How to make a wax melter from a washing machine

Whether in a large industrial apiary with hundreds of bee colonies or a small home apiary with just 2-3 dozen "boxes," a considerable amount of wax waste accumulates over time. This includes old wax foundation, contaminated frame edges, and frames infested with wax moth larvae.

This type of wax is only suitable for melting, but to melt it, you need a good steam wax melter, which we will make ourselves from parts of a washing machine, and then describe the entire process in this article.

What do we need?

If you have a broken washing machine gathering dust in your shed and have the time and inclination, you can whip it up into a decent steam wax melter without expending a lot of effort and energy. Why a steam wax melter? Many beekeepers use a regular solar wax melter, which is much easier to make.

1. Firstly, a steam wax melter melts quite a large amount of wax quickly and efficiently.
2. Secondly, a steam wax melter provides a higher yield of raw materials.
3. And thirdly, the steam wax melter can be used at any time of the year and in any weather.

So, we get the old washing machine out of the shed and start "ripping it apart for parts." You'll need a full disassembling a washing machine To access the necessary parts and remove unnecessary ones. What parts of the automatic washing machine will we use in the wax melter? Just two large parts: the body and the tub, complete with the drum and door seal. We also need to leave the inlet hose and drain pipe.

In addition to the old washing machine parts, we'll need a small 15-25 liter water bottle, a metal washtub, rubber plugs, silicone sealant, and a gas or electric stove. You'll also need a metal saucepan lid to cover the drum hatch. The beauty of the design is that it can be assembled literally from scrap materials, spending only 1-1.5 hours on the work.

If you are going to use a wax melter in the field, you can use a regular fire instead of an electric or gas stove.

Assembly process

To make our own wax melter, we'll need two side panels of the washing machine and the back panel. Secure them together with bolts. Most washing machines have a service hatch in the back panel; you'll need to remove its cover. If there's no service hatch, you can cut a hole in the back panel to allow the drum pulley to pass through easily.

We place the washing machine body on the ribs of the side walls so that the rear wall with the service hatch faces upward. Next, we take the tub and drum and drill several fairly large holes in the tub near the drum pulley, that is, in its rear wall. The technological openings in the tank, except for the hatch and the drain pipe hole, must be sealed. We place the tank with the drum on the rear wall of the housing as shown in the figure below.

Now we'll secure the tub and drum so they don't wobble. You can use the service bolts or simply use a rubber band. Now it's time to prepare the water bottle. We need to find a tight-fitting lid with a rubber band and make a hole in it so the washing machine's inlet hose can fit snugly inside.

All connections must be as airtight as possible, so choose rubber seals for them and use silicone sealant.

We've sealed one end of the inlet hose into the lid of the water bottle, and we've inserted the other end into the drain pipe protruding from the tank and sealed the connection ourselves. That's it. As you can see, making a steam wax melter from washing machine parts isn't all that difficult. However, it's still unclear how it works, so we'll dedicate the last section of this article to the functioning of our unusual device.

How does the device work?

We pour the pre-dried wax scraps into the drum of a former washing machine. The wax needs to be compacted tightly to ensure maximum penetration. Next, we prepare the wax melter for use.

• We will install the parts of the wax melter closer to each other so that the hose from the tank with the drum can easily reach the flask.
• Place the flask on the burner of an electric or gas stove.

Note! If you've assembled a wax melter in the field, you can place the flask on some bricks so you can start a fire underneath.

• Pour 10-12 liters of water into the flask. If the flask or can is ten liters, then you need to fill it with water 3/4 full.
• We light a fire and wait until the water in the flask starts to boil.
• Steam begins to flow through the hose from the flask into the washing machine tank. We need to temporarily close the holes we drilled earlier and place a trough underneath them.
• We close the drum hatch from above with a lid and press it down with something heavy.

The diagram above shows what will happen inside the wax melter. Hot steam from the flask will flow through a hose into the washing machine's tub, immediately seeping out of the tub through numerous holes directly into the drum where we previously placed the wax. The melted wax, along with the hot water, will flow through the drum holes to the bottom of the tub, and from there through the holes into the container you placed underneath. When the water and wax cool, the wax will harden and float to the surface, and the beekeeper will only have to collect the finished product.

So, by making your own steam wax melter from washing machine parts, you won't regret the investment, as this device will melt dozens of kilograms of old wax in a minimal amount of time. And best of all, making a wax melter is very inexpensive, or even free if you already have all the necessary parts on hand. Good luck!

   

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