OA Vaporizer Oxalika® Pro-Smart Digital 220V

01 · WHY TEMPERATURE MATTERS

Vaporising is not burning

Oxalic acid sublimes at around 157 °C: it goes from powder to vapour without fully melting, and that vapour recondenses as fine crystals inside the hive. Above roughly 190 °C it decomposes, and what comes out is no longer the product you meant to apply.

An uncontrolled hot plate does not treat better: it treats worse and leaves baked-on residue to scrape off. With the temperature on screen you can see the moment, and see the overshoot.

02 · WHAT MEDICINE CAN GO IN

Registered powder only, and no longer just one

The device is just a device: what you vaporise has to be an authorised veterinary medicine. In Spain there are two registered 0.71 g/g oxalic acid powders for hives — Api-Bioxal and Varroxal — and each summary of product characteristics lists evaporation among its routes. Which product is authorised depends on the country: check your national register.

Industrial oxalic acid bought as a chemical is not a medicine: no authorised route, no dose, no withdrawal period. Using it is an offence, and at an inspection there is no way to account for the residue.

03 · WHEN YOU CAN VAPORISE

Broodless, and with the cold in

Oxalic acid kills on contact and does not go through the capping: a mite inside a sealed cell is untouched. That is why the evaporation route is indicated in broodless colonies, typically autumn and winter.

The powder's data sheet also sets the outdoor temperature window — of the order of 2 to 10 °C for evaporation — and the dose per hive. You follow the medicine you are using, not the machine.

04 · PROTECTION

The smoke is crystals, not steam

What leaves the nozzle is oxalic acid recondensed into very fine particles, and it is breathed in without noticing. You need respiratory protection with a particle filter, sealed goggles and acid-resistant gloves — a cloth mask does nothing here.

Work downwind, keep the entrance closed for a while afterwards and do not open the hive straight away. We stock respiratory protection meant for this.

05 · WHAT IT COMES WITH

Valve, syringe and an 8 mm nozzle

It comes with a valve and dosing syringe so you can load the dose without opening the unit, and that valve is the same one used on the Oxalika Easy and Fast. The nozzle is 8 mm across and about 25 mm long, so it goes into the entrance of most hives.

The 360 W are what give the roughly 25-second cycle: across a large apiary, that difference per hive is the whole working day.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It runs on 220 V. If your apiary has no power you will need a generator or an inverter: this is not a battery model. And improper use of the product is the responsibility of whoever applies it.