Home made incubator

[Cajun Chooks]

For you your setup works fine.Your box is huge compared to mine.Im using a small foam cooler. If i move my thermostat away that far my box goes to like 120 plus degrees.I have the thermostat on the lowest setting.
I do learn from others.If i build a large setup i would use a wafer thermostat,right now mine is a hobby thing.Mabe its the amount of holes,i saw a video where some guy had no thermostat! he just had a temperature gauge and kept adding hole in his cooler until the right temperature showed up.I wouldnt do that but it does raise questions about air flow.I have 12 holes in my cooler about the size of the end of my pinkie.I think i have it set up to pull warm air past the eggs on the way out.I have a fan on also.I tried the extra light idea because an back up would be a good idea.
I read anouther site where the guy figured for him one finger width away was the answer.The same site the guy used an hair dryer to heat his unit!Thats the confererate money farm site,good info there.

Confederate Money Farm has some good info and I used his site when I built my 1st one. I still think you need 2 lights to maintain an even temp and cover all the holes except 1 at the bottom and 1 at the top. That picture was when I was setting my hatcher up and now the T-stat is closer, it was just for a reference of how I mounted the T-stat.

I don't think that just drilling holes will work very good, it might if you have a perfect temperature controlled room but if the outside air changes a few degrees it will effect the temps inside.

Also try to let the bator come up to temp before making big adjustments to the T-stat, mine is set to around 125 degrees.

 

[Cajun Chooks]

One more thing. Don't try to adjust the T-stat. Set it to about 125 and just mount it like I have mine and let the temps settle to wherever it settles then adjust the temps.

 

[crissycriss]

All of you have great info.I would not have been able to do this with out you and BYC. I have never built anything before so this is a first.Always had my dad or husband to do it.They dont think a women should be doing somethings.Any way Thank you so much. So far bator is going to 100 then dropping to 96-97 but it is cutting back on alot faster.Im going to let it run overnite. o

 

[kapie9969]

That 96,97 number is to low.Cajun you set it to 125?how do you cool your incubator down?My thermostat is 100 at the lowest setting.
Im expecting my quail eggs today and right now im staying between 100.4 and 100.5 and i can just fit a piece of cardboard between the light and the thermostat.I have the thermostat sitting on top of my brick(heatsink)I moved the thermostat around i had so many problems with getting the temp down.
I made two more holes and brought the temp down about a degree.Ive also read about wanting airflow also.
One thing i did that may make things different,im using a GE three way bulb,50-75-100.I wanted a better bulb because all the bulbs seem to come from china or mexico,ive had a lot of bulbs not even work out of the box.I was thinking of using a dimmer switch also,So when the light comes on im not sure wich light setting is coming on.Hey my temp.staying steady is what im happy with,my first hatch with my other home made box was all over the place with the temp. i was happy when i had over a fifty percent hatch.
Im doing this in my home so its cool enough outside that i have the heater on at 72,it rarely kicks on.I also have my humidifier on a timer to kick in a little humidity every few hours.
I write this so maybe it helps others. Oh and i have the rack for the eggs towards the top of the box,last time they were by the bottom.

 

[3forfree]

kapie9969, I don't know what kind of bator your hatching with but maybe you can put some holes in it near the top and let some of the heat out. I would get rid of that 3 way bulb and get a single watt and experiment with that for your temps. I think that putting cardboard between the light and the thermostat only makes things worse, take it out, get a single watt bulb and go from there. Good Luck.

 

[crissycriss]

Well i moved t-stat.It is now almost touching the light.So far it is holding at 100 degrees.Yea!!!!!!!!!Ido have a ?.The t-stat keeps the light turning on and off every couple seconds.Is this normal is it supposed to that offen?Thanks

 

[SilverDuck284]

Yes, that means your stat is extra sensitive, so its reacting its very quickly to the change in temp. Good job!

 

[Cajun Chooks]

Well i moved t-stat.It is now almost touching the light.So far it is holding at 100 degrees.Yea!!!!!!!!!Ido have a ?.The t-stat keeps the light turning on and off every couple seconds.Is this normal is it supposed to that offen?Thanks

I glad you got it, it should be all downhill from here.

 

[Cajun Chooks]

That 96,97 number is to low.Cajun you set it to 125?how do you cool your incubator down?My thermostat is 100 at the lowest setting.
Im expecting my quail eggs today and right now im staying between 100.4 and 100.5 and i can just fit a piece of cardboard between the light and the thermostat.I have the thermostat sitting on top of my brick(heatsink)I moved the thermostat around i had so many problems with getting the temp down.
I made two more holes and brought the temp down about a degree.Ive also read about wanting airflow also.
One thing i did that may make things different,im using a GE three way bulb,50-75-100.I wanted a better bulb because all the bulbs seem to come from china or mexico,ive had a lot of bulbs not even work out of the box.I was thinking of using a dimmer switch also,So when the light comes on im not sure wich light setting is coming on.Hey my temp.staying steady is what im happy with,my first hatch with my other home made box was all over the place with the temp. i was happy when i had over a fifty percent hatch.
Im doing this in my home so its cool enough outside that i have the heater on at 72,it rarely kicks on.I also have my humidifier on a timer to kick in a little humidity every few hours.
I write this so maybe it helps others. Oh and i have the rack for the eggs towards the top of the box,last time they were by the bottom.

I start with the thermostat setting at 125, it has nothing to do with the temp inside. It's just a starting point to get it dialed in. Ditch the 3 way bulbs and get the ones I use, it's proven. Mount the T-stat like I did in the pic and go from there. You can't control the temps with holes, the outside temps aren't steady enough.

 

[kapie9969]

No im happy with it where its at.Right now at night it stays around 100.5 and during the day it goes up to 101.1 Opening the box to turn eggs should do just enough to help keep temp.from going up to much.Im talking i can slip the piece of cardboard between the light and the thermostat,then pull it out.That just to make sure its not actually touching the light.
Chrissy,sounds good.Look at youtube for thermostat mods,Mine turns off and on a lot and im happy with the steady temp.
I got my quail eggs yesterday,so small!I hada few cracked ones so my daughter opened a few up,preety small yolk.I also went to a store and got fertilized eggs,big preety brown ones.So later today they well all go in my bator!