DIY honey warmer construction

[JamezF]

I'm thinking I need to build a new honey warmer, partly because I like the idea of being able to stack supers on top of it to warm before extracting. That's a bit awkward with an old 60cm wide chest freezer.

It seems lots of people have used egg incubator heating cable, but I'm thinking about a 100W-ish tubular greenhouse heater wired into an STC-1000. It seems a neater solution than running a heater cable around inside the box. I've done something similar before to make a fermentation cabinet for beer (which works very nicely), but that uses a 40W heater and doesn't really need to get much over 20°C. The STC-1000 can switch up to 10A and the heater shouldn't even be drawing 1A, so that side of things looks good.

Before I go ahead, is there any obvious reason not to use a greenhouse heater that I've not thought of? Or are there other heat sources that are worth considering?

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

I made a heater box for supers, it was 2 supers wide with a 400w fan heater placed below a central piece of wood. There was a computer fan below the piece of wood as well to keep the air flowing when the fan blower was not circulating the air.
The idea was the hot air was blown into the first column of supers then returned via a gap under the roof to descend via the second colum of supers. The temperature was controlled by putting the thermocouple of the STC in the top of the first column of supers.
I used it once but the heater was too powerful and melted the cappings causing a flood of honey into the box .
If I get around to it I'll change the fan heater for 100 watt green house heater but keep the computer fan.

 

[JamezF]

I used it once but the heater was too powerful and melted the cappings causing a flood of honey into the box .

Oops

I suspect a 400W fan heater just delivers far too much heat too fast and stuff melts before the temperature sensor gets warm enough to turn it off.

So far I've found greenhouse heaters around 60cm long in the 90W to 120W range that I'd hope would be ok, and quite easy to fit a "stage" around to carry honey buckets. One of my concerns was that they might have a thermal cut-out that's set too low for use in a honey warmer, but one I've found claims to have the cut-out set at 90°C, so that should be fine. They're also water resistant, which is probably a good thing.

I'll have to raid my collection of old PC fans to see what I have available.

James

 

[Newbeeneil]

Oops

I suspect a 400W fan heater just delivers far too much heat too fast and stuff melts before the temperature sensor gets warm enough to turn it off.

So far I've found greenhouse heaters around 60cm long in the 90W to 120W range that I'd hope would be ok, and quite easy to fit a "stage" around to carry honey buckets. One of my concerns was that they might have a thermal cut-out that's set too low for use in a honey warmer, but one I've found claims to have the cut-out set at 90°C, so that should be fine. They're also water resistant, which is probably a good thing.

I'll have to raid my collection of old PC fans to see what I have available.

James

My honey warmer uses a 120watt (2’) green house heater with a fan to move air around a box made from 50mm PIR slabs. It takes 4 buckets of honey.

 

[JamezF]

My honey warmer uses a 120watt (2’) green house heater with a fan to move air around a box made from 50mm PIR slabs. It takes 4 buckets of honey.

Ah, that's really useful to know. Thanks.

James

 

[WoodenBeam]

link to an older thread

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/warming-cabinet.48343/#post-719535

 

[blackcloud]

I use my honey supers dryer
Stack of empty supers with the buckets inside and a hive Kingspan slab on top.
Thermal wrap on the outside.
Makes use of the kit that lies redundant 51 weeks a year

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

One of my concerns was that they might have a thermal cut-out that's set too low for use in a honey warmer,

I use the Hausen ones - even on the 12" ones the cutout is set for 60°C

 

[oliverkelly]

I used an old freezer, and the following 2 components from Amazon.

ARCELI 220 Digital LED... ARCELI 220 Digital LED Temperature Controller Module, XH-W3001 Thermostat Switch with Waterproof Probe, Programmable Heating Cooling Thermostat: Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools


220V 300W PTC Heater with Fan... 220V 300W PTC Heater with Fan Electric Ceramic Thermostatic PTC Air Heater Heating Heater for Air conditioners : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

Cost £42 temp control is very accurate and can keep it within a fine range.

You need some sort of box or frame to mount the heater in.

 

[JamezF]

link to an older thread

https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/warming-cabinet.48343/#post-719535

That's a very neat warming cabinet you have

James

 

[blackcloud]

I have four in a gang each having their own thermostat dial but it's irrelevant because they're all connected to a single Inkbird controller
https://inkbird.com/collections/temperature-controllers

 

[WoodenBeam]

That's a very neat warming cabinet you have

James

Times 2, all enclosed under a S/Steel top, 10 supers per bay - very handy. The 4 tubes warm the area very quickly and maintain. Space also used for warming buckets prior to filtering & jarring.