Brinsea Incubator - Temperature Control

[tia]

Has anyone had trouble with the Brinsea Octagon 20? I am having trouble with my temperature control. The digital reading is 99.5, but I have checked with a thermometer and it is just a little over 90. degrees. I checked the thermometer with my other incubator and it is right on. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I lost an incubator full of eggs that had been in there for 1 week. : ( I would like to use it, but am thinking of sending it back unless I can find something to do on my own that will fix it. I don't want to tear it apart... but if anyone knows a simple fix, or has had this problem I would appreciate hearing from you. It worked great last year. Only used it once.

 

[Stacykins]

No experience personally, but I would suggest contacting Brinsea to see if they could offer any solutions. It may be better to send it back and get it repaired or replaced as opposed to working on it yourself and possibly voiding the warranty.

 

[adrian]

Yes... My incubator is doing the same thing. I have it set to 101.2 and my digital thermometer is reading 99.4 when an inch from the bottom, its probe inserted through the vent hole, and reading about 97 if the thermometers (I have four) are set on the bottom of the incubator. I still don't know which temperature the incubator is at and I've been fussing with it for a while now. And at that... I haven't really gotten any response to my questions so I have no idea what to do.

From the sound of it, yours is worse. Quite a lot worse. You can either set it really high and see if it comes up to temperature (assuming your digital thermometer is correct, but if it's right in your other incubator like mine was, it probably is), or contact Brinsea... I'd even think about contacting Brinsea but mine is not that bad at all: yours seems serious. Could just be a calibration issue, in that they calibrated it REALLY badly. So turn up your temperature and see what happens.

 

[wsdareme]

Quote:
X 2. And I've heard that Brinsea's customer service is darn good.

 

[tia]

I have only used it once - last year. It is brand new. I turned it up to 104... and it didn't get warm enough. I unplugged it, tried to reset it. That didn't work either, tomorrow it goes back to Florida : ( I'm sad because I was going to use it in my classroom. I have my own personal one which in an R-Com and then the Brinsea that belongs to the school. I was going to put chicken eggs in one, and duck eggs in the other. No time to send it back to Florida and still hatch eggs in the classroom this year. I either have to get another one or choose between duck and chicken eggs. My kids were so excited. What a bummer.

 

[tia]

Talked to them today and I am sending the top in with the controls and they will look at it. It just won't get up over 90. : ( I've only used it once, so I hope they can fix it and not charge me too much.

 

[Rebecky54]

I don't have the Advance, i have the Eco 20, but my therm. shows 100 on the Brinsea in glass therm. but a new therm/hygrom. I just bought shows 95! I'm not sure which one is correct, so I'm getting another to check it out. I had to send back the 1st therm. that came with the machine -- the "mercury" was split and wouldn't go back together.

To tell the truth, I don't really like my Brinsea incubator. It's hard to see the water level and very hard to add water. The thermometer is hard to read, I think it's hard to adjust and I hate the way it rocks back and forth -- you can't see the thermometer or the eggs when it tips so far. Glad I only spent the money for the Eco.

Becky

 

[tia]

Mine worked great last year. I was disappointed this year as I had to throw the eggs away. Even though I bought it the summer of 2009. I only used it one school year. When you pay that much for something it should work a while. If they fix it I will be happy.