Fire Safety in Beekeeping Adventures

-YeeOwww… Let’s keep things from getting too toasty, shall we?

So, picture this: I’m all set to use my trusty DIY oxalic evaporator. Yep, those babies survived all my moves across the country, surprising even me. A bit of new Teflon tape, and they were good as new.

Along came the cheap Walmart propane torch I snagged for the job. Gave it a test run—worked like a charm. Fired up the evaporators the next day, and boom!

Suddenly, there’s a fireball engulfing my hands, face, and chest. In those bewildering seconds, I toss the torch and do a quick backward dance.

Thankfully, I’m not on fire, but now I’m thinking about potential damage control. Sure, I might not be toast, but I could turn a lot of other things into a crispy mess.

First order of business: kick that 2-foot fireball away from the hives. Then, stomp out the resulting grass fire. Seriously, how hot can tennis shoes get before falling apart?

Retreating to the truck for my emergency water supply, I attempt to douse the torch’s flames.

Now, any beekeeper worth their matches, smokers, etc., should always have a decent water supply, right? No such luck— the fireball keeps erupting. But at least it cools and wets the ground around the torch, putting a stop to additional grass fires.

Thinking a small tank can’t burn forever, I decide to let it burn itself out.

Several minutes later (felt like an eternity), it’s still going strong. Is it about to get red hot and explode? Where’s the shovel? What, no shovel! Desperation takes over, and I use my hands to cover the torch with sand.

No dice. Propane keeps blowing through the sand, and the flame is too hot for my overheated shoes to compact it. More sand, a fortunate gust of wind, and the flame’s out. Now, all that’s left is a hot torch blasting propane through the dirt. I let it vent its fury. Cool. Then, I retrieve it.

Postmortem: The torch’s valve failed—failed, not leaked! That allowed propane to come full force through the torch and unimpeded through the valve stem.

Lucky me, I didn’t turn the whole country into a blazing inferno. I had water but no shovel. Talk about luck!

And hey, I’m fortunate not to be a smoldering plastic ball of molten goo. I was decked out in a disposable synthetic bee suit, plastic bee helmet, plastic gloves, cheap blue jeans, a synthetic shirt, and mostly synthetic tennis shoes.

Just a little food for thought when vaporizing oxalic with an open flame.

Went ahead, got another torch at Ace Hardware, and finished the job. The quality difference between the Walmart and Ace torch? Mind-blowing! Avoid the cheap Walmart torch unless you’re into nasty surprises.

Plus, there are other ways to get oxalic into a hive. Check out the new Oxalic Acid Dribbling page.

-Stay safe and buzz on, D 🐝🤠