Fire hazard?

[happyhens]

Ok, in the process of building my homemade incubator (that will probably become the hatcher with the hovabator doing most of the work) I have become really paranoid about causing a fire. Someone please tell me its ok, and that I won't burn the house down! lol I'm using what a lot of people on here have used, just a 60 or 100 watt lightbulb with the hot water heater thermostat, in a styrofoam box. Thats ok, right?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Fire hazard is a relative term but as long as the light is not to close to anything its pretty safe.

But the 13 years as a firemen makes me remind you to check the batterys in your smoke detector.

 

[columbiacritter]

Make sure your light is in a stable base then use some hardware cloth to make a cage so nothing can fall against it. Test you homemade bator when you are goign to be home for several days. A friend made a bator and didn't stop to realize the glue she was using to hold the foam board to the sides of the cabinet was soluble at high humidity and temps. Because she had caged the light no fire when the foam board all fell apart.

 

[dominiquePL]

Quote:
Well, I'd go with 25w. Even they can get pretty hot and that's not good for your eggs. And it should be plenty enough for your incubator. I've used 25W bulb in my bator but didn't like it - but I think if you have a fan it should be ok (I didn't have one so temps weren't even). Now I'm using 25W reptile heat cable and that's brilliant to use (doesn't get hot at all, just warm).

 

[pdsavage]

I use these kinda light bulbs.

I followed these directions
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1996-chic-chick-bator

And this wiring direction from another BYCer

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

I bet that one on the left made some noise when plugged in.

 

[rickerra]

Quote:
Well, I'd go with 25w. Even they can get pretty hot and that's not good for your eggs. And it should be plenty enough for your incubator. I've used 25W bulb in my bator but didn't like it - but I think if you have a fan it should be ok (I didn't have one so temps weren't even). Now I'm using 25W reptile heat cable and that's brilliant to use (doesn't get hot at all, just warm).

You need the right sized light bulb or combined bulbs to put enough heat into your incubator to overcome the heat lost from your incubator. Heat in vs Heat out.

A single 25W bulb will struggle to get an aquarium (glass) incubator up to 100 degrees temps because the incubator looses more heat through the glass than the bulb can put in. But in a super insulated styrofoam box, a 25W bulb can manage.

Another thing to consider is how fast the temperature can be raised in the box. Again... heat in vs heat out. If your light bulb is barely putting in enough heat (heat in) to overcome the heat lose (heat out), than it will take a long time to raise the temps, but it will. If you have a bulb that can put heat in that greatly exceeds heat out... then it will be able to raise the temps much more quickly in the incubator.

But, put in too "big" a bulb... and it will raise temps so quickly that it will overshoot the turn-off (t-stat) temp. Which makes dialing in temps and holding steady temps a pain.

I have a 60W normal light bulb in my well insulated styrofoam incubator. It works well with a short cycle time(bulb time on, bulb time off). A pair of 25W bulbs would also work well in my box. A single 40W bulb would work too... but would be slower to heat up.

Oh... and all incandescent bulbs get pretty hot... which is why you should put a shield around the bulb to block the radiant heat from the eggs.

Cheers!

 

[happyhens]

Ok thanks. I guess if so many people are using them without starting fires, they must be safe. Haha maybe I'm just too paranoid ;-)

 

[freeflyin]

I'm being paranoid, too! I will need to make it super stable, not wiggly, and caged before I attempt to leave it on longer than a day! I'll need to get a lot more confidence before I decide to buy some eggs!!! A part of me is just wishing that I bought one already made! But that is so much more money! hahaha

 

[tec27]

when i made mine, i noticed the light bulb melting the styrofoam. I then just put some aluminum foil on the styrofoam so the light bulb wasnt directly next to it. works fine.