Fan making incubator too hot, what do I do?

[Silkies~Polishes]

Hi so I bought a fan for my incubator, and I didn't realize it would raise the temperature so much. It completely cooked like 30 of my eggs that were supposed to hatch tomorrow. So it raised the temp. to about 120, and I have the incubator on the lowest temperature possible and I cant get it below 110. I have a hovabator 1062N. What should I do? And is this normal?

 

[deejeff442]

are there no vent plugs?

 

[bachbach1]

Years ago I worked designing incubator electrical systems, I can probably help. The hovabator 1062N is insulated pretty good. If the fan produces heat, it can act like a heating element. That is what I am thinking happened if the temperature controls are working fine. I would look at using a smaller fan like the one at the link HERE, it needs 12 volts DC. You can get a small 12 volt DC adapter at the link HERE if you need one. That should allow you to control the temp in the incubator. I think I would remove the fan you installed, and run the incubator to make sure the temp controls were working. If it is good to go add the small fan at the link I provided. On the small fan ignore the yellow wire it is a speed sensor, use the red and black wire only. That link is for a reseller in China, $1.48 and free shipping, it will take at least 10 days, and up to 2 or 3 weeks to arrive, the price is sweet though. This fan is about 1.5 inches x 1.5 inches, It is the small fan made for a computer processor cooler. If you know anyone throwing away a computer you can get the fan off of the processor cooler. Most of these are small but will stir the air inside a small incubator perfectly.

 

[deejeff442]

awesome info. my incubator dont have a fan . i do saltwater fish and corals for 30 years and i can relate to incubating eggs here. not the same for sure but keeping an enviorment constant is a challenge.

 

[ozexpat]

It is extremely unlikely that the fan is the culprit. A fan uses just a few watts. It had to be the thermostat.

I use both the fan kit from incubator warehouse that is 110v as well as 12v PC fans. They use 3 watts. The element in a 1602n is 30 watts.

The fan was generating the heat you would not be able to regulate it at all with thermostat

 

[Silkies~Polishes]

Bachbach1 thanks so much for the link I think I have an old computer somewhere so I'll see if I can get the fan from it. If not that fan is a good deal! 19 dollars cheaper than what I played for mine!!
Ozexpat- I agree with you that a fan shouldn't be generating that much heat, but I know it is. I'll see if I can return it, maybe there's something wrong with it or something. But I did unplug my incubator and let the fan run on its own and it is keeping the incubator at 90 degrees, and its 70 in the room. I unplugged the fan and turned on the incubator and its working fine. Oh and i didnt mean that i was trying to control the fan with the thermostat, i just meant that the incubator on ots lowest setting was still generating too much heat combined with the fan. Although my fan is supposed to be 1.56 watts, and they say its for incubators so it should be more gentle than yours?
The fan is from Happy Farm on eBay, does anybody know if that's a good seller for fans?

 

[bachbach1]

To: ozexpat

I know it sounds like a fan shouldn't be able to heat it up, but it is what it is, and the heat has to come from some where. That is why I said " I think I would remove the fan you installed, and run the incubator to make sure the temp controls were working. If it is good to go add the small fan at the link I provided" It is pretty simple laws of physics at work here, what ever the cause it wont be rocket science, LOL still some times it can be a little challenging to make something work like it should.


Silkies~Polishes The fan I recommended is small, all you need is to gently stir the air to keep the temp even, you don't need a lot of air circulation. Any fan is an improvement to the "no fan" setup. In my opinion the smaller the better in this little incubator. if you need any more help let me know, I would be happy to help.

 

[ozexpat]

If the fan is hot then it is a problem and you should return it.

I have five styrobators as well as several I have made myself up to 500 egg capacity.

In my first styro 1602 I paid for the GQF fan kit.

In the rest I used PC fans the same diameter. Instead of using 12v transformers I use 9v in the styrobators to "tame" the fan.

If I was going to use a smaller fan I would not use less than 80 mm with a 12v transformer. It won't give you the air circulation you need.

Also make sure the circulation is upward so it pushes the air to the edges.

There are loads of vendors. Make sure the fan has bearings that will support horizontal installation.

Good luck

 

[gjfarm]

Late replying to this thread, but just found it and I encountered the same problem. Have a Little Giant 9200 incubator and purchased a fan from "Happy-Farm" on ebay. Thought I was going crazy because after installing the fan the temperature would go up to way over 100 degrees and the thermostat would on its lowest setting. Unplug the fan and the temperature would stabilize just fine. Again this year I hooked up the fan and the same thing happened, so either it is generating too much heat or actually interfering with the electronics on the thermostat. I have also tested the incubator temps with 3 different thermometers -- it is definitely the fan causing the problem. I contacted "Happy-Farm" regarding this problem and never did receive a reply. The fan shows 12V and 1.56 W. May try to find a computer fan and see how it works.