Leaking honey from honey flow

First year using the honey flow, not really sure if this is normal or even if this is the right place for advice. My honey flow system is now currently mostly full of of honey except one of the frames that seem to leak out the honey into the tray at the bottom of the frame as fast as the bees try to fill the cells with honey. All the frame trays seem to be full of honey as well. If I pulled out any of the bottom honey flow frame plugs honey would pour out. Before I installed the frames I made sure the cells were lined up properly by using the key on each frame and visually inspecting. Need some advice. Also, how do you inspect the frames to see if they are completely capped? I can’t really tell from viewing from the plexiglass window or from the back.

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Bees typically work from the middle to the outside. If the cells on the outside frame are capped chances are very good the ones in the middle are also. But to be sure you can always go in and pull a middle frame and have a look.

Thanks Chipper, since this is my first year with this type of frame I’ll pull out the frames to inspect before I tap them. I’m sure they will be heavy. Any ideas on the other issue?

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Good choice: Pull the frames out and make sure they are capped; that is the only way to tell.

Seeing that you checked the cell alignment, the only other thing I can think of is that the wire tension could be a little loose. That allows the frames to flex, and leaves gaps that the nectar or honey could leak out of.

Thanks for your reply, I have no way of changing the tension on the wires.The wires are one continuous loop. I followed the instructions from Honey Flow’s video and made sure the wires were properly set after shipping. My real concern now is I seem to be the only one having this particular problem with honey filling the trough at the bottom of the frame.

You can put an extra twist in the wire, but obviously not once it is full of honey! :blush: There is a video on how to tighten the tension in the wires.
http://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/how-to-tighten-the-wires-on-your-flow-frames/p/174

Not true, if you search the forum, several other people have had the problem, and it looks like there are a number of causes. Hard to tell which problem it is, without examining your frames.

Maybe pull the leaking frames out, set them in a bucket in the house, open them fully and let them drain. Once they are empty you can figure out how to fix them.

Thanks Dawn, I think I can check the cables when I take the frames out to check for capped honey. I really want to resolve this issue because I want to use the Honey flow in my entire apiary. The wires didn’t seem loose when I received them in March but it wasn’t on my check list. If they are loose I would be surprised that they were sent to me that way. I will search the forum for an example of the same problem and to see how it was resolved.

In regards to leaking honey there is a FAQ here - http://www.honeyflow.com/faqs/leaking-honey-from-my-flow-hive/p/183
which leads you to the checklist for harvesting honey - http://www.honeyflow.com/forum-community-resources/harvesting-checklist/p/197

How to know when the cells are capped - pull out the frames as the others have suggested. That way you make sure you have ripe honey.

On further inspection it looks like all of the troughs are filled with honey in all of the frames.

Thanks Dawn, If they are loose now I understand how to resolve the issue.