First off let me explain about these tables. The Japanese Kotatsu is a low sitting table that has a heat element built into it with a regulator to control the heat flow and is covered with a large blanket. If you should buy a Kotatsu table be sure to splurge and get a higher end instead of a cheap one, I think ours was around $800.00 and I think that might be mid-price, but you get better quality, better components. Traditionally these table are made so that your legs go under table and you can be comfortably warm while you eat or play games, even watch tv or even sleep. It’s a great Japanese invention dating back to the 14th century in Japan and has been adapted and changed little over time as technology allowed. I think the biggest change besides using electricity is that they were once a permanent fixture whereas now they are much more mobile. My wife is from Japan and she has used these tables all her life, but I had never been around one until she recently bought one and had it delivered to us here in the States.
I was needing to de-crystalize a 60 pound jug of honey. My water vat was on the blink so it was either fill a tub with warm water and refill every couple of hours for days on end or try a new experiment. My wife suggested I try to use the table. I had my doubts but as it happens I love experimenting with things and when we elevated the table up higher on blocks and I set some strips of wood on floor to set the 60 pound jug on so there would be air flow underneath jug as well, we set the regulator at 100 degrees, walked away and check the temp under blanket of table a few times to makes sure it stayed at 100 degrees and it did, so that within 24 hours the jug was ready to pour, but I left it under one more day for a much more liquid pour as the spout is only 2 inches wide.
My report is that this is great use of one of these tables and I highly recommend it. Based on size of the table I think I could put 6 jugs under the table whereas the water vat only holds 4. I’m going to be trying this with 4 jugs next week as the water vat is going to be very expensive to get fixed.
