Help needed on dyi cabinet incubator

sara80

In the Brooder
Dec 29, 2015
21
0
22
Nh
Need help on these beast I've created. I've been a lurker here for a long time and I was inspired to build a cabinet incubator. The dimensions are 21" wide 37" tall and 24 1/2 " deep. It is made out of 3/4" ply with a 4" false back. I'm using a zilla thermo with a heat bulb. I scrounge up a good sized fan but not sure what it puts out for air. Enough I'm sure. I have two vent holes in the back one at top and one down bottom. I'm having a hard time getting to to stabilise. And clue as to what I may be doing wrong here? Any help would be great!
700
 
loss the heat bulb and try to find a standard bulb that's close to what is required to maintain 100 degrees F. To much heat, To much fan and UV light will cause all sorts of problems in stabilizing the temperature.
 
sorry I haven't got back to you. At a guess I would have gone with the 100 watt to start. Up to about 90 degrees you will probably see a few degrees different between different zones. As you get closer to 95 the zones should read about the same.
Now you have to take into account that most temperature probes and sensors as programmed to lie as that makes them look more stable. If you put a probe in hot water the probe registered that with in a seconds but the display is designed to rise slowly so it looks stable. That means all the different types of probes you have may read odd for at least 5 minutes.

As you get closer to 99.5 if everything is good then the temperature should be rising slowly and the gauges should be real close to each other. As you only have one fan you may start to notice certain areas that have hot or cold spots. Hot spots tend to be directly in the path of the air being blown by the fan and cold spots tend to be in areas where there is little to no airflow. With a little experimenting you should be able to redirect the air of the fan if need be. Worst case you will need a small computer fan running slowly as a air mixer to remove hot or cold spots.

The incubator looks good it just sounds like it needs a minor tune up and it will be good to start incubating some eggs.
 
I put in a 100w and a 60w this am I'll check in later to give an update

welcome to BYC!! I use two 90 watt in mine, also that lower intake you have, try adjusting it a bit smaller with tape and make the hole smaller by taking off 4 inches on each side and leaving the flow open in the middle....

if you read my cooler cabinet, I had this issue until I got everything adjustest correctly, and I had put in a bottom shelf and kept adjusting that as well until I had the perfect temps all around

see here towards the bottom first post CABINET COOLERBATOR
 
Thanks for the tips! Well the 100w and 60w was not enough. Didn't make it past 95 so I took out the 60w and put another 100. I just put in a piece of cardboard down the bottom to see if that will help. I built this with my hubby a week ago and we already have about $200 into it! I would hate for it to be a failure and have him say " I told ya so"
 
And also where is the best spot for my therm? I have it right now up on the top shelf with the fan and bulbs.
 
And also where is the best spot for my therm? I have it right now up on the top shelf with the fan and bulbs.

the lights? the idea is to have the fan run right over the bulb. what type of thermostat is in that? your wafer may be in the wrong place. If I dont answer you right away just pop on the thread we hang in, a bunch of us made our own, sometimes I only hang out there and dont catch other posts enough because the thread is so full I dont get around too much.

INCUBATING w/FRIENDS! come hatch, learn, Chat, Meet new Friends!



LL
 
adding, on that coolerbater thread, I think I even have pics of exact placement of the bulbs and such. this cooler is probably bigger inside that yours, what light did you switch to? and you only have one bulb or two?
picture.php


If you didn't install a double, I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU do two lights in one of these!!
THEY DO BLOW, and they blow your hatch could easily be lost!



 

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