What would be the best heat source for my homemade incubator?

[dsowens15]

I am building a homemade incubator 30 inches by 30 inches and 12 inches high. I would like to hear what yall think would be the best and the most cheap heating source? I'm thinking Flex Watt Heat tape?
Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[DaughterOfEve]

anything but a lightbulb hooked to a hot water thermostat. This was a disaster. I tried all the advise of how to mount it, front back, next to fan away from fan, vent holes, etc. etc. Could not get this to keep a steady temp after two months of trying. Then I say down and figured how much I had spent on different watt bulbs, wires, nuts, thermometers, electric box, thermostat,etc. and I could have bought a small hovabator brand new.

Best of luck.

 

[DragonEggs]

I saw a guy on YouTube use some kind of heat pad in his incubator. Anyone try that?

 

[dsowens15]

Thanks. I had made one a while back and had the same problem with the light and hot water thermostat. Any more suggestions?

 

[rthensley]

I used this as my heat source and thermostat. Had a friend solder it together. It allows you to add a computer fan (which only runs when the unit is heating).

http://www.mtmscientific.com/incubator.html

Seems to work OK. It is holding an air temp range of around 98 - 102 in my homemade incubator.

My first hatch went pretty well. I set my second bunch of eggs on last Sunday.

 

[dsowens15]

I already have a great Thermostat that I bought for $75 and I had to wire it. I already have it wired to plug in the heat source. I just don't know what to use for the heat source.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
light bulbs work well you just need a decent t-stat I use a johnson controls t-stat and a couple of light bulbs it works great one incubator has 2-40 watt bulbs 1 has 2 - 60 watt bulbs my latest cabinet bator will start with 4-40 watts and I will play with wattages until I get the heat level right.

 

[Dingo]

I used a lamp kit wired through the hot water heater thermostat, the external air temp did fluctuate between 4 degrees but the internal (inside egg) temp was pretty steady, for an average sized cooler I used a single 40 watt bulb, worked like a charm and I had 100% hatch. The only problem I had was my computer fans kept dying.

 

[mrmallard]

use any heat source. Just don't let the device heat the eggs directly. Use the device to heat the enclosed air which will warm the eggs uniformly. Also, even inside a small incubator, temperature can vary greatly. Try placing thermometer at different corners to see how much they vary.