Home made cabinet incubator

[stryker]

I reversed the fan (screwed it on so that it blows out of the duct) and the bottom now makes a better hatcher. I moved the water tray to the top.

A plastic silverware tray makes an exceptional humidity tray. The divided compartments allow for easy moisture control.

I was thinking about this and it makes since that it draws more fresh air in from the vents below as well. Of course I could be overthinking.

 

[BYC910]

I clicked on your link just so It would be on my page so I can come back and read all this later . now you know I'm going to ask questions just not now so be ready . I think It's so cool all the things you do anyway. do you ever sleep if you do it 's not much.

 

[WalnutHill]

I do sleep some. Usually enough. Like you, work keeps me busy then there is everything else to do after that. Lucky for me I can usually catch up on this thread while working.

I just got done making 6 pounds of Wisconsin style beer bratwurst, and finished the beer when I was done. Tomorrow Italian Sausage, then to start making bread dough for all the burger and sausage buns. This was the fastest batch ever, about an hour and a half from pulling the pork shoulder out of the fridge to putting the links back in the fridge.

Nothing like homegrown and homemade...

 

[WalnutHill]

I reversed the fan (screwed it on so that it blows out of the duct) and the bottom now makes a better hatcher. I moved the water tray to the top.

A plastic silverware tray makes an exceptional humidity tray. The divided compartments allow for easy moisture control.

After two weeks running in the fan-reversed mode, I put the fan back to its original configuration, pushing air to the bottom and allowing convection to heat the column of air.

The eggs that were in the incubator that should be going into lockdown today are about three days behind. None quit, and the thermometer on the tray showed proper temps, but something fishy was going on.

I have one more set of eggs to do this season, they will be going in next week. After that, I will tear down the cabinet and shorten it to three or four turning trays, add a top-level water tray, and replace the 175 watt heat element with a 75 watt. I'll then build a separate hatcher to hatch 40-60 turkey eggs.

 

[WVduckchick]

After two weeks running in the fan-reversed mode, I put the fan back to its original configuration, pushing air to the bottom and allowing convection to heat the column of air.

The eggs that were in the incubator that should be going into lockdown today are about three days behind. None quit, and the thermometer on the tray showed proper temps, but something fishy was going on.

I have one more set of eggs to do this season, they will be going in next week. After that, I will tear down the cabinet and shorten it to three or four turning trays, add a top-level water tray, and replace the 175 watt heat element with a 75 watt. I'll then build a separate hatcher to hatch 40-60 turkey eggs.

Oh my! Surely they won't quit now!

You think the reversed airflow affected them that much?

Here's the fridge that hubby removed parts from, to fix another (the smaller one beside it! so I get the bigger one!)
The compressor was bad on one, and the thermostat was bad on the other. But I think this will be a good start for an incubator. Now I'll have to go back to the beginning of the thread and figure out the process, but I'm excited to have something to use! I think the "freezer" compartment on top will be great for the fan housing, wiring and such. And the drawer on the bottom for water (probably put your silverware tray in it) Cutting a window in the door should be fun. Wonder if the shelves/pockets on the door would be useful to keep? Cut in a window without disturbing those, maybe.

 

[WalnutHill]

Oh my! Surely they won't quit now!

You think the reversed airflow affected them that much?

Here's the fridge that hubby removed parts from, to fix another (the smaller one beside it! so I get the bigger one!)
The compressor was bad on one, and the thermostat was bad on the other. But I think this will be a good start for an incubator. Now I'll have to go back to the beginning of the thread and figure out the process, but I'm excited to have something to use! I think the "freezer" compartment on top will be great for the fan housing, wiring and such. And the drawer on the bottom for water (probably put your silverware tray in it) Cutting a window in the door should be fun. Wonder if the shelves/pockets on the door would be useful to keep? Cut in a window without disturbing those, maybe.

Yes, the reverse airflow seems to have cooled the bottom of the eggs more than the tops were warmed. It doesn't seem logical, since I have the same volume of air and same input of heat and same reported temperature, but there was a distinct difference. Oddly, the eggs set five days later than the first are at approximately the same developmental stage. While this in itself could be a good thing when only a few hens are contributing, I think there may be too much risk involved in delayed hatching/slowed incubation.

