Hello jmobee,
Also welcome, and yes, the most interesting way to get in to bees, payment for a funeral.
I am fresh to bees now for five years, simply I never thought about it until this big hip came up with 'the bees are all dying and we will too', so I thought I get me a hive and test this out. One hive is no hive, so now I am on three to four, depending on the year. I am a farmer and farm right up to the hive. I have the broodminders for four years (or five?) and build a 110 Vaporizer, on top I am in the deep freezer of north America.
BTW, my vaporizer is grounded and I urge everyone that buys it to use it on a GFI outlet, the handle is rubber. I have tested one unit set to 700°F, placed on an isolated test table and had it destroyed, the winding melted, the PID faulted and that was it, no current went in to the housing (that would have tripped the GFI). I feel they are as save as your kitchen electric water kettle.
The Broodminders are great, now, but the batteries don't last long enough, some times one month, some times one year and I am working (for next year) to have them wired with external battery on solar charge. I have two per hive, one on B1 & one on B2. It is great to see how the cluster moves around in a days and in the month.