All of the components for a DIY incubator are easy to come by or fabricate except one:
The thermostat.
Before we go further please note, incubator warehouse is out of stock on its $50 thermostat and, for crying out loud how can they be out of stock at that price?
I'm going to explain to you why the incubator warehouse can charge $50 and be sold out even at that high price for a very simple device that you can buy at Walmart for under $20:
You'll note, first of all, that all of the people who buy the cheap "Little Giant" incubator spend an enormous amount of effort getting the temperature right because its built in thermostat is so bad.
The temperature ranges for most of the "off the shelf" thermostats -- we're talking water heaters, household central heating/air conditioning and aquarium heaters -- are just outside the range required for 99.5F degrees. Water heaters don't go that low. Most household central heating thermostats stop at 90F degrees and won't go higher and aquarium heaters about the same.
For the ones that do get to that temperature range (no aquarium heaters do) there are frequently issues with what might be called "bistability":
Once on they won't turn off until the temperature is a certain amount over the target temperature. Once off they won't turn on until a certain amount under the target temperature. This is largely the result of the all-on or all-off nature of most thermostats in combination with the requirement that the thermostat not be starting and stopping power equipment (like air conditioners or furnaces) every few seconds.
One solution to this conundrum is to modify an aquarium heater since it doesn't harm the heating element of the aquarium heater to go on and off frequently. If you're lucky it is one of those that you can take apart (violating the warranty BTW) and adjust the dial so that the temperature range includes 99.5F degrees. Hmmm.... so let's look see at this $15 aquarium heater over at Walmart. Oops... no way to tell if you can get inside to reset its range. In fact, you basically can't tell if you can do this by looking at these things online or even in the store. You have to buy it, void the warranty, try it and then take the financial hit if it isn't one that you can so-modify. But then we're talking about very limited heating power unless you get into the $50 range at which point you're thinking it might not be a bad idea to wait around for incubator warehouse to restock it expensive thermostat.
Up to now, I've been speaking "in general". Just because 90% of the off-the-shelf thermostats out there have one of the above problems doesn't mean they _all_ do. In fact, it is quite likely that _one_ of the off-the-shelf thermostats -- particularly one of the home heating/air conditioning thermostats -- will actually be under $20, take a temperature setting at 99F degrees, say, and not require huge swings around it to turn on and off.
But that requires chapter and verse as to the model and source, doesn't it? I mean like a URL to a page where you can order one of these things.
Does such a beast exist?
For example, might this $10 device do the job?
The thermostat.
Before we go further please note, incubator warehouse is out of stock on its $50 thermostat and, for crying out loud how can they be out of stock at that price?
I'm going to explain to you why the incubator warehouse can charge $50 and be sold out even at that high price for a very simple device that you can buy at Walmart for under $20:
You'll note, first of all, that all of the people who buy the cheap "Little Giant" incubator spend an enormous amount of effort getting the temperature right because its built in thermostat is so bad.
The temperature ranges for most of the "off the shelf" thermostats -- we're talking water heaters, household central heating/air conditioning and aquarium heaters -- are just outside the range required for 99.5F degrees. Water heaters don't go that low. Most household central heating thermostats stop at 90F degrees and won't go higher and aquarium heaters about the same.
For the ones that do get to that temperature range (no aquarium heaters do) there are frequently issues with what might be called "bistability":
Once on they won't turn off until the temperature is a certain amount over the target temperature. Once off they won't turn on until a certain amount under the target temperature. This is largely the result of the all-on or all-off nature of most thermostats in combination with the requirement that the thermostat not be starting and stopping power equipment (like air conditioners or furnaces) every few seconds.
One solution to this conundrum is to modify an aquarium heater since it doesn't harm the heating element of the aquarium heater to go on and off frequently. If you're lucky it is one of those that you can take apart (violating the warranty BTW) and adjust the dial so that the temperature range includes 99.5F degrees. Hmmm.... so let's look see at this $15 aquarium heater over at Walmart. Oops... no way to tell if you can get inside to reset its range. In fact, you basically can't tell if you can do this by looking at these things online or even in the store. You have to buy it, void the warranty, try it and then take the financial hit if it isn't one that you can so-modify. But then we're talking about very limited heating power unless you get into the $50 range at which point you're thinking it might not be a bad idea to wait around for incubator warehouse to restock it expensive thermostat.
Up to now, I've been speaking "in general". Just because 90% of the off-the-shelf thermostats out there have one of the above problems doesn't mean they _all_ do. In fact, it is quite likely that _one_ of the off-the-shelf thermostats -- particularly one of the home heating/air conditioning thermostats -- will actually be under $20, take a temperature setting at 99F degrees, say, and not require huge swings around it to turn on and off.
But that requires chapter and verse as to the model and source, doesn't it? I mean like a URL to a page where you can order one of these things.
Does such a beast exist?
For example, might this $10 device do the job?
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