people and smokers

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lgrieve91

New Bee
Joined
Jan 30, 2013
Messages
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Location
Sheffield
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
1
Could some people help me out with either some answers? or even better, some pictures?

I'm redesigning the bee smoker for my University grad project and wanted to know, where do people keep their bee smokers when not in use? Or when transporting them to and between sites? I've got my own way but was interested to see how others differed?

On another note, If you have hives at different apiaries, how far would you normally expect to walk from the vehicle to the hives? I've not been to many apiaries so lack knowledge in that department!

Any further ideas or comments are welcomed!
 
I keep my smoker in a steel ex army ammo box. if it's not gone out, I know that it's not going to set fire to anything.

Regards
CD

CD
 
I transport mine in an airtight tub, mainly at my wife's insistence! Stops smelling the car out.
 
Could some people help me out with either some answers? or even better, some pictures?

I'm redesigning the bee smoker for my University grad project and wanted to know, where do people keep their bee smokers when not in use? ...

It lives on its side on a shelf outside the back door. Kinda under cover.

One area for design improvement (albeit at extra cost) would be a better way of sanitising the smoker's bellows grip(s).

We are encouraged to wash gloves and hive tools between every hive, and yet we grab the smoker while the gloves are mucky and (usually) only rarely think of cleaning it.
I know one chap who puts a plastic bag over the bellows grips so he grips it through the plastic. The bellows boards stay clean and he simply discards the bag to sanitise his smoker. (I haven't seen a bag melted against the firebox!)


The smoker itself is something of an object-lesson in cheap functional design simplicity.
No valves. And the bellows attachment doesn't need great accuracy in assembly.
Apart from the potential of cheap metal corroding, the hinges breaking and the eventual fatigue of the bellows flexible sides, there's not much to go wrong or for a beek to **** up.
Maybe worth your while pointing out that you are re-designing a classic!
 
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Apart from the potential of cheap metal corroding, the hinges breaking and the eventual fatigue of the bellows flexible sides, there's not much to go wrong or for a beek to **** up. Maybe worth your while pointing out that you are re-designing a classic!

Reversing over it is fairly final. :svengo:
 
I have a smoker per apiary site, thus avoiding the need to transport.

Last year a forum member posted a photograph of their car after having left their smoker alight in the back. Quite a bad result.
 
I have a tool box that double’s up as an emergency nuc or swarm collection box that the smoker hangs of a hook on the front.
 
In an airtight tub after numerous complaints from the wife about the smell of smoke in my car
 
I stick gaffer tape on the bellows where you grip - can be wiped clean and/or ripped off and replaced when filthy. simples!
 
Brilliant!

These are all brilliant insights, I like the slight differences between each persons approach. The smoker is a real icon when it comes to beekeeping, I'll try to be careful not to lose all of its heritage and charm.

I'd never thought about hygiene on the bellows, Only having one hive myself means I overlook some of these things. Little tricks like the gaffa tape and plastic bags are literally design gold, it shows how users want things to work when they originally don't.

Please keep them coming!!!
 
The smell comes from inside the smoker via the spout in the lid which I block with a clump of grass or a cork if I can find it, the smoker will extinguish it's self in minutes. A good design modification would be a stopper to put on the spout linked with a bit of chain and could stowed out of the way whilst in use
 
I've lost my smoker! Not had it a year! When I had a smoker I would use grass and stuff it in the hole! I'd keep it in the potting shed after use. But I have left it down by the chickens and under the archway in the courtyard.
Who knows where it is now!
 
A good design modification would be a stopper to put on the spout linked with a bit of chain and could stowed out of the way whilst in use

Or even a separate stopper that could be bought, on a chain with a clip at the loose end so it could be fastened to the cage. Shouldn't be too expensive to make.

You can hook the smoker over the side of the box while inspecting. If it's upwind it'll offer a gentle waft of smoke over the top of the frames. Doesn't work too well with a poly box.
 
The smell comes from inside the smoker via the spout in the lid which I block with a clump of grass or a cork if I can find it, the smoker will extinguish it's self in minutes. A good design modification would be a stopper to put on the spout linked with a bit of chain and could stowed out of the way whilst in use

Hi Redwood
Already do the cork on a chain thing, still managed to stink the car out. Maybe something to do with the type of fuel? Mine is egg boxes, neighbours save all theirs!:)
 
Kept on a wall outside until it's out and then stored in the 'official' bee equipment shed :D. when travelling to the out apiary it just sits in the boot of the jeep - unlit on the way over (and on the way back as I have a cuppa with my friends parents, whose orchard the bees are in before returning) - hundred yards from vehicle to hive at the out apiary and about 150 yards from the house to the top of the garden where the rest of the bees are
 
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