# Solar wax melter design with light bulbs??



## keqwow (Jun 7, 2006)

Anyone have any decent wax melter designs utilizing some light bulbs for heat? I'm thinking of basically building an insulated solar wax melter typical design but rather than having a big piece of glass on the top, making a hinged lid that is insulated and containing some light bulbs that are switched on/off with some kind of thermostat to maintain a temperature in that 145-180 degree range. I'm basically trying to come up with some design I can use in the Northeast during winter months when we have no sun.


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

You would be better off waiting to spring for melting wax solar wise. Or a turkey fryer with a metal bucket and water. And make hockey type pucks. I do know that in northeast Ohio they do get some to melt by solar.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

I have used an infrared heat lamp like restaurants use to keep food warm Just hang it over your solar melter, works fine. But running them is not free.


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## Kathleen Bourn (Oct 31, 2014)

I took an old cooler that I had and made a "hybrid" wax melter. The lid is removable so I can use it as a solar melter using a piece of glass. I also wired a light bulb socket into it. It's insulated and I didn't even have to drill any holes for the wiring. I fed the wire through the little drain hole in the side.
So far I mainly use it during the hot and sunny months (in Georgia there are a lot of those) as a solar melter but a 100watt bulb seems to work well if you have the time.


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## B52EW (Jun 3, 2013)

I wonder if one of those heat bulbs used to brood chicks would be would work given the appropriate volume to control the temperature?


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

just build a black solar melter then cover it with a clear box similar to this solar oven/heater, maybe insulate the ground side with some pink foam. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r22AWgASnMk


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## keqwow (Jun 7, 2006)

I know how a solar wax melter is made. The internet is filled with design specs for them, but I'm thinking slight larger scale, and I'm thinking something that I can use in the absence of sunlight. When I worked at a commercial operation they used a water jacketed stainless melting tank that was pretty large. I've seen other similarly designed tanks but nothing that is really on the market within a reasonable price range. I'm wondering why no one has made an insulated box with a light bulb or two in there. An insulated box that only needs to get up to around 180 degrees should not be that challenging. It surprises me that I have not seen anything really like this though for melting cappings. I'm just wondering if the lack of anything on the internet is due to some issue I am missing in the design of such a heat box.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I used to make recurve bows and you had to bake the entire bow in order to set the epoxy between laminations. I just built a giant plywood box lined with aluminum foil with 4 200 w bulbs with an inline disk thermometer. You can get them for different temps. Here is one set @ 180 when it rises above that it open up and the lights go off.

http://www.alliedelec.com/selco-0a-180-lep-96/70098771/


here is a cheaper one , closes @ 140 opens @ 180 

http://www.alliedelec.com/white-rod...D9XAqpD4k8CA88OaBUiKlg4bbzrr5auOcDxoC2Djw_wcB


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## D Coates (Jan 6, 2006)

The cost involved to commercially build what you're wanting may be too high or the industry interest too low. Or, you could be brewing up an idea to make/sell one like what you've described. Keep in mind if there's a malfunction, and a fire starts, it's going to end poorly for all involved. 

Personally, I was frustrated trying to come up with what you're considering that could not only melt the wax during cooler weather but also be used for other things. I bought a 16 gallon Maxant honey bottler and put a ball valve on it. I use it to melt bulk cappings in volume, quickly. Long story short, pour the molten wax through an old sock as a filter into quart size Glad containers. Wipe the inside of the unit out when it's hot to remove any slumgum. Unscrew the ball valve and put on the dripless valve and now it's a honey warmer/bottler. You can go $400 cheaper and buy a Maxant $600 liquefier and wax melting tank that can also be used for warming crystalized 5 gallon honey buckets.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

If it uses light bulbs, it ain't solar. So once you are running on 120 V, I'm wondering just what makes a given wax melter better than the used slow cooker pot I got for a couple of bucks at the Salvation Army store?


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## HIVE+ (Jan 4, 2012)

There was a thread, not too long ago, talking about the high efficiency of using steam to recover wax from brood combs; you won't achieve that with dry heat.


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## keqwow (Jun 7, 2006)

Phoebee said:


> If it uses light bulbs, it ain't solar. So once you are running on 120 V, I'm wondering just what makes a given wax melter better than the used slow cooker pot I got for a couple of bucks at the Salvation Army store?


Size for one. I've got three 55 gallon garbage cans filled with cappings that I need to deal with.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

keqwow said:


> Size for one. I've got three 55 gallon garbage cans filled with cappings that I need to deal with.


Ah, you need the pot the Salvation Army uses to feed their army!


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Keqwow - I was going to add lights to my unit for winter time, but found a large plastic Fresnel lens in a trash can. It fit my SWM almost perfect. It adds 2 months + to my wax melting year, and about a half-hour to summer melting each day. 

Now December and January are the only months I can't melt beeswax, unless we get an East wind week. In the months when the sun is low, I add a couple of reflectors, and move the rig to aim at the sun more often.

The decision to not add lights was because it was so darn easy to just slap the Fresnel lens on the top whenever needed. If I ever need more capacity in the winter, I can add the lights, but I can't brag about the sustainability / green / permaculture aspect of it as I do now.


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