Deadly Temp Spike with ITC 1000 Thermostat

[Marilynszoo]

I'm in shock. Last night at the last turning for the day, everything was fine, but this morning the temperature in my cooler-bator was 130 degrees. I've been using the same equipment for a year and have hatched dozens of healthy chicks. Everything was going well. I just can't believe this happened. The lights were still on in the 'bator with the temp so high; it must have been stuck somehow in the on position. All 33 eggs are dead, of course. It was only day three, but the eggs I opened showed development.

My question is, has anyone else had this happen with the ITC 1000 thermostat? After unplugging everything and letting it cool down, I turned it back on and everything is back to normal, 99.5 all day. I just don't know if I can trust this thermostat again.

 

[mich9510]

Sorry that happened to you. I had a temp spike with a duck egg incubation a few months ago. Incubator temp went up to 122. Lost all but two. I had 18 in there i think. After then a few days later my incubator spiked to 106. That's when I figured out that the heat sensor was wet. I was new to incubating and didn't realize that could happen. Of course I was just using my cheapo Little giant. Hugs!!!!

 

[ChickAsThieves]

I don't have any experience with this, therefore I have no helpful advice to add, but I just wanted to say that I'm very sorry that you're going through this.

 

[Marilynszoo]

Thank you mich9510 and AmandaKyle.

 

[gpop1]

I'm in shock. Last night at the last turning for the day, everything was fine, but this morning the temperature in my cooler-bator was 130 degrees. I've been using the same equipment for a year and have hatched dozens of healthy chicks. Everything was going well. I just can't believe this happened. The lights were still on in the 'bator with the temp so high; it must have been stuck somehow in the on position. All 33 eggs are dead, of course. It was only day three, but the eggs I opened showed development.

My question is, has anyone else had this happen with the ITC 1000 thermostat? After unplugging everything and letting it cool down, I turned it back on and everything is back to normal, 99.5 all day. I just don't know if I can trust this thermostat again.

Im sorry to say but no single stage thermostat made can truly be trusted. It doesn't matter if we are talking about your tumble dryer, hot pot, coffee maker they all have a back-up to the thermostat (normally a thermal fuse).

The itc 1000 is not a bad thermostat for the price but its a single stage controller with no back up features other than a alarm. If the software glitches then the alarm may not have worked either. This is a simple temp controller operating a relay which can fail to open especially if its been overloaded or shorted causing burning or pitting to the contacts inside the relay. (if the alarm was programmed and on and the temp was 130 then the relay was probably the most likely culprit)

Your option are limited but I would probably replace the controller just to be on the safe side especially if I suspected a sticky relay.
You could always add a second controller as a over temp cut off say at 101.5 then if you ever see the temp get to 101.5 you will know that the primary controller has failed. This may be overkill as I haven't seen a lot of complaints about that style of controller but it would make you sleep better at night.

I know that after one of my incubator fryed some of my wifes eggs even 2 years later with out a problem she still doesn't trust it.

 

[Marilynszoo]

Thank you gpop 1. I'm not aware of it having an alarm feature. If it does I don't know how to turn it on. There were no instructions, so I had to figure out how to set it. We did have a thunder storm last night and I wondered if that could have something to do with it? I actually bought another thermostat as a back-up; it's similar to the other one, but not identical. I also have a water heater one that I used for my first few times incubating, and am thinking of using again- no relays to stick.