The beevac motor stopped working right in the middle of a bee removal job Monday. The motor was bought in May of 2006, used 13 times in 2006 18 times in 2007 and about an hour in 2008, run time is about 4 hours total at each useage. I contactedShop Vac by E Mail Wednesday the 18th. about buying a new motor.
THE REPLY>
Shop Vac Corp. now handles all warranty and repair issues directly from our main plant here in Williamsport, PA.

No charge order #19------ has been entered for your new replacement power unit #81----- on Model 2015A, 1 gallon. This order should arrive in 7 to 10 business days by FED EX. We do not have a breakdown of our power units, when something becomes defective we replace the complete power unit. Do not dispose of anything until you have received this order and replaced the defective one.

You "may" need a star screw driver #T25 to remove the screws from the bottom of the lidcage. Take the entire top off of the tank and flip it upside down. Remove the screws and take off the lidcage. Remove the defective power unit and replace it with the new one. Replace the lidcage and the screws. You may then dispose of the defective power unit.

The regular business hours for Shop Vac Corporation Customer Service is Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time. You may contact Customer Service by dialing toll free 877-236-5750; please reference Ticket Number if applicable. Email communications will receive a response within a timely manner.

Thank you for contacting Shop Vac Corporation
Customer Service

I truely believe in buying American as much as possiable. I also believe in supporting companies with customer service like this. That is why I am shareing this information even though it has nothing to do with a Muzzle loader.

Al

I bought a new shop vac Monday evening that is a 2.5HP motor to finish the job. I had to redo the catch box because the motor would notfit where the old one was. I also had to open up the vent hole to reduce the suction a little but can close it up for when I use the 15 foot hose.

[:@]Kare now wants it for small jobs around the house.

Al

Granted this question has nothing to do with black powder but I will ask it anyway. I always wondered how you got the bees to cooperate and move off the hive to get the comb out. So do you use the shop vac to "move" bees from a hive to a catch hive? Or is this used to bring out the parts of the hive you then turn into that wonderful golden honey? So here's the question.. what is the vacuum for?

We use smoke to calm them, brush them lightly from the comb and place it in a bee box covered by a wet urlap sack.

Un BEE leivable

We are running 60 to 80 colonies most years. We do bee removals and catch swarms also, so that is where the bee vac comes in handy. Mondays job for instance was bees in a wood duck nesting box. Kind of hard to brush the bees off comb in such a tight place 18 feet up in a tree. We were able to drive the truck right up to the duck box where we unloaded the genorator.two normal deep hive bodies with ten empty frames and ten frames of drawn comb, the bee vac extention ladder, step ladder, a pail for comb and a small table I use when placeing comb in frames.
Set the step ladder up placed the bee vac on it attach the 15 foot hose.
NO WE DO NOT USE SMOKE DURING REMOVALS. useing smoke will drive many bees to fresh air to fan it inside.
Then set the extention ladder up start the genorator and climb up and start sucking bees off the comb. When the bees are off the side of the comb you can see I cut it from the anchor points, lay it sio I can suck the bees off the other side then if it has no brood or eggs it goes in the pail I have hanging on the ladder.
Any comb with brood and eggs I will carry down the ladder and tie or rubber band in the frames.

Even when checking our normally deep hives bees we don't use smoke. We would rather use a mist of sugar syrup to keep them busy if they ever decide to get roudy.

Al

seems I can't get pictures to show today.

Al

Bees are one of those creatures that if they leave me alone I do not squish them. They really are the back bone of agriculture. Of course honey bees are seldom a problem. They just kind of do their thing and stay out of the way.

We had some paper wasps here the other year and they were not a nice thing to have around the house. Of couse they want to build right along the door frame to the shop. Then the year the dog stuck his nose in a ground nest of bumble bees, and I saw him all of a sudden come running towards me covered in the things. And where did that old bugger run to rub them off.. why right between my legs. Needless to say we were dancing that day out in the yard.

NEWS FLASH: Cayugad and the dog do the bug-a-loo!

Glad to hear your report. I occasionally work in Williamsport and had an old shop vac with a couple of wheels missing and my pup chewed the hose. I went in and told them I needed new ones. The parts guy went in the back, came out with 5 new wheels and a new hose. When I asked how much he said nothing!!
Great company.
And BTW alley - any possibility you could sell me some beeswax?