Converting A Mini-Fridge to an Incubator... Need Help!

[rebel yell]

This is about the best I can do with pictures (cell phone) you can see the heating element at the top, the thermostat at the right, & the 2 fans at the top of the blue duct work which pulls air in & it comes out of the bottom of the duct, this circulates the air & so far there is not any hot or cold spots in it, the parts came from a old LG, & it was a wine cooler with the glass door, works great, simple design, it dont have to be complicated. I intend to build me a hatcher in the bottom, you know where the hump is in the bottom, I think this will work good.

 

[Rainwolf]

Quote:
What do you use for a thermostat?

the ranco thermostats are the best. HVAC equipment but you have to be able to wire it yourself.

heres a good read about setting one up.
http://www.rcreptiles.com/blog/index.php/2007/05/11/how_to_wire_a_ranco_etc_111000_thermosta


edited to add link

 

[gumbii]

ronco's are great, but they also give out... my friend's use them on chillers for aquariums and some people have trouble with them... i would rather trust a waterheater thermostat because it's simple and all hardware, no wires and sensors and stuff... plus, ronco's are like a bill or more...

i dunno whatev'skeez... i know there's an awesome heater that isn't an on and off switch, but works like a potentiometer... they use it a lot for heat tape...

 

[muddstopper]

I dont really like the water heater thermostats, they are just not sensitive enough to be very accurite. My next better choice would be to just purchase a wafer thermostat and use it. It costs about twice what a WH thermo would cost, but they are standard in a lot of the older cabinet models and still used as backups in the newer electronic bators.

 

[NicoleRM]

I'm working on one right now too.

So far I have the plastic ripped off of the inside of the door, which was by FAR the hardest part. I had to slice two corners of the gasket to get it out of there. Got a hole cut out of the door and glass siliconed over for a window. Going to see how my turner fits on the preexisting shelves. I think without all that extra space from the door shelves it will fit now, but it didn't before. I'm using a digital Helix thermostat, reptile heat tape for the heating element, and I have a humidistat on the way that I'm going to hook up to an ultrasonic humidifier for humidity control. Going to wire up my fan today. I want this thing to pretty much do everything on its own aside from laying the eggs

 

[PepsNick]

Thanks to you all for your great advice! I'll be using all of it into the project.