# Hive Heater for Varroa Mites - Link: https://thermahive.net/hive-heater-for-varroa-mites/ - Published: 2026-10-31T23:38:11-04:00 - Author: Alexis Boback Hive heater # A Hive Heater for Varroa Mites, Built for the Hive You Already Own ThermaHive V2 is a powered hive heater for 8 and 10 frame Langstroth hives. It holds the brood nest at mite-killing temperature for a full treatment, then logs exactly what it did. [Order V2](https://thermahive.net/product/v2/)[See the 2026 results](https://thermahive.net/results/) $749.99, or 4 interest-free payments of $187.50 at checkout. Lifetime warranty on repairs. ## What a hive heater has to do Anyone can make a hive warm. Holding one temperature inside a living colony for three hours is much harder. Bees fan and evaporate moisture to cool the nest, the fullest boxes heat slowest, and one side of a hive can lag behind the other in the wind. A useful hive heater has to do four things: * **Measure the brood nest,** not the equipment or the air around it. * **Spread the heat** across the full footprint of the box. * **Stop on its own** if anything goes wrong. * **Show you what happened,** so you are not guessing whether a treatment reached its dose. ## What is in the V2 Complete Kit | Part | What it does | | Top Box with ThermaHive Controller | Sits on top of your hive boxes. Two 120 mm fans draw heat upward, and the controller runs and logs each treatment. | | Heater Insert | A PTC ceramic heater held by magnets. It pulls out in seconds to move to the next hive. | | Bottom Treatment Frame | Installed once under your hive. With the Blank Insert in place it works as a screened bottom board. | | Diffuser | Spreads heat across the full width of the hive rather than at one point. | | Two wireless sensors | Rest between brood frames at bee space and report every two seconds. No drilling and no cables. | ## Treatment settings The working range is 108 to 112°F (42 to 44°C) for two to three hours. We recommend 112°F (44°C) for three hours, so that every part of the hive spends at least two hours at 108°F (42°C) or above. The treatment clock only starts when the brood nest reaches setpoint, so budget 30 to 60 minutes of preheat, or about three to four hours in all. You do not need to be there for any of it. ### How often to treat **We recommend 2 consecutive treatments, spaced 7 to 14 days apart, each brood cycle.** * Smaller colonies with low starting mite counts, or VSH stock, can often manage with 1 treatment per brood cycle. * Large colonies may need up to 3 consecutive treatments to bring mite counts down. Why spacing matters: mites sealed in capped brood during the first treatment emerge within the next 1 to 2 weeks, and the follow-up treatment catches them. ## Built-in protection Four independent layers protect a running treatment, and every failure mode ends with the heater off. * **Firmware ceiling.** Any sensor above the configured maximum cuts the heater immediately and logs the event. * **Fault blocking.** Invalid or missing sensor data blocks heating until reliable readings return. * **Factory protection.** The heater carries its own 100°C (212°F) cutout and 112 °C (234°F) thermal fuse. * **Hardware watchdog.** If the processor stalls, the controller resets and opens the heater relay as its first action. ## More than a treatment tool A hive heater should not sit in the shed for most of the year. ThermaHive stays useful between treatments: * **Heater On/Off** heats when the hive drops below your ideal temperature, for winter and early-spring cold snaps. * **Ventilation Mode** runs the fans outside a treatment, or cools the hive once a treatment ends. * **Passive monitoring** logs hive temperature and humidity, so you can check on a colony without cracking the lid on a cold day. All of these modes are optional, and your setup is saved, so later treatments skip the menu. ## Power and scaling A treatment uses about 620 Wh, averaging 178 W with a 657 W peak, on a standard 110 V outlet. You can also run it from a [solar battery](https://thermahive.net/diy-solar-battery/). Plan on three units at most per household circuit. The expensive parts of a hive heater are the controller and the heating element, so those move between hives. Each extra hive needs only a [Bottom Box Frame](https://thermahive.net/product/thermahive-v2-bottom-box-frame/), from $81.38. Outside the US? We build a [230 V version](https://thermahive.net/product/v2-international/) to order. ## How well does it work? In the 2026 field season, ThermaHive reduced mite load by an average of 51% per treatment across 49 paired mite washes on 16 colonies (95% CI 31 to 65%). At our West River research apiary, colonies finished 84% below their season peak, across 6 colonies. No ThermaHive-treated colony was lost (20 hives). Results vary with colony conditions, climate and management, and we publish the washes that came back higher too. [Read the 2026 results](https://thermahive.net/results/), see [how chemical-free treatment works](https://thermahive.net/chemical-free-varroa-treatment/), or check the [FAQ](https://thermahive.net/faq/). ## Put a hive heater on your hive $749.99, or 4 interest-free payments of $187.50 with Klarna, Afterpay or Affirm. Ships in 4 to 6 weeks, with a lifetime warranty on repairs. Return it unused within 30 days of delivery for any reason. [Order V2](https://thermahive.net/product/v2/)[How it works](https://thermahive.net/how-thermahive-works/)