Cleaning your incubator

[addicted2chicks]

I am wondering what everyone uses to clean their incubator between hatches?
To me the obvious would be to use diluted bleach. But I also know that vinegar has alot of the same antibactrial effects as bleach. I know a lady that uses vinegar to clean her dog kennels and also know back in the day women would use vinegar to clean counters and their homes due to the natural killing agents in it. Beings vinegar is safe to drink I am wondering how many others would think it would be the safer alternative than bleach.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I use bleach, but am interested in the others feedback also.

 

[livin-green]

I'm needing to know, too! I have an LG and am also wondering how bleach would work on styrofoam...??

 

[LilDucky85]

Oh good question! I have an LG too. I would think bleach would disintegrate the styro foam??

 

[countrybum]

Well, my hatching runs every 10 to 11 days and the smell of the bleach worries me, I mean look what it does when you breathe it, I would worry about the chicks. So what I use is dawn dish soap. I squeeze it all over the incubator, use a sponge scrub, scrub it down real fast and rinse thoroughly with warm water. I rinse until there is no sudds. Set it back up and put the eggs back in. Smells great and works great and I do not have to worry about fumes, smell or anything.

If it cuts through grease, it can cut through anything.

 

[livin-green]

I was thinking that a good antibacterial dish soap would probably be the safest option--no residual chemicals or fumes that may increase as the bator heats up and builds humidity. Diluted bleach may be okay if you're cleaning it for storage, but I plan to use mine again as fast as I can get it clean and set back up. Thanks!

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

I stuck my LG in the dishwasher one time with some detergent... SPIC N SPAN!

 

[livin-green]

Styrofoam in the dishwasher?? I would think it would melt or something, no??

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

Nope! I thought the same thing too, and then I remembered my mother "recycles" her styrofoam cups and washes them in the dishwasher. So I tried it...

Worked like a charm! And it was as GLEAMING white as it was the day I bought it.

Some will argue that NOTHING is santized without using a bleach solution, but the detergent worked just fine.

The only thing I didn't do was leave it in there on the dry cycle. I took it out and towel dried it.

 

[hollymh]

I bleach my Hova-bator, its worked best so far

I have used Calvacide in the past as well.