- Jun 23, 2014
- 51
- 2
- 33
I found an older “little giant” incubator on Craigslist for $45 including two complete egg turners and a stock fan installed. Couldn’t pass it up in spite of much of what I’ve heard regarding reliability.
The wafer thermostat does fluctuate a lot, however, I came up with an idea that seems to have worked!
First off, this is an older one with the Styrofoam water trays molded in. I took a router and removed it leaving the interior bottom flat to accept the molded plastic water reservoir sold at GFQ. I also bought the quail egg trays and the little thermometer… (I had no idea why people complained about it’s accuracy until I realized that quality control at the manufacturer could not possibly place it accurately enough on the printed card. I’m a prototype developer and deal with overseas manufactures not holding tight tolerances… just the nature of the business. So I purchased a digital thermometer/hygrometer with separate sensors and memory for max high and low.)
The concept of drastic temp changes waiting for the wafer thermostat to “catch up” led me to an idea of installing mass heat collectors. These consist of large glass marbles. I placed them along the outer perimeter (This works so well, I’m going to look for more to complete the ring.) What happens is that the marbles get up to the temperature wanted. When the thermostat decides to lower the temperature, the marbles retain the average heat and doesn’t allow the air inside the incubator to lower more than a half a degree. Same thing happens when the thermostat decides to raise the temp.
After testing it out for 24 hours with both red plugs in place, I couldn’t get the humidity below 58% (filling only the #4 reservoir). I pulled out one of the plugs and it lowered to about 50% Here’s a list of temps taken over a 48hr period (first number is humidity, second is temp (Fahrenheit).
51-100.0
51-100.2
50-99.9
51-100.2
50-100.4
49-99.7
49-100.0
49-100.6
48-100.6
48-100.4
48-100.2
48.100.0
48.99.9
48-100.5
47-100.3
From what I’ve read, I think I’m ready to go?
Before I do, I’m going to try filling the other reservoirs (one at a time), until I find the “sweet spot” to obtain 70% humidity.
I’ve read lock down humidity ranges from 70% to 75% and have also read never above 70%.
Any advice on optimum humidity for lock-down? Also, am I on target for 50% humidity for the first 14 days?
I’m also going to add vinyl tubing that feeds water into each reservoir with a 90 degree fitting so that a short piece of tubing sticks out the side. I’ll use a larger syringe to add water without having to open up the incubator.
Another question: It will take a few minutes to remove the egg turner for lock-down. Will the brief chilling of the eggs have any effect? I plan to replace the marbles onto the open cell mat I will place the eggs on so that the heat comes back quickly, but not by raising the temperature over the desired mark.
Thanks!
Richard
And yes, as a newbie, I printed out all the pertinent info, dates, what to do/change etc and applied it to the lid!
The wafer thermostat does fluctuate a lot, however, I came up with an idea that seems to have worked!
First off, this is an older one with the Styrofoam water trays molded in. I took a router and removed it leaving the interior bottom flat to accept the molded plastic water reservoir sold at GFQ. I also bought the quail egg trays and the little thermometer… (I had no idea why people complained about it’s accuracy until I realized that quality control at the manufacturer could not possibly place it accurately enough on the printed card. I’m a prototype developer and deal with overseas manufactures not holding tight tolerances… just the nature of the business. So I purchased a digital thermometer/hygrometer with separate sensors and memory for max high and low.)
The concept of drastic temp changes waiting for the wafer thermostat to “catch up” led me to an idea of installing mass heat collectors. These consist of large glass marbles. I placed them along the outer perimeter (This works so well, I’m going to look for more to complete the ring.) What happens is that the marbles get up to the temperature wanted. When the thermostat decides to lower the temperature, the marbles retain the average heat and doesn’t allow the air inside the incubator to lower more than a half a degree. Same thing happens when the thermostat decides to raise the temp.
After testing it out for 24 hours with both red plugs in place, I couldn’t get the humidity below 58% (filling only the #4 reservoir). I pulled out one of the plugs and it lowered to about 50% Here’s a list of temps taken over a 48hr period (first number is humidity, second is temp (Fahrenheit).
51-100.0
51-100.2
50-99.9
51-100.2
50-100.4
49-99.7
49-100.0
49-100.6
48-100.6
48-100.4
48-100.2
48.100.0
48.99.9
48-100.5
47-100.3
From what I’ve read, I think I’m ready to go?
Before I do, I’m going to try filling the other reservoirs (one at a time), until I find the “sweet spot” to obtain 70% humidity.
I’ve read lock down humidity ranges from 70% to 75% and have also read never above 70%.
Any advice on optimum humidity for lock-down? Also, am I on target for 50% humidity for the first 14 days?
I’m also going to add vinyl tubing that feeds water into each reservoir with a 90 degree fitting so that a short piece of tubing sticks out the side. I’ll use a larger syringe to add water without having to open up the incubator.
Another question: It will take a few minutes to remove the egg turner for lock-down. Will the brief chilling of the eggs have any effect? I plan to replace the marbles onto the open cell mat I will place the eggs on so that the heat comes back quickly, but not by raising the temperature over the desired mark.
Thanks!
Richard
And yes, as a newbie, I printed out all the pertinent info, dates, what to do/change etc and applied it to the lid!
