Flow Hive upside down!

We received our flow hive last week and we seem to have a problem: 3 of the hives appear to be upside down. When we crank the cells into the ‘closed’ position we are unable to replace the cap. When we have the cells in the open ‘drain’ position we can replace the cap. This is only happening with 3 of the hives, and our friends have received their 6 flow frames and all do not have this problem. Has anyone else experienced this, and can we get them replaced? We are so keen to get started, and our current bees are looking forward to their new, fancy home!

Photos would help! Both with open and closed Flow frames, especially from the end and the side of the frame for each position. The Flow team may have a better idea, but I think this is a good place to start, so we can see what you mean. :wink:

@BrinWats You need to contact the team on http://www.honeyflow.com/contact/p/3

Hi,

I’m asking Cedar and Stu about this… as I don’t know about this. They are designed so that when the frames are closed - you can replace the cap.
Of course if this is somehow a manufacturing fault we can replace them. But we need to figure out what is going on first.

Can you please put some pictures up on here or send some pictures directly to info@honeyflow.com so we can resolve this issue.

HI Faroe

Hard to get an effective picture, but hope this helps. To close the cells you have put the key in the bottom hole (rather than the top as described in the instructions) and turn it through 90 degrees, but then you can’t replace the cap? We can slide the first vertical cell column down manually leaving it in the flow open position, but are concerned this will cause other issues.

@BrinWats Good job you checked before using - I turned all my hives off and on several times to loosen them up a bit.

I’m Cautious but it may be worth reminding peeps to test any equipment before using as you can never tell if things will go smoothly - it is probably a one off but everyone should test the key and caps before installing the frames ready for use.

You have highlighted a reason why testing is necessary and may save more people from problems when it is crucial. Thank You!

Okay, so it definitely looks like these are the wrong way around.
Haven’t seen this before. Really sorry about that.

You will need to email our customer support team at info@honeyflow.com or with the special founding supporters email address (which is working now :slight_smile: )

Please include pictures of the frames and cells in both positions so that our replacements team can process your request and get as much information as possible to pass this onto quality control section for future improvement.
If you could take a video - that would be even better - then we can see you do the opening of the cells, and the position of both the key hole and cells at the same time.

Sorry again, and thanks for your patience while we work all this out.

ps please include your order number or the email address you used when you first ordered so we can find you easily in our system.

Sorry, was not aware of the notification from Faroe.
We will try and show you a video, but we rely on very poor satellite broadband, and if the file is too big we wont be able to post.

It’s fine - just send what pictures you can to info@honeyflow.com so that we can arrange the replacements.

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Hi Brin,

It looks like the assembly team here in Brisbane assembled the moving parts the wrong way around. This is the first time I have seen this, thanks for alerting us to this issue. It should never have made it through quality control… It can be fixed by removing the cables and flipping all the smaller pieces. It’s a bit tedious though. So I don’t expect you to do this. Please contact me directly at info@honeyflow.com

Sincere Apologies,

Cedar

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My frames came in a few days ago and didn’t plan on opening the box until they were needed, but after reading this post, took them out and tested each one. Good news is they were all working properly and quite smooth.

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Hi all
We received our 3 replacement flow frames and the bees have moved in.
They are busily ‘working’ the super and it is fun watching them seal the frames before adding nectar.
Thanks for replacing the frames so quickly and I hope that not too many others have been effected.
Cheers
Belinda

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They have actually changed the manufacturing process now so that this can’t happen in the future.
So hopefully no more have slipped through before it was changed.