  The spin Seebeck effect (SSE) has generated interest in the thermoelectric
and magnetic communities for potential high efficiency energy harvesting
applications, and spintronic communities as a source of pure spin current. To
understand the underlying mechanisms requires characterisation of potential
materials across a range of temperatures, however, for thin films the default
measurement of an applied temperature gradient (across the sample) has been
shown to be compromised by the presence of thermal resistances. Here, we
demonstrate a method to perform low temperature SSE measurements where instead
of monitoring the temperature gradient, the heat flux passing through the
sample is measured using two calibrated heat flux sensors. This has the
advantage of measuring the heat loss through the sample as well as providing a
reliable method to normalise the SSE response of thin film samples. We
demonstrate this method with an $\text{SiO}_{2}/\text{Fe}_{3}O_{4}/\text{Pt}$
sample, where a semiconducting-insulating transition occurs at the Verwey
transition, $T_{\text{V}}$, of $\text{Fe}_{3}\text{O}_{4}$ and quantify the
thermomagnetic response above and below $T_{\text{V}}$.
