I am in Australia and have been using an old extractor given to me but it is very laborious. It is time to buy one and I am deciding between the stainless steel 3 frame Manual Extractor with Tank and Strainer or an Aussie Power Machinery 4 frame electric stainless steel one. They are both similarly priced. I have two hives planning to increase to 3 in Spring. I can't find any reviews regarding this electric one. Any advice would be very welcome. Thanks Merryn.
Aussie power machinery is all Chinese junk if you only have 3 hives manual extracter is the best option I have 12 hives and still extract by hand withought any probs. good exercise.get some friends over and give them a jar of honey each makes life easy and its good to share the fresh produce with your friends and neighbours
I had 12 hives last year. I use an 18 frame motorized Mann Lake extractor and exrtacted 1200 pounds last year. I would not want to try that manually.
For a start, try to motorize the one you have. I have heard some beeks put drill motors on them.
Jim
Thank you very much Jim and Friend this is what I needed to hear. Glad I didn't get the chinese electric version and your coments are most appreciated. I will be buying the manual extractor on Tuesday, enjoy your weekend. Regards Merryn
i have about 20 hives and im still using a 3 frame extractor, i find the slowest part is using the uncapping knife without
cutting too much off the frames its time consuming the extracting part dosnt take long at all.
I have about 12 hives and use a 4 frame electric extractor. I wouldn't be without it, it's a big enough job to uncap all the frames let alone manually spin all the honey out. I have helped friends with manual extractors. It is very laborious task and they have trouble finding people to help them. It would still be worth going electric for only a few hives. The extraction process would be much more pleasant and the big advantage is that frames can be uncapped while the extractor is spinning honey out.
I totally agree Johnny253
I bought a cheap Chinese electric extractor and the motor caught fire. What empathy did I get from the supplier in China - ZIP. Buy from an established Australian, European or US supplier and be safe.
We have an ancient Pender's 4 frame electric engine extractor as well as a 4 frame manual extractor (mostly used by our Wwoofers). The speed of the electric extractor is reasonably slow and steady and has been excellent for 30+ hives, but now we run over 40 hives, we have been looking around for a larger extractor, and reading 'reviews' of certain imported brands, hundreds of dollars cheaper than Oz-made. If you read enough 'reviews' of the el-cheapos, you will recognise a certain word-patterning, that sounds more like an advetorial in its positive affirmation, so take them with a grain of salt, and read the negative reviews likewise.