Heat placement in incubator

[GoodOldDays]

hmm, I've had a really hard time getting humidity to stay up for my lock down. it might not be too bad in a fridge type of setup. my current HM incubator is a .75" plywood box that has silicone painted on the floor so it wont leak and insulation board sitting on top of that in an attempt to stop loosing so much moisture. the last batch i did the insulation board was sitting in about an inch of water just to get the humidity up. (I was fine for humidity without fans but not temperature) I think the hardest part will be getting a consistent temp with still air. my only experience with a still air from start to finish was not pleasant. i was constantly adjusting the location of the eggs up, down, back, closer, etc. though at the time i didn't have a dimmer or thermostat. I did manage to hatch 3 eggs that time, but i didn't really sleep for 3 weeks.

I think the best advise would be try out what your planning without eggs for a couple of days get the temp to stay consistent or at the very least mark your hot and cold spots. and then see what happens when you add water as a trial lockdown. I could never get my temp to go back to normal in my mock lockdowns without fans. but the fans kill your humidity... it's a balancing act and the only way you'll know for sure is to give it a shot.

Oh yeah for sure. There will be a solid 2 weeks of trial before the eggs.

 

[GoodOldDays]

I'm so torn between having the fridge upright with multiple racks.
Which eliminates any options as I would have to have a fan but also creates an entire new conundrum of what kind of heat element to use and where to place it to get a consistent temp throughout the incubator.
OR
Having the fridge on it's side with one big tray, no fan and using simple light bulbs.
But I still have to figure out why people don't put the heat source below because that seems to be a legitimately better option for the sake of temperature consistancy in my opinion.

It seems like no body knows why the heat source is always above in still air incubators...
I've looked and looked across the internet but no one seems to have studied it.
Very strange.

 

[lazy gardener]

Having it upright would not eliminate the fan option. You might even want a fan below and a fan above the eggs. Or a fan blowing air up through a duct at the back of the incubator, with it doing a constant circulation of air from bottom of bator, up through the duct, to be discharged at the top, louvers here and there to discharge air at each shelf level. If you put a fan in, you can always opt to not use it.

I agree with other posters, such a large bator may REQUIRE a fan b/c the temp will be at a huge gradient from top to bottom.

 

[GoodOldDays]

Having it upright would not eliminate the fan option. You might even want a fan below and a fan above the eggs. Or a fan blowing air up through a duct at the back of the incubator, with it doing a constant circulation of air from bottom of bator, up through the duct, to be discharged at the top, louvers here and there to discharge air at each shelf level. If you put a fan in, you can always opt to not use it.

I agree with other posters, such a large bator may REQUIRE a fan b/c the temp will be at a huge gradient from top to bottom.

Hey there lazy gardener.

This a great point you make. Thank you. I have never even considered ducting. Is this a commonly used method?
Would you be able to explain your opinion on getting fresh air in and circulated and old air out?
If the fan draws in fresh air at the bottom and ducts it straight up and out the top how would eggs get fresh air?
Would put put holes in the duct at each level of eggs?

We opted for 3 levels 12cm apart, is that enough space for eggs and chicks? with the fridge on it's side, 2 light bulbs on one side (where the crisper drawer normally would be), fan/s and manual roller grids for the turning and a fan (but efficient use of the fan is still to be decided)

 

[GoodOldDays]

Hey there lazy gardener.

This a great point you make. Thank you. I have never even considered ducting. Is this a commonly used method?
Would you be able to explain your opinion on getting fresh air in and circulated and old air out?
If the fan draws in fresh air at the bottom and ducts it straight up and out the top how would eggs get fresh air?
Would put put holes in the duct at each level of eggs?

We opted for 3 levels 12cm apart, is that enough space for eggs and chicks? with the fridge on it's side, 2 light bulbs on one side (where the crisper drawer normally would be), fan/s and manual roller grids for the turning and a fan (but efficient use of the fan is still to be decided)

Sorry that is badly written

- would you put holes in the ducting at each level of eggs?
- 2 light bulbs and a fan where the crisper normally is. Possibly another fan somewhere else.
And the the rest of the fridge space (besides the crisper) is taken up by 3 evenly spaced trays.
Do you know what I mean when I say manually operated grid rollers for the turning of the eggs?