Wax Sterilizer 200L LYSON

01 · 120 °C FOR TWENTY MINUTES

Or 110 °C for three or four hours

The protocol the maker states for American foulbrood spores is 120 °C for 20 minutes, or 110 °C for 3 to 4 hours. They are the two equivalent combinations of temperature and time, and it is worth having them written down before switching on.

What your particular case requires — whether it has to be done at all, under which protocol and with what record — is set by your animal-health group or the regulations that apply to you, not by the maker of the appliance.

02 · NOT ALL WAX NEEDS IT

And the maker says so, which is to its credit

With new cappings and your own controlled comb, conventional melting is usually enough. Sterilising makes sense when wax comes in of uncertain origin, when there is a health suspicion, or when the rules require it for sale or export.

Worth saying because it is the opposite of what a brochure says: it is not one more step in the routine, it is a tool for a specific problem. If the wax is yours and you control it, do not punish it for no reason.

03 · A DIAL, NOT A THERMOSTAT

And at 6 kW with 180 °C available, that matters

Temperature is set with a manual potentiometer over a 50 to 180 °C range. It is not a safety thermostat with cut-out: the one watching the temperature is you, and with 180 °C available at 6,000 W that is not a detail.

It is also what explains the price. Our range has a 300-litre steriliser with a double safety thermostat and contactor cut-out that costs nearly three times as much. Per litre it works out at a little under half of this one; what you pay for there is the control, not the capacity.

04 · THE OIL IS NOT INCLUDED: 90 LITRES

And it is not filled to the brim

The jacket works with thermal oil, which is not included: about 90 litres are recommended, not the full capacity. The reason is physical: the oil expands between 7 and 10 % on reaching 100 °C, and if it is full it overflows through the relief.

The oil is also a consumable: it is checked and topped up over the years. Order it with the machine and not afterwards, because ninety litres are not improvised mid-shift.

05 · IT COMES OUT DARKER

And it is worth counting on that

At those temperatures the wax does not spoil, but it darkens: above 85 °C it starts to change colour, and here you work well above. The wax that comes out of here does not go back to being pale virgin wax.

And two installation notes: the supply is three-phase 3 × 400 V, so check the board first; and the wax outlet is a 3/4 inch valve, which with molten wax is not fast. The bottom water valve is 2 inch.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Three-phase, and 90 litres of thermal oil separately.