advice on warming cabinet

[steve's bees]

Hi all,
I have a large chest freezer and want to make a warmer out of it. I need advice on the heater. I've thought about light bulbs but geting harder to get them, also consdered using a cooker eliment. I have also thought about electric greenhouse heaters 40w or 60w or even 2 of them.
I am ask for some advice because I would like to get it right 1st time, I also don't want it to take days to get up to temp.

Thanks Steve

 

[Finman]

There are cheap oil filled radiators which have thermostat. Them you put a computer ventilator there to mix air that thermostat system works.

It is easy to build a warming cabinet too. Cut styrofoam board 30 mm to proper wall size. Then clue it with polyurethane foam.

So you have a big thing filling you home corners.

Even a big cartong box works well as cabinet when you have heaters. It is easy to store.

BUT!!!

Freezer is good. You get fine grade honey when you put buckets into the freezer. First you mic fine crystallized honey as seed. Then you put current cutter so that heat is about 15C.

And late you can use it as warming kabinet. Tht works perfect.

Radiator like this. We have here £15, 450 W

[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Filled-Radiator-Portable-Caravan/dp/B008QYL2S6/ref=sr_1_26?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1351011961&sr=1-26[/ame]

 

[simonrp]

Tubular heaters at 60 watts per foot or a frost heater at 400 watts available from scrxxxix. Would just require a suitable thermostat to control upper temperature and a computer fan to circulate evenly.

 

[itma]

The choice of heater element is much less important than its control.

You might consider a thermostat like http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-Aquarium-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-/140785312341
This allows you to set the temperature, and the amount of deviation to permit from the set point ... and it has lots of features for other things you might want to do with the controller when not melting honey.
That one will actually switch a 10 Amp (2.2kW) load.
You wouldn't need that much heating power - your difficulty is conveying it to the honey! (without any hotspots getting too hot) If you use plural heat sources (like several bulbs), your heat gets a head-start in distribution. (And its easy to add more if you need more heating power.)
One or more ex-computer fans will also help to evenly distribute the heat around the enclosure.
"Rugged duty" or halogen incandescent bulbs aren't too hard to buy, and will do the job nicely. Reptile heaters, greenhouse heaters... lots of choice!

Use an RCD safety plug to protect yourself from electrical mishaps.

 

[user 6228]

required:

1 tubular heater 60w or less ... screwfix
1 PID controller ... Ebay
1 k type Thermocouple ... ebay
1 small box for pid controller .. maplin
gromets flex and 13amp plug