Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Solar Wax Extractor




I wanted to extract the wax from a hive that we removed from an old house. I read about some solar extractors on the net and thought this was a good idea. I made mine a little differently but with the same outcome. My wax extractor is simply an old fire extinguisher cabinet that you have seen in commercial buildings. They have the rounded plexiglas cover-excellent for solar heat collection. All I did was clean the cabinet up and painted the interior of the cabinet with a black paint. I also wrapped the cabinet with duct insulation for heat gain. I placed a foil pan that I perforated with a tiny nail inside another pan that is not perforated. I placed the wax on top of cheese cloth that is streatched over the perforated pan. It worked fine. I measured the temp inside the cabinet on a sunny day and it measured 138 deg. F

3 comments:

Muck said...

So I've read all the info, and I am amazed!! No wonder Caylin Roberts is such a special little girl, with such special parents to teach her things the average child would never be exposed to! I'm sure this has been a learning experience she will never forget. Also, we opened the honey tonight to put on some homemade sourdough yeast rolls, and Jeff says it was the best natural honey he'd ever eaten! We're planning to have biscuits in the morning for breakfast to enjoy some more!

Muck said...

I'm using my Paul's blog account to send your comment, but this is Laura typing!

Paul said...

I am glad you enjoyed the honey. There is lots more to come. Thank you for reading my blog.