I'd love to find a fridge like that. You could use one or more door tray for hatching sponges.

I found that the water pan in the top was more effective for raising humidity, and the silverware tray is great for controlling the available surface area.

I'd remove the freezer door and remove the coils and fit the space with a rack to support the water tray, shield the plastic with heatproof shielding and spacers to avoid fire risk and plastic off-gassing if using a point source of heat, or use Flex Watt down the entire back of the cabinet. SideWing just proved its performance, and I designed my hatcher a couple weeks ago using the same product after considerable research.

Don't oversize your heat source. Calculate the entire interior volume and run the numbers like this:


Air:

• W = ((SCFM x Delta T) / 3000) x 1200 This formula can be used for "standard air". (standard air is 70 degF @ 14 PSI) SCFM stands for standard cubic feet per minute and Delta T = exit temperature minus inlet temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

If your fridge's interior dimensions are 32" high x 22" deep x 23" wide, that's 16192 cubic inches. Divide that by 1728 (cubic inches in a cubic foot) and you get 9.4 cubic feet. Delta T is the temp differential, so calculate at your lowest ambient temperature. If you keep your incubator in a 60F basement, then calculate Delta T as 45 (105-60), if you keep it in an unheated shed in a northern winter and need to handle 0F, calculate Delta T as 105, if it's in your climate conditioned home at 70F, calculate Delta T as 35. Consider current and future placement conditions. We'll work with room temp for this example, so the formula is ((9.4 x 35)/3000) x 1200 = 131.6 watts. This level of power input will allow you to let all the warm air out of the incubator during candling, water filling, etc and bring the air back up to temperature in one minute after the door is closed. If you add cold water or eggs, that changes the heat load, but they will come up to temp.

As you can see from the formula, wattage requirements will change with altitude. A conversion from standard air would be necessary to modify the effective SCFM.

I personally think that slower heat ramps are kinder to eggs, so I am designing my hatcher with 50% of the one minute rate. It should take two minutes to bring the air up to temp, and longer to bring eggs and water up to temp.

Many incubators are, in my opinion, overheated. This results in fast cycling with bursts of heat and long durations of cool until the thermostat cools down enough to trigger another heat cycle. While the average may be the same, the eggs go through frequent warm/cool cycles, and if the heat source is direct, such as from a bulb or heating element, the surface of the eggs may heat to the point that the albumen degrades, leading to sticky chicks. I used a 175 watt element in an encased insulated air duct in my cabinet, so there is no heat point source.

Kind of technical, I know, but I hope it helps.

A panel heater like this might just do the trick if you can mount it to the inside upper surface: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cozy-Pro...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-202882716-_-202933438-_-N

 

[WVduckchick]

Yes, the reverse airflow seems to have cooled the bottom of the eggs more than the tops were warmed. It doesn't seem logical, since I have the same volume of air and same input of heat and same reported temperature, but there was a distinct difference. Oddly, the eggs set five days later than the first are at approximately the same developmental stage. While this in itself could be a good thing when only a few hens are contributing, I think there may be too much risk involved in delayed hatching/slowed incubation.

I'd love to find a fridge like that. You could use one or more door tray for hatching sponges.

I found that the water pan in the top was more effective for raising humidity, and the silverware tray is great for controlling the available surface area.

I'd remove the freezer door and remove the coils and fit the space with a rack to support the water tray, shield the plastic with heatproof shielding and spacers to avoid fire risk and plastic off-gassing if using a point source of heat, or use Flex Watt down the entire back of the cabinet. SideWing just proved its performance, and I designed my hatcher a couple weeks ago using the same product after considerable research.

