The vaporizer arrived today and I gave it a couple of trials before I put
it into my hives later this week.

It is a "Varrocleaner" made in Serbia and sold through Brushy Mountain.It
appears to be a resistive heater but not sure. Some of the other heaters
are diesel engine glow plugs. Glow plugs show up often in the home brew
vaporizers.

I bought this make because Brushy Mountain was in the front in the US to
get them to us for our use, so it is a bit of a reward for their
efforts.The price was in the range of most of the cheaper units so I had to
splurge and threw in a hive rack (side rack to hold frames while inspecting
- something I have wanted for photos as I am usually alone) and a mouse
guard to get free shipping ($150 and I was $151).

My first test was to see if there was any thermostat to control the max
temperature and there is none. This might seem a drawback, but you are
boiling a liquid (after the OA melts) so the device will stay at or not
much higher than the sublimation point of OA which is about 320F and then,
after it is all gone, will continue to heat up.

Which is why just about every vaporizer manufacturer  tells you to do a
trial outside to see how long it takes to get rid of the 2g of OA. I used
my battery charger set on max charge and 12v to test it. I intend to use
the charger with my hives as I have access to power with a long cord from
my garden.

I weighed the OA and used measuring spoons to see if the 1/4 tsp=1 gm,
which many beekeepers use, held up. It is fairly close (under slightly) so
you only need  1/4 and 1/2 tsp measuring spoons for the dose and do not
need to level it off. So field use is easy. You can be either a bit low or
high and be fine.

The battery charger worked fine and all the OA was gone after 2min and 45
sec. I wore my respirator and there were no issues. I waited about a minute
after turning off the power and disconnecting the vaporizer, and then
removed the respirator  (not smart) and inspected the vaporizer and got a
hit of OA vapor that was still residual since the vaporizer was still hot.
You cannot breath that stuff deeply as you immediately close up and cough.
It wasn't much of a hit but made a true believer out of me and that
respirator will stay until the vaporizer is cold.

The nice thing about using the battery charger is I have an on/off switch
so i can hook everything up, and then start the charger and timer without
hurrying.

For many this is old stuff, but I like to share for those who have not gone
down this yellow brick road.

Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine

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