[D Coates]

I've got a retired chest freezer with 3 light bulbs and a digital thermostat that work as my honey warmer box. The standard 75 watt bulbs are becoming hard to come by. Before they become impossible to get I'd like to switch to a different but reliable warmer in there. What are others using as their heat source as a replacement for cheap light bulbs?

 

[Michael Bush]

I bought about a thousand and put them in containers in the basement for later...

 

[crofter]

I think the infra red chicken warmer bulbs will be available for a long while at feed stores.

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

May I suggest that while ordinary general purpose incandescents are getting phased out, there are plenty of specialized incandescents that are likely to remain readily available in the marketplace.

The most obvious example is incandescent outdoor floodlights, as the CFL style do not perform well at low temperatures. Beyond that, appliance lights, such as oven lights, remain available as incandescent as do heat lamps.

 

[Phoebee]

I built a queen cell incubator recenly. Our first test used a small heating pad, but it had about half the advertized 50 watts of power. An electric blanket of the appropriate size might work, if you want very gentle and distributed heat.

We wound up using a silicone heater glued down to an aluminum plate. e-bay is lousy with them, available in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

 

[WWW]

How about using reptile heaters from Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/110V-120V-1...381?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c7058a40d

 

[Michael Bush]

>How about using reptile heaters...

They work great. They cost a lot more than a light bulb...

 

[D Coates]

The most obvious example is incandescent outdoor floodlights, as the CFL style do not perform well at low temperatures.

There's my ignorance. Will those consume too much energy to trip the GCFI circuit I have this on? I can always leave burned out bulbs in one or two of the light sockets to reduce the respective energy draw.

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

Here is an example of indoor 65 watt incandescent flood bulbs:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...R30-Flood-Light-Bulb-12-Pack-248872/100560688

Here is an incandescent outdoor bulb:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...door-Flood-Light-Bulb-2-Pack-429373/203231668
Note that while it is a 90 watt equivalent, the actual wattage is 70 watts.

None of these should have any impact on a GFCI.


While we are on this subject, any CFL bulb will also serve as a heater. CFLs put out heat as well as light, they just put out a higher ratio of light compared to heat than does an incandescent light bulb.


An interesting (and true) concept is that in a closed box like you are describing, ALL the light energy is eventually converted to heat, regardless of whether the bulb is a CFL or incandescent. The visible light gets partially absorbed each time it hits the box wall and the portion of light reflected back into the box is eventually absorbed by the box wall somewhere else.

All the light bulb energy used is eventually converted to heat as long as the box stays closed. If necessary in the future, you could modify the box to use more CFL bulbs to maintain the same heat level.

 

[Acebird]

The standard 75 watt bulbs are becoming hard to come by.

Go to HD or Lowes and buy any halogen bulb. I have seen them in 50, 30 and 25 watt sizes. They will take up less room and you can place multiple bulbs in different areas to equalize the temps.

 

[Acebird]

There's my ignorance. Will those consume too much energy to trip the GCFI circuit I have this on?

If you are using the bulb as a heat source the amount of energy would be the same assuming you set the temperature the same.

 

[Phoebee]

If you are using the bulb as a heat source the amount of energy would be the same assuming you set the temperature the same.

And since the user is using a digital temperature controller to regulate the temperature, whatever heat source is in use, the total energy used to maintain temperature will be the same. Unscrewing some bulbs won't matter. Fewer bulbs would just stay on longer, as long as they make enough heat to hold the temperature.

One caution on CFLs ... they don't play well with solid state switches. Some digital temperature controllers use mechanical relays, some use solid state relays. The solid state relays may fail when used with a CFL or other inductive load, but work great with incandescent.

 

[laketrout]

Rough service bulbs are still available for almost the same cost not sure if they will discontinue them along with the others or not .

 

[David LaFerney]

I believe that turning cfl bulbs on and off reduces their life span. Something to consider.

 

[Acebird]

cfl are not the way to go.

 

[zhiv9]

How about using reptile heaters from Ebay. http://www.ebay.com/itm/110V-120V-1...381?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c7058a40d

I figured this is what I would do when my 100w bulb stock pile ran out.

 

[McBee7]

You could use a barn type portable heater,,,,they have more wattage than a couple of light bulbs but they do have a built in fan and thermostat....you might have to aim it at something other than the frames of honey so you didn't melt them, as you could have a hot spot with that type of heater...and they have multipul wattage settings , you would want the lowest maybe 500 watts..

==McBee7==

 

[Michael Bush]

>Rough service bulbs are still available

Admittedly, I never buy regular incandescent bulbs. Only long live and rough service...

 

[D Coates]

Here is an example of indoor 65 watt incandescent flood bulbs:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...R30-Flood-Light-Bulb-12-Pack-248872/100560688

Interesting stuff. I tried one of those last night and everything appears to be working fine. It's a little taller than what I was using so I had to remove the 2x4 shelving in there to get it installed. Once in, it cleared the aluminum heat shield just fine.