!!!furious!!!

[speckledhen]

That Acurite is a household thermometer, not guaranteed to be accurate enough for an incubator because they are not made for that. I think that, by law, household thermometers are supposed to be accurate only to within about two degrees and that difference is enough to kill a bunch of eggs.

I got tired of guessing so bought an actual incubator thermometer, guaranteed to be accurate to within less than two tenths of a degree, called the Spot Check by Brinsea and called Egg-Temp by GQF, same unit though. It registers each tenth as it happens and doesn't wait and jump around like household ones. You can never be sure of a household one from one incubation to the next. This is the Spot Check, well worth having, IMO. It says on mine +/- .1 Some say +/-.18 You see that mine is written in centigrade since Brinsea is not in the U.S. (I think that's correct)

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Ok, Acurite builds several different ones. I would place the thermometers in the incubator along with a small glass of water and let them stabilize for several hours. After the elapsed time check the digital thermometers readings and write them down. Quickly take a regular digital *medical* thermometer (same kind you put under your tongue to check for a fever) and take the temperature of the water. Compare this temperature to that of the two digital units. The medical thermometer is much more exact and will let you know if the others are reading high or low and by how many degrees or fractions of degrees.

I have seriously considered putting a hole in the side of my inucator and inserting one of the medical thermometers through the hole and into a "water wiggler" that is inside the incubator....when I want an "exact" temperature check I could turn it own and check it. I would still want a large unit inside too for the "quick look".

Just some thoughts,
Best wishes,
Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:

I have been oogling those for the last several days....NICE.

Ed

 

[speckledhen]

What is nice about the Spot Check is that it shows you the exact range of temps in your bator; for instance, mine went from 99.1-100.8, I believe. And I knew the actual egg temp was the average of those two, basically, since I had a homemade water weasel-type device in there, just to see, being the first time I'd used the Spot Check through an entire incubation.

 

[FarmerChick]

sorry---that stinks

 

[duckluck]

Quote:

I have been oogling those for the last several days....NICE.

Ed

Newbie here to vouch for that Brinsea...they are the BEST! Forego any last minute holiday shopping for anyone else and buy yourself one, wouldn't incubate without it...

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
I've got 2 of these, there are not to expensive if you mail order them from culter, I'd rathe spend a little on this and know what the temp. I replace the battery every jan. so there is a fresh one for the incubating season

 

[muddstopper]

I dont trust the Accurite either. I was using one to make design changes to the cabinet incubators we are building. I couldnt ever get the temps stable between the front of the incubator and the back. Big swings of 2-3 and sometime 5 degrees. After fooling around redesigning airflow for about a week, I finally swaped the thermometers main body and the probes positions in the cabinet. Guess what, my wild temp fluctuations moved with the re-position of the thermometer. I Used the thermometer on my cellphone, (GZ'one, The Rock),by placeing the phone in the cabinet, now I am within 0.3*f front to back and top to bottom and 0.3*f high to low temp. This temp should stablize even more when the incubator is filled with eggs. Of course, I cant leave my cellphone in the incubator, so that leaves me searching for a better thermometer.

Also watch your humidity levels, I have found that the higher the humdity, the more accurate the digital thermometers. Temps wont read the same with a low humidity as it will with a high humidity, even with the same thermostat settings. It seems the higher the humidity the more stable the temps. I am sure there is also a tradeoff point if the humidity gets to high, I havent found that point yet so I assume that point is higher than what would normally be used in a incubator.

 

[mulia24]

well, you have to put other brand one to compare them.

and about thermo or hygro meter there have been many discussion about it. i remember one, well actually not remember but i bookmarked it.

here we are

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=255773&p=1

hope you can find out which one is better.

i do remember speckledhen once said, "most thermometer people bought are only for household use so they're not really reliable and to have a reliable one you should buy the one that being build for hatch purpose", that's it if i'm not forget.

 

[lemurchaser]

Quote:
I love this idea! I'm going to see what I can do.