Home Built Incubator heating Question ??

[Zgoatlady]

Liamm_1
you need to drill holes in it. I have holes in the back of ours and than I have plastic plugs to put in them if I need too also I have holes at the bottom of the unit.
this was a kitchen cab, and my husband worked on it a little to make it. I have plastic windows so I can see from top to bottom .

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
please post pictures of your two units.
Thanks,
Joe

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
Hi,
The fan will keep the air more constant by mixing different layers of air in the cabinet.

Joe

 

[LC orps]

the best thermostat is a reptile thermostat from big apple pet supply. i made a bator out of a cooler and it holds 100 to the number i also used a fan from computer

 

[Cold Canadian]

Okay I think I have the right idea for heating now , but ! ..........there's always a but !!..... .Most incubators have the fans blowing over the heating element /coils and that is all good ............but from what i can see , they are creating a vortex with the air current , which is also good !...but ...when you open the door /hatch the air flow is moving in such a way that it will flow out of the incubator ? Now I realize that one is to leave the eggs alone except to candle them ( if one wants ) .What I want to try and do is make the vortex air flow in such a way that I can open the door and the air will as good as stay in the incubator ? weather this is all that important I'm not to sure of, except with a small incubator the temp drops enough that once I was done candleing there was a hugh drop in the temperture ?!Tried taking one egg out and closeing it , over and over till I was done ............just thinking there has to be a better way .........any thoughts..... suggestions ??

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
Hi,
Are you using a home built incubator? If so set up a switch that will turn the fan off when the door is open.
Joe

 

[gumbii]

Quote:
Hi,
Are you using a home built incubator? If so set up a switch that will turn the fan off when the door is open.
Joe

you...

























just blew my mind...


i have to make one of those switches now... nice stuff...

 

[muddstopper]

Quote:
You need to use a OHM meter to determine the lenght of the wire you need. While it is very true that you can use a dryer heating element, or even the wire element out of a electric space heater, hair dryer, toaster, etc, etc. The heating ability of those elements is determined by the lenght and diameter of the wire. Cutting the wire shorter will increase the heating capacity, not decrease the amount of heat they will make. The more resistance, (ohms) the wires measure, the less heat they will create, the less rsistance, the more heat. Cutting the wire to short can cause the wire to overheat, possibly burning intwo, can cause the powersupply wires to overheat as well, and will use more electricity than neccessary and not be very efficient. Simply cutting the wire to make it fit the space, isnt a very good method of sizing the wire. 60ohms of nichrome wire will give you approx 250watts of heat at 110volts, the longer the wire (higher the ohms), the less watts of heat. For comparison, a electric space heater element can produce 1500Watts of heat. Two elements from the same heater, connected in series, would only produce 750watts. Cut one of these same elements in half and you could produce 3000Watts of heat, provided you didnt blow a fuse first. (which you probably would)

Since you are going to a appliance repair place to get your heating elements, while there also get a couple of feet of heat resistant wire to connect to your element.

 

[aprophet]

Quote: