home made incubator question

[pbjmaker]

I have a 25 watt light bulb in my incubator at this point but it takes a long time to get to temp (maybe the fan is blowing to directly on it?) Anyway, I decided to try a 40 watt instead. The 40 wat bulb won't even come on - and neither will a 60 watt I tried. Why is this? The light-bulb is tied into a hot water heater thermostat.

 

[MissPrissy]

How have you got it wired? Show me a photo or draw it on paper.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

PBJ...I use a 60 watt. I found the 25 watt just didn't produce enough heat...stayed on most of the time and like you said..took too long to come back up when I turned the eggs. Make sure your bulbs are ok...I know that seems like a stupid thing to say...but one night I wracked my brain trying to figure out what was wrong with mine...FOUR bulbs were no good!

Here is a diagram that was on another post:

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[Guitartists]

Did you turn it off while switching out bulbs? Maybe the switch is in the off position or maybe the bulbs are just bad.

 

[pbjmaker]

bulbs are good, it is turned on, I wired it exactly according to your directions Miss P. I would think if it was wired wrong then the 25 watt wouldn't work either, but it comes on just fine.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Weird...any electricians have any ideas?

 

[rooster-red]

I use a 60 watt in mine and it works great.

 

[rooster-red]

Is it possible that you have a thermostat rated for 240 volts instead of 120 ?

 

[pbjmaker]

never thought of that... how do I tell? And that would let the smaller wattage bulb work but not the 40 or 60 watts?

 

[rooster-red]

Yes, you have current coming through it, but not enough to feed the higher wattage bulbs.

Some water heaters operate on 120v, some on 240v, so it would be easy to pickup the wrong one.

I would think it would be marked on the thermostat which voltage it is, but it might not be.

I'm not an electrician, just pretend to be when I have to here at home.