Well I thought this would be great but it isn’t. First off, the design of this gate necessitates mounting it about 1.5 - 2 inches above the floor of the bucket, if the bucket is to sit flat on the table (or when storing). So that means a lot of wanky tipping to get the last couple of inches of honey, which is not ideal on several levels. But that’s not a total dealbreaker since I put the honey bottling bucket on top of an 8” pedestal for convenience. Or one could hang it off the side of a table if it was properly mounted at the bottom of the bucket.
And on top of that, no gaskets or O rings were included. How the manuf. thinks that the flat surfaces of the gate and hex nut could make a tight seal against a curved bucket is beyond me. I had to research and procure my own gaskets to make this work at all. Had the manuf. thought to include mounting instructions, they might have possibly noticed the omission of any gaskets or O rings.
YET THE REAL PROBLEM is I can not tighten the Allen screw/tension spring with the included Allen wrench on the blue handle enough to stop it from leaking. I’ve tightened the Allen screw so much that it’s very difficult to even open the gate, yet it still leaks when closed.
Hillco would surely replace it as it’s probably a defective piece of plastic. With Hillco charging return shipping and a 10% restocking fee though, it’s just not worth my time at this point of the Summer for a $20 item.
It's possibly designed for some other industry but for sure not with the hobbyist beekeeper in mind.
Fact is, I must stop this rant and go process some frames right now, lol! Well I thought this would be great but it isn’t. First off, the design of this gate necessitates mounting it about 1.5 - 2 inches above the floor of the bucket, if the bucket is to sit flat on the table (or when storing). So that means a lot of wanky tipping to get the last couple of inches of honey, which is not ideal on several levels. But that’s not a total dealbreaker since I put the honey bottling bucket on top of an 8” pedestal for convenience. Or one could hang it off the side of a table if it was properly mounted at the bottom of the bucket.
On top of that, zero gaskets or O rings were included. How the manuf. thinks the flat surfaces of the gate and hex nut could make a tight seal against a curved bucket is beyond me. I had to research and procure my own gaskets to make this work at all. Also, there's not a scrap of instructions. Had the manuf. thought to include mounting instructions, they might have possibly noticed the omission of any gaskets or O rings. But maybe not.
YET THE REAL PROBLEM is I can not tighten the Allen screw/tension spring affair with the included Allen wrench on the blue handle enough to stop it from leaking. I’ve tightened the Allen screw so much that it’s very difficult to even open the gate, yet it still leaks when closed.
Hillco would surely replace it as it’s probably a defective piece of plastic. With Hillco charging return shipping and a 10% restocking fee though, it’s just not worth my time at this point in the harvest for a $20 item.
Fact is, I must stop this rant and go process some frames right now, lol!