Electric Disinfection Tub for frames and supers

01 · 9 KW AT 400 V: THREE-PHASE NEEDED

And that is the filter on this purchase

The element is 9 kW at 400 volts and runs on a three-phase supply. This is not a datasheet detail: most small workshops only have single-phase 230 V, and there this tub cannot be plugged in.

Check the consumer unit before ordering. Without three-phase the options are to have it installed or to solve disinfection another way, but there is no adaptor that covers nine kilowatts.

02 · 3 % CAUSTIC SODA, HOT

That is the method, and why the tub is stainless

The maker specifies a hot 3 % sodium hydroxide solution — caustic soda. It is what is used on beekeeping equipment because it saponifies wax and propolis and lifts the ingrained soiling no brush will shift.

The concentration, temperature and duration of the treatment are set by your animal-health group or your vet according to the case, not by the maker of the appliance. Ask before you build the protocol.

03 · NO ALUMINIUM, NO GALVANISED

Hot caustic eats both

The tub is stainless precisely because it stands up to caustic. Aluminium does not: hot caustic attacks it and releases hydrogen. And galvanised parts do not either, because the zinc reacts the same way.

Check what goes in: aluminium parts, galvanised fittings and supers reinforced with either stay out. And handling asks for gloves, goggles and an apron, with the soda always added to the water and never the other way round.

04 · 60 × 60 × 61 INSIDE

Which takes whole supers

The usable interior is 60 × 60 cm and 61 deep, so a Langstroth or Dadant super goes in comfortably and several will stack. Outside it is 64 × 64 cm and 102 cm tall on its four legs.

It runs on swivel castors, two of them braked, and weighs 31 kg empty. Full of hot water it weighs a great deal more: choose the working position before filling it, not after.

05 · WHERE THE DIRTY WATER GOES

The question nobody asks until it is time to drain

What comes out of that 3/4 tap is not water: it is hot caustic with wax and propolis dissolved in it. It does not go into a domestic drain or onto the ground, and you need a plan for collecting and handling it before the first use.

The tub includes a stainless 11-litre container with a handle, useful for handling but not for emptying the whole tub. Think the full circuit through: filling, heating, draining and where the waste ends up.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Check the consumer unit and decide where the waste goes.