Flow super problem

[Albearhoney]

Hi all,

This is what I found in one of my supers today. Any ideas of thought on the cause or possible fix? The super is filling with honey as you can see in the right of the image.
Cheers,
Peter
@Forum_Support

[Gerald_Nickel]

Albear,

That’s a rather wide gap !!! Did you do a complete inspect n operate to that frame before installing ?? That large of a gap should have been visible during a quick check n operate I’d think.

Is this your first season with this Flow-super n these frames. Something got by you. I think Forae needs to see your pix form Flow-hive. That sure isn’t going to work …

I’d be incline to pull (which you’ve done already). I operate slow n carefully couple times. Yip ! You’ll loss some nectar but it’s early in the season n the other five frames must be okay. I personally can tell if it’s a operation problem or manufacturing issue ! If it’s the later … a replacement need to be gotten … Also there are directions to disassemble n put back together. That gap could be worked to the outside/end of the frame.

But maybe someone else has a better idea n Flow should be alerted to your issue should it be a manufacturing problem. It’s sure isn’t right n might be a harvest issue later if not addressed now. I’d place it (The frame) to the wall furthest away from the observation window. That might buy you time n keep the bees using the other 5 frames without an issue.

That’s my 2 cents worth. And I’d always do a complete inspection n operate before installing the flow super … sometimes insects n webbing can get in the cells during off season storage…

Don’t sweat the small stuff ., mark the parts with a marker pen(Sharpy) if you try to disassemble so you know which section is the trouble maker … it’s not the end of the world n good experience. You can help others once you get the bugs worked out .

Good luck bro,

Gerald

[Dawn_SD]

@Albearhoney

Any ideas of thought on the cause or possible fix?

Looks like one of the frame leaves is stuck, and possibly misaligned/jammed at the bottom. I would be inclined to leave it for now, and see whether you can harvest. I agree with @Gerald_Nickel, it would be good to see whether @Faroe has an opinion on what to do.

If it was mine, after the harvest I would take the frame out and dismantle it. Flow has some good videos showing how to do this. I would then realign the affected leaf and reassemble the frame, checking that the mechanism now works freely. If not, then a message to Flow customer support would be next.

[busso]

May be you have already, but I would open and close the frame a couple of times making sure you turn the “twisting tick”
(there is a proper name for it) in the left, middle and right locations in the slot for both opening and closing.

[Faroe]

Hi Peter,
Sorry to hear you have a problem with your Flow Frame.
It looks to me like you have one inner moving part that has come out of its position in the lower part of the Flow Frame.
I’m not sure if it came like that or if it happened later. Maybe the wire wasn’t tight enough on your Flow Frame during manufacturing - sorry about that.
If the bees aren’t touching this line of cells then you can let the rest of the Flow Frame fill up with honey and harvest once capped. Once you have harvested you can re-align the cells with the instructions below.
It is quite simple, and Cedar has provided some videos on how to fix the Flow Frames if there are any issues.
They are all on this page of our (AU) website https://www.honeyflow.com.au/pages/manual-assembly

The first quick fix I would try is:

Fixing misaligned part in a Flow Frame

He has also provided a complete re-assembly guide which is handy to see how to do this in case you accidentally bend a frame and it comes apart:

Flow Frame Complete Re-Assembly

If you don’t have to re-assemble your Flow Hive and want to adjust the wire on your Flow Frame there is a video here:

How to tighten the wires on your Flow Frames

I have also forwarded on this message to our Customer Sevice team to make sure it is also followed up on our end for Quality Control, and to make sure what I have suggested is correct.

Please let us know how you go, and sorry again for the inconvenience.

Faroe

@Forum_Support