Sublimox price

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Ian123

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Anyone seen sublimox for a decent price Thornes currently £390.00
 
The cheapest I found (at the time) was from Norfolk Honey
 
I don't get it though what's so special about the sublimox? There's loads of evaporators on EBay and Amazon for £50 to £100, even Abelo do one in that price range, as far as I can see they all do the same thing, use electricity to heat up oxalic acid crystals which then vaporise up into the hive. I can't for the life of me see how this one can be so special that it's 3 or more times the price. Especially when Abelo sell the heating element on it's own for only £35 and that must be the heart of the machine / system.
 
I don't get it though what's so special about the sublimox? There's loads of evaporators on EBay and Amazon for £50 to £100, even Abelo do one in that price range, as far as I can see they all do the same thing, use electricity to heat up oxalic acid crystals which then vaporise up into the hive. I can't for the life of me see how this one can be so special that it's 3 or more times the price. Especially when Abelo sell the heating element on it's own for only £35 and that must be the heart of the machine / system.
Are these other units passive or active?
 
I don't get it though what's so special about the sublimox? There's loads of evaporators on EBay and Amazon for £50 to £100, even Abelo do one in that price range, as far as I can see they all do the same thing, use electricity to heat up oxalic acid crystals which then vaporise up into the hive. I can't for the life of me see how this one can be so special that it's 3 or more times the price. Especially when Abelo sell the heating element on it's own for only £35 and that must be the heart of the machine / system.
Temperature control?
 
Temperature control?
Optimal sublimation temperature, when the crystals turn to vapour is 157 deg C, the only caveat on that is if you go too far over then you get formic acid and carbon monoxide. I'm sure the cheaper systems are as capable of controlling their temp though. The sublimox and ones like it seem to be more for those with a large number of hives. If it's 20 seconds per hive, as it seems you can achieve that speed then a lot of hives would justify the expense. The average beekeeper with only a few hives can use the slower evaporators.

Oh and here's the UN / EU data sheet on oxalic acid, just in case someone finds it useful? It's nasty stuff, I hope anyone contemplating

it's use will use the appropriate PPE. ICSC 0529 - OXALIC ACID

Are these other units passive or active?

Passive so I'm guessing that's the big difference, if you need to do loads of hives then use the fan driven one with the timer and the £400 price tag, if you've only got a few hives and can spend a bit of time on each one use the £50 one.

Or buy a heating element and make your own, a fan from an old computer would probably make a suitable unit, so long as there's nothing made of metal in the air stream, a cup to hold the crystals, the sublimox ones seem to be ceramic. a handle. some form of timer, and a power supply either mains or battery. As usual there's loads of YouTube videos showing both operation and others making their own versions.
 
Optimal sublimation temperature, when the crystals turn to vapour is 157 deg C, the only caveat on that is if you go too far over then you get formic acid and carbon monoxide. I'm sure the cheaper systems are as capable of controlling their temp though. The sublimox and ones like it seem to be more for those with a large number of hives. If it's 20 seconds per hive, as it seems you can achieve that speed then a lot of hives would justify the expense. The average beekeeper with only a few hives can use the slower evaporators.

Oh and here's the UN / EU data sheet on oxalic acid, just in case someone finds it useful? It's nasty stuff, I hope anyone contemplating

it's use will use the appropriate PPE. ICSC 0529 - OXALIC ACID



Passive so I'm guessing that's the big difference, if you need to do loads of hives then use the fan driven one with the timer and the £400 price tag, if you've only got a few hives and can spend a bit of time on each one use the £50 one.

Or buy a heating element and make your own, a fan from an old computer would probably make a suitable unit, so long as there's nothing made of metal in the air stream, a cup to hold the crystals, the sublimox ones seem to be ceramic. a handle. some form of timer, and a power supply either mains or battery. As usual there's loads of YouTube videos showing both operation and others making their own versions.

Isnt there formic acid in MAQ's?
 
This isn't a new argument and the same principle can be applied to why do people buy trabants verse's Mercedes 600Sel cars as they both do the same job?
 
the cheepy 20 quid wand from Thornes with my pickup battery , seems to do the job

Two different tools, two different outcomes.

The £20 wand will send OA drifting upward into the hive and the OA may or may not cover everything; the Sublimox is a beast that acts like a fire extinguisher so powerful that everything inside the hive is covered and vapor seeps out of the roof.

Sublimox is not only faster, but more effective.
 
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Two different tools, two different outcomes.

The £20 wand will send OA drifting upward into the hive and the OA may or may not cover everything; the Sublimox is a beast that acts like a fire extinguisher so powerful that everything inside the hive is covered and the vapor seeps out of the roof.

Sublimox is not only faster, but more effective.

Sounds good ,not sure could justify it for 3 hives mind
 
I don't get it though what's so special about the sublimox? There's loads of evaporators on EBay and Amazon for £50 to £100, even Abelo do one in that price range, as far as I can see they all do the same thing, use electricity to heat up oxalic acid crystals which then vaporise up into the hive. I can't for the life of me see how this one can be so special that it's 3 or more times the price. Especially when Abelo sell the heating element on it's own for only £35 and that must be the heart of the machine / system.
Got ours from amazon brilliant
 
It doesn't stay at 200 C for long. Newton's law of cooling kicks in
Yes - that was a slightly tongue in cheek remark. The formic acid produced by oxalic acid thermolysis will of course be hot when it leaves the vaporiser but it won't increase the temperature of the hive significantly. For a short while there could be quite a bit of it though compared to the vapours from MAQs strips especially in proximity to the vaporiser.
 
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