So, we went to bed at 10PM and the Brinsea was sitting in lockdown at a rock solid 99.7F with 66% Humidity on day 20 of incubation of my BCM eggs. My husband woke up choking at 1AM and says out loud, "Why's it so dark in here...the clock's off". I sat straight up in bed and said, "Oh crap, the power is out....the incubator."
My husband literally flew out of bed and had on his slippers and robe (ran into the dresser trying to find the door), got into the laundry room to get a flashlight, grabbed a hoodie, and was outside in the 33F cold starting the generator within 4 minutes. By the time I made it outside with the emergency lantern, he was on his way back from the pump house with a can of gasoline and the generator was on and running. The incubator was at 86.7F and the humidity had shot up to 86% without the fan running. With power to it, the incubator only took a minute or so to get back up to temperature. My fingers are crossed that we got them warm enough quick enough that no major damage was done.
We live in SE Louisiana where hurricane season is a fact of life, so accordingly own two generators (one of which is wired to the house with a switch in the electrical panel) and have a bevy of emergency lighting.....which made life much easier.
Thank goodness my DH woke up from a dead sleep and discovered this before they got too cold.
I have read other threads where incubators have lost heat and the hatches were not a total loss. This is my first ever incubator and hatch, so naturally I am a nervous wreck.
Now, I have to stay up and wait for the power to come back on and watch the generator...add fuel, etc. Luckily, our neighbor is a huge horse broker and has a ton of lights in his paddock, so it'll be easy to see when power returns. It is so weird...it isn't even storming, windy....anything here: Guess somebody hit a power pole or a transformer blew, but the whole area is definetly very dark.
Do you think too much damage was done or this will just slow them down a bit?
My husband literally flew out of bed and had on his slippers and robe (ran into the dresser trying to find the door), got into the laundry room to get a flashlight, grabbed a hoodie, and was outside in the 33F cold starting the generator within 4 minutes. By the time I made it outside with the emergency lantern, he was on his way back from the pump house with a can of gasoline and the generator was on and running. The incubator was at 86.7F and the humidity had shot up to 86% without the fan running. With power to it, the incubator only took a minute or so to get back up to temperature. My fingers are crossed that we got them warm enough quick enough that no major damage was done.
Thank goodness my DH woke up from a dead sleep and discovered this before they got too cold.
Now, I have to stay up and wait for the power to come back on and watch the generator...add fuel, etc. Luckily, our neighbor is a huge horse broker and has a ton of lights in his paddock, so it'll be easy to see when power returns. It is so weird...it isn't even storming, windy....anything here: Guess somebody hit a power pole or a transformer blew, but the whole area is definetly very dark.
Do you think too much damage was done or this will just slow them down a bit?
