For those who have made DIY bators- ? about the thermostat.

[mothersin2ition]

So we made a homemade incubator out of a styrofoam cooler. As per the instructions found on the site, and trial & error (after blowing out a lamp kit cause the thermostat was hooked up wrong lol), we have it all together. Here's my problem. The thermostat doesn't "do" anything- isn't it supposed to turn the light on/off?? What is the function? Everything works but I cant seem to figure out how to regulate the temp. If I leave the lid on, it shoots up to 103. If I crack it at all- I mean AT ALL- like, I took about 4 ply of toilet paper and stuck it under the lid in one corner- the temp goes down to 97....
my questions are:

What is the thermostat supposed to do exactly?
How does it work?
What are we doing wrong?

I'm going to add some pics of our set up later tonight when hubby brings the camera home from work.

Any insight would be great

 

[crossedwires]

yes the thermostat is ment to turn your heat source on and off. post some pics and details of the thermostat your using

 

[mothersin2ition]

Okay, I will add them as soon as I can tonight. We are using a lower thermostat that I got at Ace. Not sure what other info to post, but I will add the pics later and hopefully that will help. Thanks for answering so quickly

 

[alcina_dreamer]

might sound like a stupid question but did you adjust the thermostat? I could not get my temps regulated with out a dimmer switch also.

 

[paddock36]

Maybe this will help. This is my thermostat. It's mounted upside down only because I wanted the connection to be close to the light. If yours is like mine you can see the little screw for the temp gauge and you just turn it slightly to adjust the temp.

 

[mothersin2ition]

well, I have it set to 90 degrees- just for starters. But the light never switched on or off when it swung from 97-103. - now Im embarassed, Im probably missing something really easy. Should I switch it to about 99 and see what happens?

 

[jellybean]

Mine was giving temp swing of about 20 degrees when I had it on the side of the cooler. I set it down onto the hardware cloth and it made a huge difference. Now the temp swing is about 5 degrees, but I had to play with it for a couple days to find the right spot where it kept the egg temp correct. It's the same kind of thermostat, the lower water heater one.

 

[DanEP]

Paddock36 You might want to add some spacers so that the thermostat can get air flow all the way around. I could be wrong but i believe that the disk that controls it is on the back of this thermostat. Being tight up against the wall of the cooler may be insulating it
I woud also doube check my wiring to make sure that it is correct
good luck Dan

 

[SweetMotherOfMars]

mothersin2ition, you may want to play with the type of bulb and the location of the thermostat. I have pips, so I can't open mine at present for a photo, but I did have to change bulb wattages to finally get the stability I needed.

I do have the thermostat very close to "right over" the light bulb, with air flow all around it. Have you included a fan in your set up?

 

[mothersin2ition]

okay I dont know if you can see it very well, its really hard to get the camera up close enough. But Ive adjusted the thermostat and it really hasnt seemed to do much of anything. Right now it's stable at 100.9 but Id like to get it down by one degree. As per advice from PP, I may try a different watt bulb. Right now Im using 25w.
Edited to add that I do have a fan also.