Newbee help prepping for winter

[Erichalfbee]

Should I be going into winter with an open mesh floor?

I am moving all my hives to solid floor bar two which I tend to use as a varroa weather vane. I can see the drop after vaping and make a judgement as to whether they need more than my routine 4

 

[beeginner]

Thank you all.

I really appreciate your input and patience with someone just starting out.

 

[Do224]

I am moving all my hives to solid floor

How come?

 

[Erichalfbee]

How come?

I’m sure the bees do better on them. Maybe it’s just an impression but the colonies on these floors come out stronger in the spring and eat less in the winter. Considering the crud that falls through an omf you’d think there would be some industrial cleaning to do in the spring but the bees keep underneath them scrupulously clean. I usually find just a few dots of propolis glued to them.

 

[Eyeman]

if you like but the top 75mm wont be giving much benefit

Hi do you have the reference for the top 75cm being superfluous? Thanks

 

[Garry R]

Hi do you have the reference for the top 75cm being superfluous? Thanks

I doubt it. I am sure it's all to do with thermal conductivity. After a certain thickness I guess it's the law of diminishing returns. And diminishing cash resources for the diminishing returns. Keep checking the builder's skips!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hi do you have the reference for the top 75cm being superfluous?

I doubt it.

he will.
I think basically, unless the side wall and bottoms are insulated, more insulation on top will just mean more heat loss at the sides

 

[user 6228]

Hi do you have the reference for the top 75cm being superfluous? Thanks

No, not directly, but when I doing the validation experiments for my CFD work, which involves putting lots of temperature sensor on the out side surface, It became apparent the the hive side panels at right angle to the comb were losing heat at the same rate as the roof.
You can see this in all the IR thermographs of wooden hives. 25mm of PIR =100mm of Wood so lets say 25mm reduces the heat losses through the roof by a factor of 4. That means the total heat loss is around 62% of the original. Then if we use 100mm of PIR and reduce the roof heat loss by a factor of 16. The the new heat loss is 53% of the original. Note I 've left out the floor and other 2 walls. If I include them then its even more extreme.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

No, not directly, but when I doing the validation experiments for my CFD work, which involves putting lots of temperature sensor on the out side surface, It became apparent the the hive side panels at right angle to the comb were losing heat at the same rate as the roof.
You can see this in all the IR thermographs of wooden hives. 25mm of PIR =100mm of Wood so lets say 25mm reduces the heat losses through the roof by a factor of 4. That means the total heat loss is around 62% of the original. Then if we use 100mm of PIR and reduce the roof heat loss by a factor of 16. The the new heat loss is 53% of the original. Note I 've left out the floor and other 2 walls. If I include them then its even more extreme.

View attachment 37799
View attachment 37798

'Kinell Derek it looke like something out of a futurist thought control device

 

[user 6228]

You can read more about it in
Mitchell, D. (2022) ‘Simulating the built environment for another globally distributed species’, in Proceedings of BSO Conference 2022: 6th Conference of IBPSA-England. Bath, UK: IBPSA-England (BSO Conference). Available at: Simulating the built environment for another globally distributed species.

 

[Do224]

No, not directly, but when I doing the validation experiments for my CFD work, which involves putting lots of temperature sensor on the out side surface, It became apparent the the hive side panels at right angle to the comb were losing heat at the same rate as the roof.
You can see this in all the IR thermographs of wooden hives. 25mm of PIR =100mm of Wood so lets say 25mm reduces the heat losses through the roof by a factor of 4. That means the total heat loss is around 62% of the original. Then if we use 100mm of PIR and reduce the roof heat loss by a factor of 16. The the new heat loss is 53% of the original. Note I 've left out the floor and other 2 walls. If I include them then its even more extreme.

View attachment 37799
View attachment 37798

Super interesting. What’s CFD?

 

[hemo]

Looks like Doc has been involved, should be attached to a DeLorien.

 

[user 6228]

Super interesting. What’s CFD?

CFD = Computational Fluid Dynamics

 

[user 6228]

'Kinell Derek it looke like something out of a futurist thought control device

Well it is using an "Optimised Latin Hypercube sampling method" with symmetry boost!