 of my 4-way pallets stacked at a time.


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

I wonder if anyone has tried a tank that is made closer to the size of a super/deep... Kind of like a donut, with an empty center. You would need a lot less wax/rosin?

I'm working on building one similar to this video... Also doing the assembly clamp/painting fixture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5UUJT8ooVE


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## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

@Kentuckybee: How exacty did you heat the tank?


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