Help needed on dyi cabinet incubator

[GodofPecking]

if you do need to rebuild it for some reason, consider starting with a broken fridge or freezer. They keep things stable throughout with only a little circulation required. They use much less energy to keep warm. They're a cabinet that is already built and most people consider you to be a godsend if you or some friend of yours takes away their broken fridge for them when they can't manage it themselves.

You can easily place a want ad, or check online auction sites.

also, a lazy way to do manual egg tilting is to suspend the fridge in a cradle so it can be rocked in one easy motion. That means there is a lot more room to put in far too many eggs.

 

[sara80]

I have done a mini freezer in the past didn't work like I wanted so this is my second attempt at a decent incubator. I still can't regulate the temp and it's driving me insane! The bulbs stay on longer than off witch I don't like so to me it's not holding temp at all. The fan ( if this is the same one) moves a lot of air.

I don't know where to go from here and if anyone has done a bator this large with success please please please direct me in the right direction!

 

[GodofPecking]

Use a smaller wattage globe, much smaller. Then it will require to stay on longer to get the job done, so it won't be such a problem. This is the fastest easiest fix for your situation. Next, post pictures and everyone can give further advice. Or a drawing, or picture of a drawing.

Fans are free, many modern fridges have one inside, and every discarded microwave has at least one. If you are building into an old fridge you can use the one that is already in it.

With fans, you do not need to go to great lengths to channel the air, you don't need to worry about leaks in or out of the duct and things like that. Sometimes people spend a lot of time trying to make airtight ducts, which are not necessary.

 

[sara80]

I have all this

in my cart..should I buy it?..

 

[GodofPecking]

I don't think so, the thermostats are ten times what I paid last time. More than ten times the price.

I paid $2.67 usd for this kind of item.



it's a temperature controller with probe.

The price of the heater I don't have an opinion on, but it is HUGE !!!!! REALLY !

I think you should consider putting the incubator in an old fridge and you can use one that is only about 40 watts maximum. You want to make chickens, not bills 8^)

 

[GodofPecking]

Chinese and Russian technology are the best, they are the only people who can travel into space. (plus they both have space stations)

 

[sara80]

I have my bator in my living room and prefer it to look nice. I still have my mini freezer incubator just don't use it..I have three heat bulbs in it now and it's working OK I just wanted it to look neater than it does now..a lot of people on here rave on the thermostat so I figured I'd get one.. This will be my "good incubator" so I want to make it the best that I'm able

 

[sara80]

Still trying to dial this thing in and getting more annoyed by the day..would anyone know what watage reptile heat bulbs I should be useing

 

[gpop1]

ive spent a few hours dialing in a hatcher that's a odd unproven design so I know it can be frustrating. You may be over thinking the problem like I said in my very first reply to much heat and to much fan can cause big problems.

Most people believe that air mix's easily but that's not true. When you walk in to a store in the middle of winter you can fell the heaters over the door but if you move just one step to the side you can fell the cooler air its almost like a invisible curtain with hot air one side and cool air the other. Now consider that the air in the incubator acts the same way. If its being forced at speed it will not mix but be like a hair dryer blasting in a straight line. Now consider that the hair dryer in on the highest heat setting and you will see that everything in the path of the air is hot and everything just to the side is cool.

I use heaters that I build so I have unlimited controllable power. The first thing I noticed is that the higher the power the larger the hot spots. Now lots of power is nice to have if you can control it but when you only have one controller then you only have two option which is on or off. You don't have the option of saying if the incubator is under 95 degree go nuclear but after 97 switch to a slow gentle heat so your only option is to use a gentle heat and wait for the temp to build.

Now lets look at the airflow. Most incubators use pc fans that may look big but compared to a duct fan they put out hardly any air. Now you have to think how are you going to slow the air flow from a tube of air moving at speed to a gentle breeze. The pictures are hard to see how stuff is mounted but with the duct fan I would have thought that either turning it around (no problem having the bulb on the suction side as you have plenty of power with that fan) or adding deflectors in front of the fan would be the easiest thing to test. If you have a/c maybe borrow a celling vent for 30 minutes and place that in front of the fan so the air is directed in all different directions might work. Most of the air you want to circulate rather than all of the air passing the heater (p.s if you go with a wire type heater then that's different from a bulb and you have to have a decent airflow past the wire or it will burn out or catch fire)

If you get to a point where you are close but there's still minor hot/cold spots then the easy fix is pc fans running of a power brick (that's the black box that plugs in with a cord to power games, routers, and a bunch of other junk most people have thrown in the spare room). A 12v pc fan running at 6 to 9v works great as it turns slower and blends the air together. Once you have a idea of what works and what doesn't then you can make it fit and look custom.

I wish I was closer and I could come and help as I can really appreciate what you are doing. I have incubators in the house and I want them to look like furniture so they blend in especially when they are not in use. (not sure they will ever get to the point where they are not being used but just in case)

 

[GodofPecking]

actually there are almost never heaters over the door in a supermarket. What you are feeling, and describing as a curtain IS ACTUALLY called an 'air curtain' and it's there to prevent thermo-siphoning of the heat, to stop it going through the doorway.