Jumbo Extension for Solar Wax Melter

01 · WHAT IT ADDS

Twelve frames a cycle, and hanging

With the extension fitted, up to 12 Dadant frames go in at once — the difference between rendering a season's wax in one afternoon or in three.

Inside it carries a wooden batten the frames hang from, slightly clear of the base. That is not a finishing detail: it is how the melted wax drains into the tray instead of soaking into the frame's own timber.

02 · THE MEASUREMENT THAT RULES

285 mm maximum frame height

The limit is the frame height: 285 mm. Dadant brood frames and Langstroth deeps go in; above that nothing does, however much width is left over.

Measure the frame you intend to load before ordering. It is the only check to make, and it heads off the only possible disappointment.

03 · THE SUN IS THE ENGINE

From about 27 °C, and with strong sun

A solar melter has no thermostat and no element: it melts by radiation. To perform it needs at least 27 °C outside and strong sunshine, so it is summer kit for an open site.

The pay-off is good. Beeswax melts between 62 and 65 °C and a solar melter does not go much beyond that, so the wax comes out pale — that is its real advantage over steam. With the right expectation, though: cappings and new wax yield well; old comb gives little wax and a lot of slumgum.

04 · THE WOOD

Water-based paint, two or three coats

It is 23 mm solid wood that will spend the summer in the sun and the weather. The maker asks for it to be treated with water-based hive paint, two or three coats, and without that will not stand behind its durability.

Do it before the first use, not once it has gone grey, and go over it each season. It is half an hour that decides between three years and fifteen.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is an extension: it needs the solar melter it mounts on, and the «Jumbo» version does not bring the rotating stand.