Wax melter ApiNord®

01 · WHAT IS INSIDE

A grid, an inner tub and three outlets

Inside there is an internal grid the material rests on and an inner tub with its own wax outlet. That tub is the point of the design: wax and water circulate separately and each leaves by its own port.

There are three ports: water inlet, molten wax outlet and drain. That is how you take the block of wax out without dragging up the dirty water from the bottom, which is where the slumgum from the cocoons settles.

02 · THE HEAT SOURCE

Steam or gas, and bought separately

It works with a steam generator or with a gas burner underneath. This is the detail most often missed when comparing prices: the boiler is the vessel, and the equipment that heats it is a separate purchase.

With gas, remember too that a butane bottle loses pressure below about 5 °C: rendering wax outdoors in winter, it does not perform the same.

03 · WAX AND HEAT

It melts at 62-65 °C and darkens if you overdo it

Beeswax melts between 62 and 65 °C and starts to darken above about 85 °C. Steam arrives at 100 °C, so what has to be controlled here is not the temperature: it is the time.

Being fully stainless counts for the colour too: iron in contact with hot wax dirties it. And it is worth having the right expectation — an old brood frame yields little wax and a lot of slumgum.

04 · THE SECOND USE

Closed up, it is a washing tub

It comes with three brass plugs that seal the ports completely. With them in place, the same tub serves for washing and disinfecting frames.

With one condition from practice: melt all the wax out first, wash afterwards. A hot alkaline cleaner and wax do not get along — it saponifies the wax and fouls the bath — so they are two jobs, not one. And gloves and goggles: a hot bath splashes.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

You buy it by the load: 18 Langstroth is its size, and that is what decides whether it suits you.