An idea to help temp control...will it work?

[Amanda31]

I am sure someone here has either tried it or knows if it will work or not. We recently replace the ceramic tile in our bathroom and I have a few 16x16" tiles left. I had thought about (in the future) putting one of these in my little giant incubator and getting the temp lined out. The line of thinking is that with that ceramic tile in there holding heat it might help stabilize the temp better. Right now we are having colder nights but the days keep us from turning on the heater at all. I think my bathroom is dropping temp during the night affecting my temps. The bathroom is upstairs and is affected by outside temps more so than downstairs.

Will this work...will it help....will it put something toxic into the incubator??

Thanks all

 

[flgardengirl]

I have no clue about the tiles and toxicity. Here is a photo of how I have my LG hatcher set up. The other LG has an egg turner in it that I use to actually incubater. NOtice in the photo of the LG I use for a hatcher, there is a heat sink in there. This is a small container of water that has plastic over the top with holes poked in it (I cut a thick freezer bag and used that because it is more secure than plastic wrap if the chicks stand on it) and secured with a rubberband. You could also put a metal lid on and poke holes in it. The heat sink does seem to help stabilize the temps. Also if you can get your LG into a closet or interior room with a door and no windows. You will be able to get your temps more stable. Also keep them away from heat or air vents. They are good (not great) incubators but they don't seem as stable as some of the other ones when the room temperatures fluctuate alot.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm not familiar with the little giant incubator. The idea of a heat sink will help stabilize temperatures. If yours is a forced air, the tile might affect the air circulation, leading to hot or cold spots in the incubator. Can you see your water reservoirs so you know when to add water? Is it possible the tile could block some water reservoirs, thus affecting humidity?

As long as you haven't got any glue on the tiles, I don't think there would be any poisoning issues.

 

[flgardengirl]

Here is how I place the aquarium tubing in the sides to wet the sponge or add more water. I do have a computer fan in my as well. I try to use colored aquarium tubing so I can see it better lol.

Here is a photo of it with the shelf liner in. I also add the thermometer and hygrometer of course.

 

[t0m]

I used a bit of concrete roofing tile in my polystyrene incubator for thermal mass. I don't think there would be any toxicity from a clean glazed tile.

 

[Amanda31]

I don't use the bottom for my water because its kind of hard for me to see and judge how much is in it. I have 2 containers that I set in the incubator that I have experimented with and they hold my humidity where I need it. I popped out three of the turner trays to accommodate the containers. I suppose the small holes in the bottom could be blocked by the tile, or I could put in half a tile.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Here's my thoughts on thermal mass.


By the way. Adding objects to stabilize heat is thermal mass.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_mass

Its not a heat sink.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink


Never did say what kind of incubator setup you have? Do you have a fan?

 

[thechosen]

Well you don't say?

 

[Amanda31]

rebelcowboysnb
..thanks for your thoughts on the thermal mass.....

..Nice use of Wikipedia.. I didn't realize I couldn't keep it simple here, oops. Don't mean to come across offensive here but you appeared offended by the misuse of terms, maybe it was just me.

..I do have a fan, but I would think that wouldn't matter in this discussion because a thermal mass would basically have the same effect, fan or not. Like I said in the first post and others made reference to in their posts its a little giant incubator....but with a fan. Do you feel the fan would make a difference?


flgardengirl:
That is a nice setup. Its funny because before I made the post I was digging around the greenhouse looking for some tubing to setup something like that.

I am going to try it on my next hatch, mine have been in since Friday and I don't want to mess with it now. I do have another incubator that a friend gave me, I suppose I could set it up and warm the tile up to 99.5 then try to place it in mine, but I had better leave well enough alone lol

Thanks for all the replies

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
I'm the one that misused the term.