My LG incubator still air is really crappy when it comes to adjusting temperature. It's really hard to know where the little knob should be when there's no little line to show where you're at. Is there any modifications I can make to my LG to make it work better?
I've seen people glue on a milk cap to the temp control thing. It makes fine tuning easier.. I'll try and find the thread I saw it on.
I use a pair of hemostats. I wonder if needle nose plyers would work too.
use a r zilla temperature controller to bypass. turn lg all the way up plug it into the zilla put the probe in the lg, adjust the zilla to 100 and your set no more temp spikes. the zilla cost about 20 to 30.
i went to home depot and purchased a cabinet knob. cleaned it up with a drill bit and glued it in place... But now that I've heard about this r zilla I am going to be looking into that myself
I agree with the other posts. They are all very good ideas. I have had several successful hatches in mine. I also turn it on the day before I set my eggs to let the incubator stabilize. I found when adjusting the temperature you have to be very careful and barely turn the temp control just a slight whisker then walk away for awhile and let it stabilize. I think most people adjust and adjust some more, but you have to walk away. The thermostat is super sensitive.The temp will fluctuate while the eggs are adjusting to the incubator temperature. Resist temptation to adjust the temp. After a few hours if you need to adjust it then do it but BARELY increase or decrease. The slightest movement of the thermostat can make a BIG difference in the temp. You can also adjust your temp and humidity to some extent by removing one or both of the plugs. I would fill the reservoirs in the bottom of the incubator too when you turn it on to let it stabilize. It takes hours for the eggs internal temp to come up. Just my opinion.
All good suggestions and one other suggestion that really made a difference for us was to install a fan kit available online as well as at eBay.
Also X-2 on barely turning the thermostat control to make any adjustment. We run ours for a day or two with water in trays to be sure all is well. Room temp also plays in big with the LG and big changes in room temps from night to day can really give you fits controlling temp. So use a room with a stable temp if possible....
We have also had good luck with ours hatch wise....
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I agree about the room temp. Some people I know put their incubators in a closet or a room they can close off from the rest of the house. I also don't use the AC. If I have the AC on the incubator goes into a room and the AC vent gets closed. (I live in Florida) I bought an LG with a fan for my first incubator with an egg turner as I wasn't sure if I was going to incubate more than once. (I know there are a lot of LG haters on BYC) but I have had many successful hatches. The price was right since I wasn't sure what I was getting into and I was pretty sure I could sell it and recoup most of my expense. Now I use a cabinet incubator to incubate the eggs but still use the LG and Hovabators as hatchers. I have two Hovabators one with a fan and one still air. I did put a fan in the still air incubator. If I have just a few egg then I use the LG or Hovabators to incubate in. I just set 42 eggs in the Hovabator that I installed the fan in as I haven't used it since I installed the fan.
I learned a great deal about hatching/incubating because it's not user friendly until you know how to use it.
The biggest lesson: set the temp and do not change it. See ChooksCHick's page on details. For minor 1-2 degree changes open or close the vents--do not turn the knob. Turning the knob seems to create bigger fluctuations than opening/closing a plug. I learned the hard way to follow the instructions provided by CHooksChick.
