Dehumidifiers

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How effective are domestic dehumidifiers at reducing the water content of honey?
 
You want a desiccant type rather than the refrigerant ones. They suck the moisture out much better.
 
Moved into a rented bungalow a few years ago it was very damp so bought a dehumidifier it wasn't expensive. It was taking about 1 litre of water from the air every 24 hours. I've since used it when a heater hose burst and flooded my car.
Found it. Sry good
 
Last edited:
I have a refrigerant one and it worked very well last year.
It needs to go in a tiny room (we put ours in the kids' bunk room which barely takes the bunks so ideal) Seal the door with a towel or some such on the floor.
Four supers took five days from 22% to 18%. We put them on the slats of the top bunk.
As Millet points out, it won't work on bucket honey but works a treat on part capped frames.
 
Wife uses our refridgerant type dehumidifier to dry clothes,So would probably help lowering the water content of honey if in an enclosed room.
 
If you have a cork screw mixer as used for soft set honey you can rig that up over a bucket of honey with a drill going as slow as possible . Set it in reverse, ie the honey is drawn up. This increases the surface area. I reduced about 30 lbs of honey from 21.5 % to 18.5% in about two days. Does introduce a lot of air though. set the humidifier as low as practical. Hope that helps
 
Last year I had two honey buckets at about 20%. I put them in my warming cabinet at about 30C with a tray of calcium chloride crystals (used to keep boats and caravans dry over winter). After a few days the tray was full of liquid and the honey about 18%
 
Curley said:
If you have a cork screw mixer as used for soft set honey you can rig that up over a bucket of honey with a drill going as slow as possible . Set it in reverse, ie the honey is drawn up. This increases the surface area. I reduced about 30 lbs of honey from 21.5 % to 18.5% in about two days. Does introduce a lot of air though. set the humidifier as low as practical. Hope that helps
Click to expand...

Amari said:
Last year I had two honey buckets at about 20%. I put them in my warming cabinet at about 30C with a tray of calcium chloride crystals (used to keep boats and caravans dry over winter). After a few days the tray was full of liquid and the honey about 18%
Click to expand...

A honey drier will take 200kg honey of 20% moisture down to 17.5% in two hours.
 
Hivemaker. said:
A honey drier will take 200kg honey of 20% moisture down to 17.5% in two hours.
Click to expand...

Canola and litchi (lychee) honey in China is often pulled aggressively from brood chambers, resulting in ‘honey’ that’s about 30 to 40% water, instead of below 18.6%, which legally defines honey.

To remove the excess water before the stuff ferments and spoils, the liquid is taken to processors who use a vacuum system to dry it until it resembles honey. If you think you’d like to similarly game the system, you can by a vacuum-actuated honey dryer from one of several Chinese equipment manufacturers
Click to expand...

Scenario: Beekeeper has has a bad year and come the end of the season has lots of 'unripe' honey supers still on the hives. Are they going to take those 'wet' supers off and put them in the honey drier??????.
Hivemaker- what's the highest water content batch they you have dried?
 
One set up I haver had experience of was a rectangular box strong enough to support 30 supers in 3 stacks.

Top of the box was open and the supers effectively sealed it.

One end was sealed and the other had a fan heater set to low blowing slightly warm air through the stacks.

I took heather down from 25% to 17% over night and that was coupled with a domestic dehumidifier working in the room too.

Nothing fancy nothing expensive just a replication of what the bees would do.

PH
 
Poly Hive said:
One set up I haver had experience of was a rectangular box strong enough to support 30 supers in 3 stacks.

Top of the box was open and the supers effectively sealed it.

One end was sealed and the other had a fan heater set to low blowing slightly warm air through the stacks.

I took heather down from 25% to 17% over night and that was coupled with a domestic dehumidifier working in the room too.

Nothing fancy nothing expensive just a replication of what the bees would do.

PH
Click to expand...

I like the idea of a fan heater....already have a dehumidifier
I have uncapped frames which belong to the bees but lots of one quarter uncapped.
 
Erichalfbee said:
I like the idea of a fan heater....already have a dehumidifier
Click to expand...

Me too, just have to be really careful with the fan temperature at the bottom of the stack. I'd be tempted to use an STC and place the temp probe at the bottom of the stack. Melted a few supers in my time and it's not nice! :icon_204-2:
 
I should have mentioned there was a temp controller in the set up.

PH
 
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