Home-made cabinet incubator temp question *HATCHING*

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I built this large incubator using a chest-of-drawers --- insulated inside w/ 2 LG elements and thermostats in the top and 2 fans in the bottom (about 4" from the bottom) blowing down.
When I ran it empty, temp came up to 99.5 degrees in about 4 hours and I dialed the thermostats back to 99.5. Temp from top to bottom, back, front, corners, all read a steady 99.5.
Today, I filled 2 of the 4 shelves (over 200 eggs) and plugged it back in. Room temp was (and is) 72. and incubator temp has come to 92. / 93.4. 93.4 has been as high as it will go before it drops back to 92.
It's been 13 hours now and I'm getting worried. I know that many eggs will take a while to come to temp, but how long is too long?
Thanks!

Lisa

 

[abritton77]

I think the elements are too small for a bator that big. I think that the lg elements are only like 25 watts. You really need a couple hundred watts of heating. Some people have a small light that stays on all of the time that is small enough so that it cant heat the bator alone and then heating elements of some kind that cycle with thermostat. That might work for you.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If it came up to 99.5 without eggs it will with them but.... The amount of air in the incubator has very little mass but took 4 hours to heat. The 200 eggs have a lot of mass so may take forever to heat with that small of wattage.

Go get your hair dryer an put it in there an cycle it by hand till you get it up to temp. Then maybe the heaters you have will maintain it. They should. You could also wire the hair dryer to a water heater thermostat then set it to come on at 97 degrees. It would heat the incubator up from a cold start an after a open door but the small heaters would do the constant work.

 

[lockedhearts]

HHMMMM , wondering now how to steal the extra chest of drawers we have, hubby wants to use it as tool storage in the shed....... Incubator seems a much better use

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Thanks SO much! I gave it til 7:00 this morning (24 hrs from 'plug in') and temperature only made it up to 95 degrees.
The whole back comes off with a couple of screws, so I took it off, cut a notch for a cord and put the blow dryer in (set on low/warm).
All it took was a few 10-second blasts to bring temp up to 99.5 and now it is holding steady.
I NEVER would have thought of that! All it needed was a little boost.
I have to come up with a more permanent solution. I think a light bulb in the bottom between the fans will do the trick.

Hahaha, steal it! Someone left this sad chest-of-drawers sitting by the dumpster. The drawers were out and wrecked, but the shell was intact. I *saw* a big incubator with hatcher on the top right there.

Anybody got links to making turners? Til I think of something else, I'll be tipping the whole shelves instead of turning.

Seriously, thanks again! As I sit here and watch, we're cycling from 99.3 to 99.7 --- perfect!

Lisa

 

[dretd]

Quote:
Holy cow, that a lot of eggs. You are going to be super busy in about 3 weeks!
Do you have a photo of the incubator? I m not able to mentally picture the shelf system you have set up and how you are tilting the shelves to turn. I love the idea of re-purposing stuff and think this idea is brilliant!

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Here's kinda how it is set up:

The racks aren't connected to the supports, so I *hope* just raising each side by 2" will be sufficient 'turning':

BUT, this is new to me, so I don't know.

Lisa (don't laugh, I'm incapable of drawing a straight line with my eyes open.)

 

[lockedhearts]

I plan on making a small cabinet bator, was going to design it to fit the styro bator turners and drill holes in side of it for cords, then use grommets to run cords through. Would it be possible to adapt it for those turners? Not sure how much width or depth you have, but the chest I was thinking of would be big enough to set 2 turners on each ""shelf" side by side. And before you ask, YES I already measured it while hubby was at work today

 

[jvls1942]

do you have access to a piece of pvc pipe or any round smooth log about 3 or 4 inches diameter? just place it near the center underneath the cabinet.. then just roll the cabinet back and forth to tilt it.. like a teeter totter (see saw)

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! It'll be a tight fit, but each rack/shelf will hold 2 LG turners.
I have one turner (well 3, but 2 are prone to 'hang up' and I won't use them) and it is in a LG and full of eggs.
New LG turners for all 4 shelves will only cost $332.00.
Haha, I'll be hand turning / tilting for a while.
Tilting the whole cabinet would work, until Day 18 eggs need to go to hatcher (the incubator and hatcher are one unit). Plus, my cats have decided the top is a swell place to nap.

Lisa