Heater for Honey and IBC Syrups

01 · 90 °C IS NOT FOR HONEY

The high range belongs to syrup

Honey decrystallises at around 40 °C, and that is where to stay: heat raises HMF, the marker that gives away an overheated honey and the one a demanding buyer looks at. A thermostat that reaches 90 °C is not an invitation to use it.

The high range makes sense for the other thing this heater does: thinning glucose-fructose syrup, which also crystallises in winter and takes a good deal more heat than honey.

02 · HOW FAR DOWN IT REACHES

690 mm of immersion

It is 860 mm tall and takes 690 mm of immersion at most. That figure decides what part of the load it reaches: in an IBC of 1,200-1,400 kg, the heater works in the upper half.

And honey conducts heat very badly, so what moves it is convection, which is slow. The way to do it right is low temperature and hours, not high temperature and haste.

03 · NEVER RUN IT DRY

The rule that saves the element

It is an immersion heater: never switch it on out of the liquid. With no product around it to carry the heat away, the element destroys itself in seconds.

IPX 7 is what qualifies it to work submerged to that mark. The Ø 150 mm fits the mouth of an IBC, which usually measures between 15 and 20 cm.

04 · TEN AMPS

Count it before you plug in

2,300 W at 230 V is 10 amps. In a honey house with the pump and the extractor on the same circuit, that is what trips the breaker halfway through the job.

Give it its own line, or at least check what else is plugged in before you switch it on.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is the heater with its thermostat: