Honey warming cabinet....help please

[Erichalfbee]

I really need to make a honey warming cabinet but I am a complete electronic numpty.
I can take care of a box made from recticel and I can choose a small tubular heater to put inside it (I don't want to use a light bulb).
What sort of thermostat do I buy....can somebody just give me a link to one and I'll buy it....hopeless, I know!!!!

Thanks

 

[einsteinagogo]

A heating cable (100w) and thermostat can be purchased from

http://www.ecostat-direct.co.uk/#/diy-incubators/4546800189

I prefer a cable, because it's smaller, and allows me to have a smaller box (height) to allow for taller 30/50lb honey buckets, my cable is at the bottom of a box, then it has battens to form a ledge, I then use an aluminium tray, on these ledges, just above the heating cable.....

if you look at that page, you can see how to arrange the cable....

very simply, in use at max it consumes about 88 watts, and is thermostatically controlled, in my box, I can crank air temp up to approx 65 degrees C (at max!).

(do not be tempted to touch the cable when on, to check if it's working, believe me, the cable gets hot!)

 

[itma]

I really need to make a honey warming cabinet but I am a complete electronic numpty.
I can take care of a box made from recticel and I can choose a small tubular heater to put inside it (I don't want to use a light bulb).
What sort of thermostat do I buy....can somebody just give me a link to one and I'll buy it....hopeless, I know!!!!

Thanks

STC 1000 from eBay.
You need to make sure its the 220v version.
Buy-it-now for a little over £10.
If you want it quicker than from China, UK suppliers seem to be asking over £13.

 

[enrico]

Or if you really don't want to do any electrics other than plug it in then go to garden suppliers such as Harrods or LBC and buy a heating tray with thermostat and probe attached. Lots more expensive but all done for you!
Here' some http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/propagation-heating-mats-pid7983.html
E

 

[itma]

If throwing money at it is your style Thornes do an £82 "Honey Warming Kit" which gets you a non-digital thermostat plus a heater cable … and some instructions.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thanks everybody. I'm looking at all suggestions. I did look at a reptile mat before I asked the question.
I noticed ecostat do a honey warming kit but I can't get into the page, will keep looking.

 

[einsteinagogo]

Thanks everybody. I'm looking at all suggestions. I did look at a reptile mat before I asked the question.
I noticed ecostat do a honey warming kit but I can't get into the page, will keep looking.

@Erichalfbee The website is ****, email or call them! (the kit is just a heating wire and cable, with a few eyelets and tags, proportional controller thermostat) (or it was!)

 

[fatshark]

Patrick Pinker used to be the cheapest place to source the Ecostat heating elements from … their website is also ****, searching for 'Ecostat' yields a blank page.

However, Google turned this up: http://www.patrickpinker.com/?id=57&pid=260

PS. Consider adding a small mains powered fan (get these from Maplin) … it makes a big difference to how quickly the temperature equilibrates. The Ecostat maintains temperature extremely well - I use mine for incubating queen cells.

 

[Hachi]

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[REDWOOD]

A lot of info here
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=24575&highlight=warming

 

[Jack Straw]

Fan heater

I am making a warming cabinet to heat up some OSR honey prior to creaming

I have made a tea chest and lined it with 50mm celotex, floor, roof and walls.
Following advice on here I have bought an STC 1000 thermostat and am planning on a couple of tubular heaters and a small fan rippped from an old pc

It occurred to me that I have an old 2Kw fan heater. Could I use that instead of the tubular heaters and computer fan. It would be wired up through the STC1000

Has anyone tried this if so was it successful

 

[itma]

I am making a warming cabinet to heat up some OSR honey prior to creaming

I have made a tea chest and lined it with 50mm celotex, floor, roof and walls.
Following advice on here I have bought an STC 1000 thermostat and am planning on a couple of tubular heaters and a small fan rippped from an old pc

It occurred to me that I have an old 2Kw fan heater. Could I use that instead of the tubular heaters and computer fan. It would be wired up through the STC1000

Has anyone tried this if so was it successful

2kw (2000w) is way overpowered. Consequently, you won't get very good control.

By way of comparison, using a Paynes 14x12 poly brood box, coversheet and roof as my box, a single 40w light bulb and ex-computer fan was easily able to sustain 42C (with, once up to temperature, an on-time of I'd estimate less than 25%).
You are talking about using 50x more heating power ... !

 

[enrico]

I agree if you are going to use 2kw of power then you could use a whole room as a honey warmer! The idea is small and gentle!
E

 

[Jack Straw]

A bit warm!

So if I pop in a couple of slices of bread as well I've got myself a toaster!

Thank for your comments, I'll try with just the single tubular heater and the computer fan

 

[Nige.Coll]

if you use a tubular heater you may need a fan. dead air near the heater can cause it to trip out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Husband bought me a Thorne kit in the end.

 

[Bosleeu]

Husband bought me a Thorne kit in the end.

I have one too I find it very good.

 

[Headnavigator]

Yup, mine too, it's brilliant and probably worked out cheaper in the end than messing with old fridges etc.

 

[itma]

Yup, mine too, it's brilliant and probably worked out cheaper in the end than messing with old fridges etc.

Absolute bargain at only £185 ...



Compared to a dead fridge (or a spare poly hive), a £10 STC-1000, a few bits of salvage and a bit of thinking ... I reckon that was definitely money spent.

 

[Headnavigator]

You make a few assumptions there.
Locate a dead fridge of the right sort of size, get it home (somehow), find somewhere to put it that doesn't make the house look like a junkyard, buy and install the necessary bits, find and pay an electrician to check it out for safety; beekeeping DIY isn't always so simple if you don't have a workshop and no more than the basic knowledge of how to fit a plug. Yes, you might mock getting the electrics checked . . . . . . . . . .