Help! control temp or humidity in my homemade incubator

[calicobuterfly]

I have tried everything I can think of to get the temp and humidity right. If the temp is good, the humidity is too low. so I add more water, and the temp goes down instead of up. If I close some of he holes to bring up humidity, the temp gets to high.

 

[dc3085]

You need a thermostat to control your temperature.

https://www.gqfmfg.com/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=147

 

[MeepBeep]

Add 100° water and the temp should remain consistent within reason, no reason it should fall...

Also some details of your build would also be nice, the fact that the temp goes up when you plug holes or is changing at all suggest you don't have a thermostat and are trying to play the balancing act, IMO not worth the effort you are playing a penny wise dollar silly game...

You can get a digital thermostat from China for about $5 or use an $8 water heater thermostat, that is if you want to still be penny wise but not fall into being dollar silly...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vogue-50-11...ostat-Temperature-Control-Switch/360880759741

http://www.lowes.com/pd_362351-135-...ntURL=?Ntt=water+heater+thermostat&facetInfo=

FYI regardless of the negativity that many say about water heater thermostats for the price they work just fine based on my real word measurements, testing, logging and use in practice... Yes, they swing a little big more then others (that swing is an air temp swing and is not indicative of egg internal temps) at the end of the day using my liquid filled fake egg (4oz baby bottle) as a test medium and temp measurement point, I was able to maintain a darn near perfect 99.5° internal temp regardless of the air temp swings, I tested over a 3 week period to simulate a hatch the temp about 95% of the time in the fake water egg was 99-101° never exceeding 101°, but on occasion during times when I was candling eggs and left the incubator open for extended periods of time I did see a drop to 98° sometimes... I tested the temp every hour or so during waking hours, and for me that is about 20 hours a day so I'm confident in my results... Next year I will monitor the temps live on the computer sampling about every 10 minutes and graph it out so I have a complete picture...

 

[calicobuterfly]

Thanks for the advise, I meant that the humidity goes down when I add water instead of going up when I add water. I think I'll take your advise and go buy a incubator.

 

[only1bgirl]

Most likely just from opening incubator, takes awhile to stabilize after this. Air flow is good, so I wouldn't plug holes. Are you using a cooler/light bulb set up? Adding 100 degree water is good too! You really don't need high humidity during incubation, it's actually bad, only at lockdown.