heat distance

[buslady]

Can someone tell me how far the heat element should be from the eggs? I have an old hova- bator top, and I am using a new foam chest for the bottom. It is a much bigger box, so am unsure how much to build up from the bottom. Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That depends on the wattage of the heat element. I believe it may be 40 watts like that in a LG. Whatever it is, it is likely to be at the bare minimum of what it took to bring the original incubator to 100F or so. It may not be powerful enough to heat much more space. That said, I have had a LG run wild and heated the space to 108F.
I've build cabinet incubators and a 40 watt element would barely raise the temperature above ambient. I had to use a 225 watt, a 125 watt metallic element and a 75 watt incandescent lamp to easily bring it up to temperature.
It is simply a matter of wattage, space to be heated and insulative quality of the incubator housing.

 

[buslady]

Thanks. I plugged it up, and I am going to watch the temperature for a couple of days. I want to add an egg turner before setting anymore eggs.