Defective Gas Vap Burner

[elainemary]

What a useless piece of equipment! I bought it with my brand new GasVap 18months ago and it's been playing up from day one. Despite filling it there's barely a flame on it which is totally inadequate to carry out it's purpose of heating the Oxalic. Has anyone else had problems with theirs? What a waste of money. You think they'd have made sure they were reliable! I use the cigarette lighter fuel.

Can these be serviced or repaired?
View attachment 38438

Agree. Gave up using mine. Found it dangerous to handle, unreliable and lost confidence using it. Binned, waste of money. Generally find these type of burners have a short shelf life, soot accumulates on the nozzle. Bought for the odd colony eg swarm that needs treating in the season. Have switched back to my Sublimox - far more reliable and safe to use.

 

[pargyle]

I

Agree. Gave up using mine. Found it dangerous to handle, unreliable and lost confidence using it. Binned, waste of money. Generally find these type of burners have a short shelf life, soot accumulates on the nozzle. Bought for the odd colony eg swarm that needs treating in the season. Have switched back to my Sublimox - far more reliable and safe to use.

I think that's a bit of an unfair appraisal .. yes, it does require a bit of trial and error to balance the torch flame to the Gas vap - and I modified mine with some heat absorbing silicon sheets around the heat shield and I also made some timber 'caps' to go over the copper caps so you do not burn your fingers swapping the cap over. It's not inherently dangerous. The mistake most peope make is having the blow torch flame too high ... you don''t need a flame thrower to get it up to the temp where the OA sublimates...if the flame is too high it will run out of oxygen and it will go out .. using too much heat also burns out the piezo igniter.

I agree with Gilberdyke John ... an extra hole or enlarging the slot in the flame tube on some of the early models allows the flame more oxygen and makes a lot of difference.

You can't compare a device costing £30 to one that costs £400 - the Sublimox is a lovely bit of kit but the disadvantage is that it needs a power source .. the Gasvap, once you get the hang of and recognise and modify its shortcoming is a convenient and effective method of sublimating OA. It's certainly not a waste of money and for someone with a few hives to treat it's a low cost option.

 

[elainemary]

We’ll have to agree to differ…all the modifications required and the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ make it impractical. Safety is my biggest concern. Requires thick gloves to handle safely which make it incredibly difficult to use. Don’t waste your money buying.

Dribbling quickly and efficiently is a lower cost and safer solution for the beekeeper with a small number of colonies and a small budget, wanting to treat their colonies in winter.

 

[pargyle]

We’ll have to agree to differ…all the modifications required and the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ make it impractical. Safety is my biggest concern. Requires thick gloves to handle safely which make it incredibly difficult to use. Don’t waste your money buying.

Dribbling quickly and efficiently is a lower cost and safer solution for the beekeeper with a small number of colonies and a small budget, wanting to treat their colonies in winter.

Well ... he's sold a lot and there are a lot of people using it safely and without complaint so I think you may be in a minority amongst those people who are actually using it. I accept that it needs a bit of modifying and that you need to get used to it and the flame adjustment ... but in preference to dribbling (so yesteryears treatment) ? Sorry ... no comparison.

 

[Wilco]

We’ll have to agree to differ…all the modifications required and the ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ make it impractical. Safety is my biggest concern. Requires thick gloves to handle safely which make it incredibly difficult to use. Don’t waste your money buying.

Dribbling quickly and efficiently is a lower cost and safer solution for the beekeeper with a small number of colonies and a small budget, wanting to treat their colonies in winter.

Well ... he's sold a lot and there are a lot of people using it safely and without complaint so I think you may be in a minority amongst those people who are actually using it. I accept that it needs a bit of modifying and that you need to get used to it and the flame adjustment ... but in preference to dribbling (so yesteryears treatment) ? Sorry ... no comparison.

I agree with @jenkinsbrynmair where he's previously referred to it as a 'Heath Robinson' contraption. It's awkward to use although as @pargyle says you can get used to it and how to manage the flame. I've found a way to make it work for me and it's both significantly quicker to use and easier to carry than the nearest price comparison, a 12v pan plus battery. The risk of burns is a big issue. As is accidentally melting veils or scorching hives if you lean it the wrong way.

I use a cheap gas burner with it.

 

[Swarm]

It's always going to be a fiddle when trying to get a piece of equipment to do something it was never intended for. Scorching a meringue or creme brulee is the purpose of these torches, certainly not running with an obstruction over the nozzle. No gas nozzle is designed to work that way so the whole thing is a safety hazard regardless.

 

[Garry R]

I agree with @jenkinsbrynmair where he's previously referred to it as a 'Heath Robinson' contraption. It's awkward to use although as @pargyle says you can get used to it and how to manage the flame. I've found a way to make it work for me and it's both significantly quicker to use and easier to carry than the nearest price comparison, a 12v pan plus battery. The risk of burns is a big issue. As is accidentally melting veils or scorching hives if you lean it the wrong way.

I use a cheap gas burner with it.

The burner you flag up at least is metal. I think it is best to avoid any of them with plastic involved as I found they can over heat - not with a Gas Vap I hasten to add - just in normal use.

 

[Etton]

I find the Gasvap a really useful and easy to use tool for vaping OA. No problems with using it, hope others are not put off buying one by a few negative comments. It has my vote as extremely effective & cheap.

 

[sean-a]

A bad workman blames his tools....
Higher cost options are available!!!

My car isn't as comfortable as a Bently, but it was a tad cheaper
I have a gas vap and it works for me, it is better than lugging a car battery around the hives, but not as good as some of the newer ones with portable tool batteries appear to be....it was cheaper though.

Looks like there are plenty of choices......Buy another blowtorch, buy another OA sublimator, try another treatment or fix what you have!

 

[polymath]

One issue not flagged that often is it does need cleaning out, i.e. put a cap of water through it after every dozen hives or so, plus i find i have to in high winds keep the flame slightly higher or it looses too much heat. The ignition push button switch has melted a little, left it heating up too long once, other than that love it as saves me 80% of time compared to car battery and wands. I have though make tea cosies from wood for my caps so easy to handle them.