3 different temps... 3 different thermometers... what to believe?

[mmaddie's mom]

I am expecting special eggs @ the end of May and am starting to prepare early so I will be as ready as I can be.

I am the new owner of a Brinsea ECO 20... never used an incubator before, only broodies. Bought it specifically for these eggs, since I can't guarantee a cooperative broody.

Thermometer in the 'bator reads just a hair under 100*F... new digital from Walmart reads 97*F... and an old small wall thermometer that I've had for years reads 101*F.

So? What do I believe? Average out all 3? Get more thermometers? How accurate do other Brinsea owners think the 'bator thermometer is?

 

[youngbiddy]

Since it's a Brinsea, I'd go with the bator thermometer. You might try the Brinsea Spot Check thermometer to be really sure.
http://dblrsupply.pinnaclecart.com/products/Brinsea_Spot_Check_Thermometer-351-63.html

 

[dretd]

Vexing problem, that is. It could be they are all accurate and that you have temperature gradients within your incubator. It could be that one or more are off, or a combination of both. I also think the digital room sensor types are less accurate than my dial/fish tank thermometers.

At one point I had 5 termometers in my incubator at one time and I did identify a cold spot. I took two thermometers and stacked them so that the tip of the dial was right over my water wiggler one and they both read the same number (the dial had been higher by a degree when it was towards the middle). If you could cluster the thermometers tegether you could see how close they are in readings. Not sure where the thermo in the 'bator's sensor is so that may not work for that one. The dial one I have is one for checking meat temps while cooking and the fish tank one is a small weighted glass tube that floats in fish tanks. Inexpensive to purchase and may give you peace of mind.

Good luck with the special eggs! What makes them special, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
Great idea... I'll go out in my kitchen gadget drawer and grab my meat thermo. & my candy thermo... hadn't thought of those!

Special eggs... we will be visiting in Ca. next month and have made arrangements to bring back some eggs from out on the West Coast!
Also will be hand carrying them on the plane... a grand experiment! If it ALL works out, I will have some wonderful living souvenirs to add to my little flock!!!

 

[dretd]

mmaddie's mom :

Great idea... I'll go out in my kitchen gadget drawer and grab my meat thermo. & my candy thermo... hadn't thought of those!
Special eggs... we will be visiting in Ca. next month and have made arrangements to bring back some eggs from out on the West Coast!
Also will be hand carrying them on the plane... a grand experiment! If it ALL works out, I will have some wonderful living souvenirs to add to my little flock!!!

I hadn't thought of a candy thermometer before, wonder how it will work? I am thinking it may be calibrated to be accurate at higher temperatures.
I read a thread a while back on hand carrying through TSA. Be sure to do a thread on how it goes cuz I've thought of doing that myself!!

Good Luck with your adventure!​

 

[Old_Rooster]

I worry about thermometers, especially the cheaper ones, being accurate. I have a few old-fashioned mercury lab thermometers. I put them together in an empty incubator along with some "pet" or "weather" thermometers to see how close they are. The lab thermometers all agree within a few tenths.

You can get an accurate thermometer from your local pharmacy. Talk to them about getting a basal thermometer. It will be accurate to tenths of degrees, and cost about $20. If you are as old as I am, though, you may get some odd looks, because these are often used to predict fertility.

 

[Old_Rooster]

mmaddie's mom :

Quote:
Great idea... I'll go out in my kitchen gadget drawer and grab my meat thermo. & my candy thermo... hadn't thought of those!

Special eggs... we will be visiting in Ca. next month and have made arrangements to bring back some eggs from out on the West Coast!
Also will be hand carrying them on the plane... a grand experiment! If it ALL works out, I will have some wonderful living souvenirs to add to my little flock!!!

I think that I would worry about the accuracy of a cooking thermometer.​

 

[Old_Rooster]

Quote:
Great technique. I put a group of thermometers into an empty incubator to compare accuracies. If you know the off-set of a thermometer, you can still live with it. Some of the digital thermometers are precise to tenths, but accurate to 1.5 degrees.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
I hadn't thought of a candy thermometer before, wonder how it will work? I am thinking it may be calibrated to be accurate at higher temperatures.
I read a thread a while back on hand carrying through TSA. Be sure to do a thread on how it goes cuz I've thought of doing that myself!!

Good Luck with your adventure!

Added 2 more

we'll see what they say.
Probably was my thread... started talking about it months ago (I think last Sept.) Since then, my husband has been able to hand carry them on a plane from Knoxville, Ky.
And a few others on here have had success also. I think the best way to do it is to have eveything right out front and in the open AND to allow extra time to get them through.
LIFE is an adventure!

 

[dretd]

Quote:
Ordinarily I'd agree with you. The one I have is an old trusted friend. I have cross checked it with other thermometers. It is the same temp as my furnace controlling thermometer, my salt-tank termo and correlates with my infra-red heat gun. I trust this individual thermometer, but I guess you need to verify the accuracy of any thermometer before trust can be established!

I will say that the fish tank thermometers seem to be reliably more accurate than the others I have tried(I wonder if its because they are sealed?). Especially those cheap digital house temp ones. I suspect that those readings can be thrown off by the humidity.