Incubator ventillation (not humidity)

[yelkenli]

I have an incubator I built that regulates the temperature to 99.5 (though not sure of the sensor accuracy). I have some water reservoirs and can keep humidity anywhere between 38% and 52% (same unknown on accuracy). I could probably go lower on humidity if I let the water run dry, and probably will after reading the threads.

I read several threads with 'ventilation' in the title, but there was no discussion of just ventillation. It always came back to temperature and humidity.

My question is if ventillation matters and if so how? if the reason is to control humidity, then I have that covered, and can ignore ventillation.

My incubator has minimal ventilation. It has some holes for wire egress and the lid just sits on top, with no gasketing or sealing.

 

[Pyxis]

Ventilation does matter. Developing embryos need oxygen, which they absorb through the shell of the egg using the vascular system that develops along the shell. So you need air exchange happening so that fresh air with oxygen can get into the incubator. You don't need a lot, but you do need some vent holes to allow for this.

 

[PD-Riverman]

I have an incubator I built that regulates the temperature to 99.5 (though not sure of the sensor accuracy). I have some water reservoirs and can keep humidity anywhere between 38% and 52% (same unknown on accuracy). I could probably go lower on humidity if I let the water run dry, and probably will after reading the threads.

I read several threads with 'ventilation' in the title, but there was no discussion of just ventillation. It always came back to temperature and humidity.

My question is if ventillation matters and if so how? if the reason is to control humidity, then I have that covered, and can ignore ventillation.

My incubator has minimal ventilation. It has some holes for wire egress and the lid just sits on top, with no gasketing or sealing.

As said ventilation is important, How your incubator is built would decide where the vent holes would be placed and how many and size. You do not want to much because if that was the case then you would loose to much heat and humidity. Got any pics? Or Details about how its built? Does it have a fan in it, etc?

 

[yelkenli]

It is wooden construction with rack for turning the eggs, a heater, a fan, a light for use during viewing, and temperature sensor. There are two holes. One for some cable egress, which is not much. The other is a 1 inch PVC that runs from the outside to the inside to fill water. The PVC is unobstructed. The lid will leak a bit around the edges and the viewing window, but probably not much. If I close up the PVC hole, the humidity goes up about 8%, which tells me that leaving it open, which is what I do after reading these replies, is allowing air exchange.

 

[yelkenli]

Here are some pictures. I undersized my control box so have the cards hanging out. (will replace with a bigger box). The wires egress into the cabinet in the control box, so there is a small hole there. The white PVC pipe is for a reservoir, which is the same size pipe crossing to the other side, with the top cut off. The water is poured into the pipe from the outside. However, I found that this can only get humidity up to about 35%. So I added a second resevoir hanging on the inside. I can control humidity between 30% and 55%. The viewing window and the lid have no gasketing so are not air tight. No other holes.

 

[yelkenli]

A shot of the other side of the interior. I am questioning my temperature measurement. I will post that in another thread. At the bottom of the picture, you can see the fan. It faces the heater/heat-sink. The PVC tube resevoir is clearly shown also. I nice idea that needs adjustment.