A century of Turkey talk 2000-2100.

[R2elk]

'Nuff rain already!!! ('nuff cold, too )

It got up to 30°F today. A lot of the snow melted. They are predicting 6°F tonight. It is down to 23°F right now.

 

[CindyinSD]

Yeah... 2° tonight, 23° tomorrow, 40% chance of snow. Hey, at least we didn't get the 12" they threatened us with...

 

[Bantambird]

My hatcher ( an old 1502 sportsman, likely from the 80s?) Has stopped heating. I've taken the back off to clean it good and early tomorrow DH and I are going to start troubleshooting in earnest. Do heating elements fail, or could it be a short?

 

[duluthralphie]

There should be an open if it failed.
I have an extra element on hand all the time.

 

[R2elk]

My hatcher ( an old 1502 sportsman, likely from the 80s?) Has stopped heating. I've taken the back off to clean it good and early tomorrow DH and I are going to start troubleshooting in earnest. Do heating elements fail, or could it be a short?

Failure to heat can be the heating element or the thermostat. If yours is from the 80s, it may be as simple as a bad wafer.

 

[Bantambird]

An open what?

 

[Bantambird]

Well..... It's definitely been modified since I've gotten it. Did I ever mention my dad is an electrical engineer and a tinkerer? We modified it and replaced the old thermostat with a digital one that has direct control of the heating element. My incubator had been changed 3 years ago in the same way and has yet to require servicing outside cleaning.
Luckily it stopped working just after I moved babies out this morning.

 

[CindyinSD]

I'm assuming an "open" referrs to a break somewhere in the heating element circuit--possibly a break in the element itself. After years of service, element wires can become corrupted and brittle--easily broken, or even burned out like a light bulb filament. Or there might be a break somewhere else in the circuit, a bad switch (thermostat), broken connection...

Hey, I've been wondering about your folks... any plans for them to come back?

 

[R2elk]

Well..... It's definitely been modified since I've gotten it. Did I ever mention my dad is an electrical engineer and a tinkerer? We modified it and replaced the old thermostat with a digital one that has direct control of the heating element. My incubator had been changed 3 years ago in the same way and has yet to require servicing outside cleaning.
Luckily it stopped working just after I moved babies out this morning.

Digital thermostats can fail too. One that I was using to control a brooder heater failed.

 

[Bantambird]

These are excellent suggestions and we will test everything out in the morning