Guess what I found?

[77horses]

Guess what I happened to find at my soon-to-be-step-father's house? A giant Igloo cooler!

And the first thing that popped into my head was: The perfect homemade incubator, of course!

It was out back in the woods, covered in leaves, dirt, etc. and smelled like oil. He said that he was just going to throw it out because it had a few punctures in it and it was too big to have around, so I asked if I could have it. I told him I could use it for an incubator, and he said I could have it(I'm guessing he thinks I'm crazy now LOL). My mom wasn't too pleased to have it in the back of our van, but I told her she won't have to deal with it again, since I'm bringing it to my dad's house tomorrow so I can work on it this week. When we brought it home, I dragged it out of the van, took the hose out, and washed most of the spider webs, dirt, leaves, etc. away. I wiped it down, getting rid of some of the oil smell.
Now it's drying and actually looks fairly nice after a quick clean up.

I am thinking of wiping it down with bleach or something, but bleach may cause a worse smell...

Any thoughts on how to get rid of the oil smell?

Also, what wattage light bulb should I use? It is a really large cooler. It's 14 inches tall(or deep), 34 inches long, and 16 inches wide. It has a small door on the cover where you can open or close, and I think I may take the small door part off and put glass over for a window. I will probably take the egg turner out of my stryofoam cooler-bator, which doesn't hold temperature too well(the egg turner is very similar to GopherBoy's idea).

I can't wait to put it all together and try it out!

It's almost the exact same thing as this:
http://www.igloo-store.com/product_detail.asp?T1=IGL+SPORTSMAN+100&HDR=fulliglooclassics

Wish me luck! I will try and post pics of the finished product later on.

 

[77horses]

And the good thing about finding this "treasure"(weird as it may sound

) is that it's free! As you can see, the ice chest on that site costs $99.00(plus shipping), and the one I have is just as good. It's not brand new; it is a little dirty right now and has a few punctured dents in the inside, but no problem. I've been looking for one of these but didn't want to spend lots of money on one!

 

[Mahonri]

Congrats. Keep us posted.

 

[gocrow77]

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Well I am going to watch. Sorry about all the trouble with the other one you have. It is so frustrating having to babysit the incubator and worry about our eggs. Will they, won't they??? Good Luck

 

[wombat]

I don't know if bleach will get rid of the oil smell or not, but chlorine breaks down fiarly quickly in sunlight. If you clean it with bleach, leaving it out in the sun for a while and then rinsing it will get rid of the bleach scent.

Plastic is permeable; things in contact with it will be absorbed over time, so the cooler might have had something oily in it for a while. For getting rid of the oil, I'd suggest starting with filling it with hot, soapy water (liquid dish detergent) and then letting it soak with that, changing the water a couple of times a day for a few days. I'd try that first, detergent will break down oil better than bleach will.

 

[milleryardchx]

ohh how exciting sounds fun! i would start with a 40w if that doesn't work maybe a 60 but 40w seems to be a perfect watt for most incubators. Most powder laundry soap is good for removing oils or dawn dish soap thats what we used in alaska when birds got into oil spills. and let it air in the sun for a few days that should get rid of the oil smell. good luck!

 

[77horses]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I will try the different methods you have explained to me this upcoming week and will update you when I come back on Friday.

And I will try a 40watt light bulb. If that's not enough(since it is a huge ice chest...I think 100qt, like the one I found online) then I will try 60watt.

Can't wait to see how well it holds hum. and temp. I will look at GopherBoy's homemade bator.