Honey warming cabinet....help please

[itma]

Lacking a dead fridge, I myself found it very convenient to use a (still brand new from this new year's sale) poly 14x12 brood box and roof as my enclosure. Adding a 'super' gave me room for 2 buckets at a time. If you wanted to go this route, AND dedicate this kit to warming honey - its going to cost less than £50.
As it is, I think this is a decent use for existing spare kit (as long as you aren't intending to have the honey-warming season coincide with the swarming season).
It even takes up less floorspace than Thorne's horizontal box ...

Even buying the poly bits new would still leave you over £100 to bung in the direction of your favoured 'leccie, while keeping the local economy going.
Alternatively, the £100 could be invested in plug-wiring education ...


And whatever homebrew mains electrical project anyone might be contemplating, my strong advice is to (at least) begin by connecting it through an RCD safety plug - the £5ish bit of life insurance that one should use with electric mowers, hedge trimmers, etc. Every home should have (at least) one - and not rely on whatever protection the "consumer unit" (or fusebox) might provide.


/// PS - this is the DIY forum section, isn't it?

 

[pargyle]

But the Thornes ones are very pretty ....

Useful dimensions for a DIY box on there though:

Internal dimensions 685 x 345 x 325mm high. Height above wooden batten - takes 2 x 30lb honey buckets. That saves a bit of measuring !

If I ever need one (and with my luck I probably will !) I reckon it's not too difficult for a competent DIY'er but I do understand people who are nervous about electrical installations - it can kill you - and I would never be without RCB's these days.

I think, with a bit of ingenuity, you could make a folding one that goes (almost) flat for storage - as if I didn't have enough projects on the go ...

 

[Bosleeu]

But the Thornes ones are very pretty ....

Useful dimensions for a DIY box on there though:

Internal dimensions 685 x 345 x 325mm high. Height above wooden batten - takes 2 x 30lb honey buckets. That saves a bit of measuring !

If I ever need one (and with my luck I probably will !) I reckon it's not too difficult for a competent DIY'er but I do understand people who are nervous about electrical installations - it can kill you - and I would never be without RCB's these days.

I think, with a bit of ingenuity, you could make a folding one that goes (almost) flat for storage - as if I didn't have enough projects on the go ...

I have one like that pargyle, it really does the job well and is very simple to operate. I am sure you can build one in no time. If you want to ever have a look at it, and my bees, give me a shout.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Yes, mine is a heating element with a DIY Recticel box.
So £82.50 plus skipped PIR not £185

 

[bontbee]

Locate a dead fridge of the right sort of size

and get it de-gassed properly!!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

and get it de-gassed properly!!

Mine is a dead fridge that had stood in a neighbours shed for years since it had degassed itself and ceased working. Luckily the inside of the fridge only needed a wash out with a bit of bleach. I have a 12" tubular heater in the bottom below a slatted bucket support and use a digital temperature control. Cost of fridge zero, heater £18, controller and sensor £8 ish from memory.

 

[pargyle]

I have one like that pargyle, it really does the job well and is very simple to operate. I am sure you can build one in no time. If you want to ever have a look at it, and my bees, give me a shout.

I'll take you up on that offer when it gets a bit warmer ... always like to see what someone else's bees are like.

 

[TOBY-3652]

mines a old small freezer motor out and i use a thermo control 2 electronic thermostat for a terrarium// aquariam made by lucky reptile works a treat

 

[bontbee]

i use a thermo control 2 electronic thermostat for a terrarium// aquariam made by lucky reptile works a treat

Lucky reptile indeed! - opposable thumbs?

(then I had a light bulb moment and googled )

 

[Headnavigator]

and get it de-gassed properly!!

Wouldn't even have known that!

 

[itma]

Wouldn't even have known that!

As long as you ignore all the 'plumbing' (and leave it well alone), you needn't have the thing "de-gassed".

But if you were going to try and remove the refrigeration gubbins, then emptying the system of its gas in a safe and non-polluting way would become an important pre-requisite. (Even if some cowboys would simply take the thing outside, cut a pipe and stand well back ... )

 

[Roola]

I'm about to embark on building a warming cabinet... In my usual style i'm gadgeting it up a bit so i'm incorporating an old PC PSU which will power some 120mm fans within to create airflow, PSU will also power a PC Fan controller unit which also incorporates temperature probes meaning the fans can be controlled to maintain consistent temperature throughout. Should be a nice little project.

 

[itma]

I'm about to embark on building a warming cabinet... In my usual style i'm gadgeting it up a bit so i'm incorporating an old PC PSU which will power some 120mm fans within to create airflow, PSU will also power a PC Fan controller unit which also incorporates temperature probes meaning the fans can be controlled to maintain consistent temperature throughout. Should be a nice little project.

You might be surprised at how daftly simple a warming cabinet can be. And how well "passive technology" can even out the temperature. The perforated pizza-baking tin that I stand my buckets on functions both to conduct even heating across the bottom of the bucket, but also to create turbulent convection currents rising all round the bucket (stack). I admit that I nicked the concept from the design of some sous vide cooking equipment, but still a good idea is a good idea, regardless of who you took it from!

I have just the one fan. It is about 3 inches in diameter. Running this "12v dc" fan from a little "7.5v dc" power plug (hoarded from a dead and dumped old radio) produces quite enough air movement AND (underspeeding the fan) very little noise.


ISTR that some PC psu's won't turn on unless they have enough load on them ... and fans aren't much load at all (typical draws being in milliamps not the plural whole amps that PCs need. So you may need to reconsider this - unless of course you were planning to use that psu as your heating element ...

Honey-warming ain't rocket science. KISS !
If you want to make the process faster (while avoiding higher temperatures) use a well-controlled thermostatic tea urn. Heat transfer from water to bucket is much faster than from air to bucket

 

[Mart_got_hives]

and get it de-gassed properly!!

I used an old freezer I found. The tatters had already cut out the compressor letting loose all that unpleasant gas.