Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: flyboy on September 13, 2015, 11:30:13 PM

Title: Ozone to clean equipment
Post by: flyboy on September 13, 2015, 11:30:13 PM
A friend mentioned that he read that you should clean your boxes etc once/yr. Sounded maybe a bit excessive but what do I know.

The suggestion was to use a propane torch.

Since I have an ozone generator and O2 concentrator it seemed like an idea to use it for this purpose. Any thoughts?
Title: Re: Ozone to clean equipment
Post by: Michael Bush on September 14, 2015, 09:01:47 AM
Bees keep a clean house.  No need to ever clean them.  Now and again you may need to scrape out some burr comb or get some propolis out of the way...
Title: Re: Ozone to clean equipment
Post by: Jim134 on September 14, 2015, 11:54:42 AM
Quote from: flyboy on September 13, 2015, 11:30:13 PM
Since I have an ozone generator and O2 concentrator it seemed like an idea to use it for this purpose. Any thoughts?

I have read articles about ozone generators being able to kill AFB  spores. They did not have any supporting references that I could find. Does anybody know if this is true or not.


             BEE HAPPY Jim134  :smile:
Title: Re: Ozone to clean equipment
Post by: Michael Bush on September 14, 2015, 02:50:13 PM
I'm just speculating based on basic biology and chemistry and studies I've seen on AFB and sodium hypochlorite solution (bleach).  Probably ozone would kill spores exposed to the air.  But I'm pretty sure it's not going to touch ones encased in propolis or wax.  Whether that is sufficient to control the disease is another discussion.