Adding a fan to my incubator

[Sjeane]

i took the cpu fan off of an old computer that has been sitting in a closet after seeing a few videos. hooked it up to a power converter and have it running, the old fan is too big to put inside the incubator, was debating cutting a small square hole in the top of my styrofoam incubator and just set it on top of it and let it run blowing air into the incubator. the little fan is 12v, but it seems like it blows a whole lot of air. is too much air a bad thing? If I cut out my hole on the top of the incubator, should i then cover the fan it self so it isnt sucking cooler air and blowing it into the incubator?

 

[Pyxis]

What I did was before hooking my fan up, I threaded the wires through a hole in the incubator that was there for air flow, and then hooked the fan up. Could you unhook yours, thread the wires through a hole, and then hook it up again?

 

[Sjeane]

great! worked like a charm, used some short screws + gorilla glue to secure it to to top, is there any time that i need to unplug the fan? or just leave it running 24/7 until they hatch

 

[Pyxis]

Just leave it running the whole time

 

[Sjeane]

ok thanks so much for the information. got some blue cochins i am about to drop in.

 

[Drewnkat]

Yep, I threaded my computer fan cord through one of the air vents. I made it so I can disconnect it when I open the incubator to candle or re-arrange the eggs (even with a fan you can still get some temperature variation, rotating the eggs can compensate for this possibility). Having it run while you open the incubator can blow hot air and humidity out, making it take a bit longer to recover.

Other than that, I left it running 24/7 until the hatch was finished. I did place the eggs in baskets, to the sides of the incubator not directly under the fan. I have heard of chicks popping up and getting their head whacked by the fan. Another option is to cover the fan with wire "hardware cloth" or cheesecloth. Basically anything that will still allow airflow, but keep little chicks out.

Another bit of advice, run the incubator a few hours with the fan in there. You may find it does things to your temperature, and you may need to adjust. IIRC, the temp in mine went up after adding the fan. My theory was that since the fan was circulating all the heated air, the element didn't need to run as long to evenly heat it. Anyways, I turned the thermostat down, and it worked like a charm.

Here's hoping all goes well with your eggs!

 

[Sjeane]

thanks so much, after turning my fan on, my temp rose to about 102, got it all adjusted back down now though running at a steady 99.5