Homemade Solar Wax Melter (Rendering Beeswax)
Learn how to build a solar wax melter. Rendering beeswax can be very time consuming unless you have a good melter and I find solar to be a great option during the summer months. Watch to see my setup and learn why I like it so much compared to other wax rendering options.
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Thanks for sharing, I have a wax melter like that, but I starting putting a paper towel over the screen wire and the wax even comes out cleaner. Most of the wax just goes through the towel and comes out very clean. I also put water in the container where the wax melts to, makes it easy to remove. I was one of the winners of the Super Clean last year and love the stuff. Thanks again for making the videos.
Desmond Simmons ...have to agree with you, cleaner wax and with water in the container so much easier to collect. Each to there own tho but I’m on board with how you do it. Another solar wax melter or even more you can melt loads of wax at the same time. The bee supply companies here in oz buy our wax and it’s not a bad prize as it gets turned into all sorts of products, from wax foundation to block wax and other things. So yeah love my wax . 👍
I use a $3 black bodied slow-cooker with a clear lid from the goodwill store and set it into the sun without plugging it in. It takes about 2- 3 hours to melt wax. No power needed to melt wax.
I plan to build my solar melter next week. No problem with the heat down here in Texas
Awesome
Very good video. I liked the way you broke down the benefit based on the labor and gave several useful tips as well.
Good ideas using good scrap!
Your great video has provided me with lots of design ideas, thank you Jason.
That is such a great idea and hope if you don't mind if I steal it and build one for myself! Thanks for sharing!
LOL! That's why I watch you Jason! You are such a good planner! (Among your other great qualities!) Thanks for the video - great solar wax melter. Rendering wax is not a fun thing to do, nice you can do it so well, and with so little effort. Once you make the solar wax melter!
No doubt gonna do or attempt this one!
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Putting a bit of water in the pan makes it melt a bit faster. When you reach 100% humidity in the melter, the air has more heat and conducts it more efficiently into the wax.
Great Videos I can really use the Cleaner
Great video thanks
Great video Jason
Good idea !
Nice, I will try it, thanks.
Just don't put it close to your hives. I am now thinking my placement of the wax melter added to my small hive beetle issue. The melter does work very nice though.
If you are a bit technical you could set a vertical motor on a seasonal timer and a horizontal motor on a daily timer. Optimum power 24/7.
Good one Jason. Take care.
Pretty hot over there this time of year eh Jason. It's getting cold here in Qld Australia. I've actually worn a jumper over the last few days. Temperatures ranging from 9-21 degrees c, or 48-70F. Too hot there for beekeeping after 9am in my book. It's the same here in the summertime.Have a great week.
Good video.
Do you ever do a second run to clean the wax further or do you use another method? I made my solar wax melter out of a nuc with a foil pan and a clear plastic lid. It does a great job melting it down but there's always some residue that makes it into the wax. Hundred degree days are the norm here in SC right now so the process is real quick for me. Might be why I get some dark spots in my wax.
Love your vids! You showed wintered-over two-story nucs that you pulled the queen and five frames for nucs you were selling. That left the second box with frames of bees. What did you leave in that second box? Sounds like you will be inserting a queen cell into each of them, but what did you leave that second box in the way of resources? Brood? Honey? Pollen? Finally, will it build up to a two-story nuc before winter? Is that your ultimate goal?
Woohoo -Free Superclean products for my Birthday thanks Buddy - I feel lucky !Thanks for the video Jason - Did you test for mites yet how was it? I pulled out some bushes in the heat yesterday - I took constant breaks and drank plenty of water.
Queen introduction. Candy plug up or down, and why?
Paint everything black to help increase heat regarding cleaning your wax.
Good video and well explained.How about painting the inside black?
@Thomas Kmet Painting the inside is a great idea but I wouldn't paint the area that holds the wax. I find myself scraping that surface and paint would scrape off into wax.
Painting the inside black is such a good idea
@@JCsBees I agree just the inside for added heat gain.
Watch your videos all the time. Great information.
@@JCsBees or what about using tin foil? that would get pretty hot too
An old solar panel trick to orient to the sun on one axis would be to place an object on that top board that holds the window that would cast a shadow, when the shadow from side to side is equal, you are directly pointed at the sun, no muss no fuss.
Your awesome bro
thanks Jason for your wonderful and useful videos. regarding the solar melter , i think it's very important that glass sits tightly on the box edges. what you do about ?
@Meir Chanan Yes, I agree the glass should fit tightly and not have open areas for air to leak. Otherwise the inside of the box cools to fast to get a good melt.
Nice recycling. Love the solar wax melter.
Well, I just recently replaced the front door storm door and now I know what to do with the glass.
What if you put foil on back so the combs can sit on foil and heat can come back and not escape thru wood? Seems like it would definitely heat it up
that's what I was thinking too
Jason, what are you using as your hive stands? I like them.
kzhead.info/sun/aNqbk8WgeZuLpIk/bejne.html
Would it be helpful to do a Fresnel lens over the window glass to concentrate at least somewhat the sun's rays to speed the wax melting?
Speeding up the process will just create more work. The slow melting and angle of melter play a huge tole on how the dirt stays in the top and not in your wax catching container.
Now you just need to rig that up with a cheap clock motor so it can track across the sky and follow the sun throughout the day.
Or just attach a small solar panel to it and get a inexpensive $20 tracker to move it.
I’d like to bee included in the drawing. I would love to win the prize! Thank you !
Question ? I put all my excess & collected wax in a container with a lid and all of it molded over ? How long can it be kept ? I had this for only a few months.
Sounds like your comb had some fresh nectar in it and that's why it molded. I usually let the bees rob any nectar from the comb before I throw it in my bucket. But I have rendered moldy wax several times and it comes out clean. Wax with no moisture in the bucket should never mold.
Have you figured out anything good to do with the"slumgum"- the stuff left over after melting? I hate to waste anything, if there's a good use for it.
I haven't but great question. I usually throw it in the trash.
@@JCsBees Is it any good for a compost heap?
Rub the slum gum inside of swarm traps.
Fire starter maybe?
Where did you pick up your incubator JC?
You can get them online or Rural King and Tractor Supply Company (TSC) sells them too.
Thanks Jason.
I wouldn't buy an expensive one. Just a basic incubator.
How do you filter or clean the wax?
The filter action is the angle of the melter in this case. A good angle will melt wax and the dirt stays behind, too steep of an angle and the dirt drains with the wax.
Right. So the blackness or dirt is left behind and you'll get nice yellow wax? Would it help of we put some cloth on the mesh?
Will this work in the UK with less sunlight?
Not sure but I would think so. At the worst maybe it will take 2 days to melt what I can melt here in the US in one day. Worth a shot!
If you let the sun bleach the wax it would be more valueable. White wax sells for about twice what the yellow sells for.
Possibly but it's my experience the wax gets a funny texture after it's bleached. Plus I use my wax to re-coat plastic foundation.
1000 watt heat bulb would make that solar melter work better. LOL.
May work faster but your also making it cost to melt wax, my method cost nothing after you have the melter.
@@JCsBees Not if you run it off of solar power and a battery.
Great video thanks