Homemade incubator thermostat!

You need to have it sitting a ways from the wall of your incubator, if it is actually touching the wall it will be going off of the wall heat, not the air heat. 

Is that possibly the problem?

Can you post a picture?

i too am looking for a good model thermostat .. not to expensive

and what should i use to measure humidity

looking good    

The hot water heater thermostat is the problem.  They just have to variance in the temperature. You need to get a wafer thermostat. They are about $20 and will save a lot of grief.

I built my bator back in Feb. and March.  I used a Coleman cooler, a water heater thermostat, and a light bulb (40W) for heat.  Also added a computer fan for air circulation.  Maybe this picture will help.


I hatched twice in this bator.  First time I got 9 out of 24 to hatch; second time 21 out of 30.  The water heater thermostat IMO demands a good bit of attention to keep your temps correct.  I checked the temp. often and instead of adjusting the thermostat, I would remove the folded towel I kept over the glass in the top of the bator if the temp. was a bit high.  I did let the bator run a couple of days before putting in my eggs--to stabilize the temps.  I also used a water wiggler with a Brinsea spot-check thermometer to help monitor the egg temps and a jar of water to help regulate temps.

I have a homemade bator & the same thermostat. That thermostat will be fine once you get it all set up. I put some wire mesh behind my thermostat. I had temps jumping around just like you until I got it all together and put my heat sinks in. Heat sinks work miracles! For mine I used 4 sm. baby food jars & 2 bags of black rocks I bought at the dollar tree. Also the temp in the bator doesn't seem to matter much, its the temp inside the water wiggler/snake you are looking for. Water snake also bought at the dollar tree. So don't get discouraged this early. It will all come together for you! Good Luck. Hope this helped some.

Good advice from giasmom!  The jars of water and/or rocks (good idea) will help keep your temps stable.  The temp in the water wiggler will be much more stable than regular air temp.  I located my water heater thermostat on the outside of a metal electrical box because on a water heater the thermostat is located on the tank.  Several BYCers use these thermostats and they will do the job if you work to get the bator set up correctly.  IMO it helps to have the thermostat next to the light bulb and the fan blowing across the light bulb towards the thermostat.  Don't forget vent holes for fresh air exchange.

If it were me, I'd dump the thermostat. Scratch build everything else, if you wanna, but get one of the wafer designs that have been around about a gazillion years.

They're proven and they only cost 15-20 bucks.