>Yep, that’s a GAS STOVE, heating more than 40 liters of wax, as the metal

> container is large enough to submerge a langstroth deep hive body.  I hope
> that this was another of his staged photos, and he was not really using
> that
> stove. If that photo didn't not make shivers go down your spine, you've
> never seen a hospital burn unit.
>

I am in complete agreement with the above.  Perhaps I can respectfully add
some practical experience.  I've used an electrically-heated wax hot tank
of that size for over 25 years, and have experienced fires with 10-ft
flames on three unforgettable occasions (all due to dumb errors).  I am in
complete agreement that open flames scare me, yet I've visited quite a
number of operations that use open gas, heating oil, or wood flames to heat
the wax.

If one builds a hot wax tank, I suggest that you have an airtight cover at
hand (can be plywood), which will immediately snuff out flames, a CO2 fire
extinguisher, a bucket of cold water into which you can plunge your hands,
and a water hose at hand (never put water into hot wax!).

That said, in general, using a hot wax tank is not much more hazardous than
using a commercial french fryer.  I've lost count of the thousands of boxes
that we've dipped, and no one has ever experience more than tiny minor
burns due to a drop of inadvertently splashed wax (and this includes lots
of dipping by teenage sons).

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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