One of the issues when working bees inside a bee house is the use of the smoker.
The bee house will fill up quickly with smoke.
Shown here is a smoker vent I setup in the bee house.
Shown here is a closeup of the front end of the vent.
I use a small 6” to 4” reducer with a small fan to help pull the smoke from the vent into the hose.
Note the small switch box I wired up to turn the fan on and off.
On the rear end of the smoker vent I have bathroom vent fan. It is vented to the outside and connects to the front end with a 4” hose.
This fan is also connected to the switch block I am using.
Near by, I keep some of my fuel supplies. This includes straw, fuel pellets, and dryer lint.
My main fuel for the smoker is pine needles.
Conclusion
I have a clay kiln in my bee house. My vent uses this vent as well. This makes my system a little more complicated than it needs to be.
Components
Shown here is the bare minimum you need to create a smoker vent.
Let’s take a look at the components needed to build a simple smoker vent for a bee house.
Shown here is a very inexpensive bathroom vent that can be placed near the smoker and vented to the outside.
You can find one here:
Shown here is a metal dryer vent hose that can be used to vent the bathroom vent to the outside of your bee house.
You can find one here:
You will need to use some sort of switch to turn the fan on and off. Shown here is a switch that can be used. You will need to wire a plug to the fan to use this switch.
You can get one here:
Be sure to check out my Building a Slovenian Hive book series.