Hive fan

[Beetime]

I live in the south and its hot. Has any one ever tried a solar powered fan on a hive to help vent and cool it? And does anyone know at what temp range do the bees work best.

[Keith Benson]

It has been tried. Of course bees fanning using the sugars from nectar (derived from photosynthetic activity) is, in essence, a solar hive ventilator.

For a commercial unit look in bee culture or ABJ for BEE COOL™ solar hive ventilation unit.

I have never met anyone who uses one so I cannot tell you if the $120 bux is worth it. My southern bees seem to do just fine in the heat - just make sure they have water.

Keith

[GaSteve]

I can't imagine that's it's worth all that money. I'll stick with an upper entrance/ventilation hole and a screened bottom board. Also, it's always nice if you can locate your hives where they get morning sun and afternoon shade.

[Michael Bush]

A search of the archives reveals various discussions on ventilation, including several on the fan system.
http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000472.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000056.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/001027.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000194.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000367.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000048.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000661.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000679.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000262.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001512.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000536.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000732.html
http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001195.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000089.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000542.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000127.html http://www.beesource.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000050.html

[Keith Benson]

LOL! Michael - did you actually do the search - or are those from memory?

Keith

[This message has been edited by kgbenson (edited May 20, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by kgbenson (edited May 20, 2004).]

[jfischer]

You want a hive-top active venting system?

How does a cost of $6.00 cash, and some scrap
lumber sound?

Grab a 12 Volt, 0.9 Watt cpu fan for a buck like this: http://store.pcwebshopper.com/inpe447cpuco.html

Connect it to a $5.00 15 Volt, 1 watt solar panel like this: http://www.mobile-solar.com/site/708335/product/TSP-100P32

And voila! Instant cooling for whatever kludge you care
to construct as a "hive topper cooler". No switches,
no thermostats, just a simple self-contained system.

I admit it - I have built 3, and yes I have used them in
an attempt to see if the claims made about such devices are
true. I even have a multi-fan unit capable of some serious
cubic feet per minute.

I honestly do not know if they "work". I DO know that any
hive-top venting scheme (even a passive one) will have the
screen mesh propolized by the bees by the end of summer, so
there are times when the bees clearly feel that there is
too much airflow. One is forced to wonder if the "labor
savings" from the increased ventilation provided by the
fan(s) is merely freeing up house bees to allow them to
propolize the mesh that covers the vent. http://www.beesource.com/ubb/smile.gif

While one could add a rechargeable battery, solder up
a charging circuit from a few chips, and run the thing
after sunset, I wouldn't bother.

You want to solder the connections, so a cheap soldering
iron may add a few dollars to your cost if you don't have
a soldering iron. Radio Shack has a few "pencil soldering
irons", but so do 250,000 online vendors.

Red wire to red wire, and black wire to black wire.
Very hard to screw up.