Fan in incubator question

[embkm]

With a homemade incubator, which way do you point the fan? So it blows across the light bulb, towards the eggs, up, down ???

I had cool spots in my first test hatch that I am trying to fix. I've put in water baggie heat sinks, but not sure if the fan is pointing the right way. If someone knows, please let me know!

 

[chicks for better health]

It really depends on the design of the incubator. Can you post pictures?

The idea of the fan is to continually move air inside the incubator. By working with the natural convection of the heat from the light bulb you can maximize the air movement.

As the light bulb heats the air it will move up and then away from the bulb, and the cooled air will rise from below the light. Your best bet is to push the air in the same direction if at all possible.

If you post pictures I will draw a diagram for you

 

[BirdBrain]

When I was getting ready to build a bator someone said to put the fan so it would blow across the heat source. Even so I have noticed temps to vary within the bator.

 

[embkm]

I can't get the pics onto the computer. It is basically a Ms Prissy Bator. Currently the fan is blowing over the light bulb towards the thermostat. My temps in the test hatch were amazing steady, just not consistant throughout the incubator.

 

[77horses]

Quote:
Yes ours is like that too. I didn't know until now to have the fan a certain way, but we have our fan facing the light bulb, which is across from it. Kinda like thisthe "box" is the incubator. best i could do! lol)

_____________________
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|<side with light bulb |<side with fan(air is blowing towards light
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[77horses]

Here's how our fan is set up:

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Quote:
It sounds like you have it right. You could add a second fan on the cold side to help but if you aim your fan away from the thermostat an light you will be losing stability.

 

[BirdBrain]

Rebelcowboysnb,
Here is what my bator looks like. Is the fan in the wrong position?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

The easy answer is blow smoke in the incubator an see if you have dead spots. I would think hanging like a ceiling fan in the middle would work best with your wafer setup

Fan placement is mainly an issue when your using a water heater thermostat. It needs to blow the heat off the bulb strait on to the thermostat. That way the thermostat cycles off faster giving a smaller temp swing. You could do the same with a wafer thermostat but it may cycle off to fast an the incubator may never get hot.

 

[AK Michelle]

I had mine set up just like 77horses. But I didn't like the cold spots so I used paperclips in lieu of screws and hung the fan right in front of the bulb so it is sucking the air from the bulb and blowing it to the other end of the box (where the fan used to be). With the help of several thermometers I was able to determine or more consistant temp this way. I had a shelf of hardware cloth above the bulb, fan and water trays so I hung the fan from the hardware cloth.

I didn't think to try the smoke method before I put eggs in and don't want to try it now that I know I have babies growing in there.

Michelle