Don't oversize your heat source. Calculate the entire interior volume and run the numbers like this:


Air:

• W = ((SCFM x Delta T) / 3000) x 1200 This formula can be used for "standard air". (standard air is 70 degF @ 14 PSI) SCFM stands for standard cubic feet per minute and Delta T = exit temperature minus inlet temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

If your fridge's interior dimensions are 32" high x 22" deep x 23" wide, that's 16192 cubic inches. Divide that by 1728 (cubic inches in a cubic foot) and you get 9.4 cubic feet. Delta T is the temp differential, so calculate at your lowest ambient temperature. If you keep your incubator in a 60F basement, then calculate Delta T as 45 (105-60), if you keep it in an unheated shed in a northern winter and need to handle 0F, calculate Delta T as 105, if it's in your climate conditioned home at 70F, calculate Delta T as 35. Consider current and future placement conditions. We'll work with room temp for this example, so the formula is ((9.4 x 35)/3000) x 1200 = 131.6 watts. This level of power input will allow you to let all the warm air out of the incubator during candling, water filling, etc and bring the air back up to temperature in one minute after the door is closed. If you add cold water or eggs, that changes the heat load, but they will come up to temp.

As you can see from the formula, wattage requirements will change with altitude. A conversion from standard air would be necessary to modify the effective SCFM.

I personally think that slower heat ramps are kinder to eggs, so I am designing my hatcher with 50% of the one minute rate. It should take two minutes to bring the air up to temp, and longer to bring eggs and water up to temp.

Many incubators are, in my opinion, overheated. This results in fast cycling with bursts of heat and long durations of cool until the thermostat cools down enough to trigger another heat cycle. While the average may be the same, the eggs go through frequent warm/cool cycles, and if the heat source is direct, such as from a bulb or heating element, the surface of the eggs may heat to the point that the albumen degrades, leading to sticky chicks. I used a 175 watt element in an encased insulated air duct in my cabinet, so there is no heat point source.

Kind of technical, I know, but I hope it helps.

A panel heater like this might just do the trick if you can mount it to the inside upper surface: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Cozy-Pro...PIPHorizontal1_rr-_-202882716-_-202933438-_-N

That's great information. Thank you so much. I'm getting excited to start on this thing, even though I don't plan to hatch any more this year. But who am I kidding? If we get it done, I'll hatch some more... then maybe I can sell some.

I used to be fairly technical, but I think the older I get, the less I retain. But I still understand formulas and such. And hubby having worked in heating and cooling for a bunch of years, he understands a lot about air flow, and size requirements and such. I've been the one wanting to build one, but after my last scare, and I actually bought some parts, thinking mine was going to quit on me mid-hatch, I think he actually started thinking about the process. He loves to tinker, so I think I have convinced him that we need to try to build one. If not just for the fun of it.

On a side note, I think you will like this... After fixing the other fridge yesterday, he spent some time playing with an old electric sewer eel, and is going to convert it into a firing range pulley retrieval system. It has a foot pedal to operate, and forward/reverse, so he thinks it would be easy to set shooting targets downrange, without having to walk! So yea, he likes to tinker.

As far as overheated incubators, I think that is why so many people have such early hatches, and have come to expect to see pips 2 or 3 days ahead of hatch day! I prefer not to rush mother nature. And you could be on to some real evidence of the sticky chick issues.

But thanks again for all the pointers. I'll document as we go, so hopefully I end up with something productive!

 

[stryker]

I'm getting excited to start on this thing, even though I don't plan to hatch any more this year. But who am I kidding? If we get it done, I'll hatch some more... then maybe I can sell some.

LOL, I built one that WalnutHill helped me with and I thought the same thing. Hatch one time and then call it quits...

July 9th will be my 3rd hatch. I am glad that the chicks goes like hotcakes... I will have to stop with this hatch this time.. I say go for it...

 

[WalnutHill]

I am putting the 19th set into my cabinet next week...298 eggs went in through the season...planning that one on being the last of the year unless I make some more chickens.

Oh and so you know it's not a typo, my Delta T calculation using 105F is my margin of error. I do want to be able to heat up the incubator no matter where I put it, even if I put it in a 40 degree garage when I designed it for 70F, or if the power goes out and I need to warm a full load when it comes back on.

 

[WVduckchick]

LOL, I built one that WalnutHill helped me with and I thought the same thing. Hatch one time and then call it quits...    July 9th will be my 3rd hatch. I am glad that the chicks goes like hotcakes... I will have to stop with this hatch this time.. I say go for it...

Haha that's great! Good luck with the hatch!