Ringing Forums

neither of them look very practical for use with ropes in situ in a tower.

What exactly is it that you are trying to achieve? Are you trying to dry out wet ropes or are you trying to keep ropes dry from ringing session to ringing session?

I suspect both units would work well for drying out wet ropes, they could easily be hung inside and would dry in the space of a few hours at most.

Both are massively overkill for trying to keep dry ropes from getting damp in a tower from week to week. They are designed to dry things quickly rather than the very low level needed to keep things dry. The Lakeland unit spec says that it uses 1kW of electricity. That's infeasible to leave on all week so I guess it would need a timer adding to dry the ropes before each practice/service ringing. The Electrolux unit uses a heat pump so will be more energy efficient but is still designed for a rapid drying.

Depending where your line between commercial and home-made is we have successfully used a tubular heater for many years. Something like this one:
https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/DXECOT1.html
They are designed for applications where a low level of background heat is required to prevent freezing or condensation.

We hang the ropes on the spider from the top of the double tuck so that the bottom half of the tail ends fall vertically down under the spider. We then position the spider so that the end of the tails hang around a foot above the tubular heater and leave it on between sessions. The low level of heat creates a small upward current of slightly warm (and therefore dry) air which keeps the tails nice and soft.

Our rope heater is not 'home made'. It is a small oil-filled radiator on a timer. The ropes rest on a wire cage at a safe distance above, with the option of moving the tail ends to one side so they don't over-dry, while the gentle heat travels up the rest of the rope and reduces the chill in the Norman tower. The cage takes up very little space when not in use. Photo here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y35pIjERUnNw5OZyw7q2YzHHfL9_WpC6/view?usp=share_link

I suspect that such 'drying pods' as these are overkill, probably applying too much heat too quickly. Dry and soften the ropes too much and they risk becoming very stretchy.

Over the years RW and the chat-list have published several variations on the theme of a 6 foot legth of 6 inch diameter waste pipe, mounted on a stable base with a 40watt bulb at the bottom and connectred via a timer switch. Overall cost usually of the order of £20.

That's if you can get a 40W bulb these days. A "40W equivalent" LED wouldn't work!

I have now got one of these to test

These home made ones work well and 40w bulbs are available still but take a bit of searching out. However if you can't find a bulb please don't be tempted to put a tubular heater in the pipe instead, they must not be enclosed and must not be installed vertically because if they develop a fault they can overheat and potentially catch fire, I've seen one that did exactly that, fortunately the fuse went but the heater was very charred.

I wonder if terrarium heaters would be an alternative to old fashioned incandescent bulbs, which are getting difficult to find?

I find that a low energy light bulb (the old sort that takes ages to warm up, not LED) gives enough heat to be useful. Just an hour a day on a timer keeps the tail ends pliant. https://www.facebook.com/BalshamBellRingers/photos/a.160760561488906/715801599318130/