Help with DIY bator.....

[hillbillyway]

My hubby used an old small upright freezer to make me a bator. Worked wonderfully with one 55 watt incandescent bulb as heat source. Problem...cant find the old style bulbs anymore...tried newer 60 watt and just isnt cutting it...too cool. We are not electrical engineers but i would like to have and easy intstall temp control/heater of some source...found one on ebay but they said it would be too much as it was 125 watts...idk...please help with any ideas or product sources that might help. Thanks

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Is it not thermostatically controlled?
If you have a thermostat, a 125 watt element won't hurt.
If you have to have a bulb, try a halogen. They haven't been phased out and generate a lot of heat.

If you don't have a thermostat and you need an exact wattage, try a ptc heat element.

Here are two, one is 120 volt, the other is 12 volt.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/231657571633?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/321836187312?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The following temperature controller would work with the 125 watt metallic heat element.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-S...176074?hash=item1a0858a20a:g:qT0AAOSwhcJWMZy3

I much prefer a metallic heat element over a light bulb because constant cycling on and off will shorten the life of the lamp and it will fail at the worst possible time.

 

[MeepBeep]

Go to the dollar store or similar store, or look at 'appliance' or 'heavy duty' or 'specialty' bulbs at some hardware stores, incandescent can still be found rather easily as the law only outlawed those that were used for consumer general service illumination... MANY other uses for incandescent are still permitted in the US the most common exemption being used is the 'rough service' one, basically just some extra wording on the package stating the bulb is for rough service use, not general illumination...

If you want a thermostatically controlled one, $8 water heater thermostats work fairly well and are easy to get locally, they work fine for 110-120v as well... Should be good to over 2000 watts @ 110-120v... Forced air over the back of these thermostats really helps them regulate the temp better, as does drilling a few extra holes in the housing as found on an Ebay video somewhere... Just splice one wire to the bulb...

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbi...4452231334-c-8689.htm?tid=2321399033828729931

Or hit up ebay and get something like this, and get a cheap 12 volt wall wart to power it...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331577078605?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

The relay on the above is good to about 1200 watts @ 110-120V, all you need is a 12v wall wart to power it and splice one wire to the bulb...

I much prefer a metallic heat element over a light bulb because constant cycling on and off will shorten the life of the lamp and it will fail at the worst possible time.

To solve this you can simply run two bulbs in parallel, if one blows you still have a backup.. And I advise people that do go this route to use two different brand bulbs or install them at different times, because there is a risk that two identical bulbs installed at the same time could go out at nearly the same time...

Or as you said there are other types of heating elements, PTC is nice because they pose little to no fire risk...