Heaters

[wightbees]

How about a 12v system. How long would it run off a 12v Bat and what would be needed

 

[aseeryl]

Oh dear, this is getting technical. Thanks for the info. The easiest thing is to slide one in through the front. It may block off some of the ventilation through the OMF floors - but in the very cold weather this may be no bad thing.

There is already a long standing power supply in the area.

I'll experiment over the next few weeks with thermometers above and below the crown board to get a basic idea of the differential (as opposed to gradient). In winter there would be additional roof insulation and maybe fondant so these will be rather more rough and ready than precision engineering. Fondant, for instance would act as a good heat sink.

 

[DorsetB]

It depends what sort of 12V system you have - if you want a 12V system because you have an out-apiary, you will either need to swap the battery out every so often (which kind of defeats the purpose), or have a solar panel and/or inverter if you are using 12V to power, and still using 230V heaters. This gets messy, expensive, and highly theftable!

If you want 12V running off a 12V transformer which runs off 230V, you should bear in mind that there are no real power savings, and finding a suitable 12v flat low wattage heater will be difficult.

 

[wightbees]

not likely to get stolen where the bees live but no elecy there so 12v bat has to do.
I was just wondering what would be involved in a bit of heatng for them

 

[aseeryl]

Just had another thought. If a pad was across an OMF then heat would radiate out as well as in thereby reducing the effect. Warm air will rise and slipping the baseboard in would reduce the losses, which would be worse in windy conditions, but nevertheless.

Perhaps a foil sheet on the outer side would help?