Homeade cabinet incubator temp fluctuation

[Brandysgirls]

Hi I just had someone make me a cabinet incubator out of a Sundrop cooler !! My problem is that I have been using the nurture right 360 and the temp never fluctuates EVER!!! With this one there are 2 computer fans sitting in the bottom ,a heat light at the top and a heat light at the bottom, both heat lights plug into a thermostat that u can set to 100 and it'll heat up to 100 then kick off and when it drops 2 degrees it'll kick back on again.He set it at 101 but my govee said it was heating up to over 102 so I turned the thermostat back down to 101..I'm really nervouse about the fluctuation of the temp because I thought it had to stay at the same temp all the time? Like I said I have only used the 360 and it stays the same tmep all the time..Anyone have the answer for me and if this is ok or normal for a cabinet incubator? I'll post pics of my govee readings this morning and the incubator! Thanks y'all!!! Happy hatching!!
The humidity is a little high but I think it's because I cleaned it with the water hose yesterday before we built it and there's a fan in the too and I think I may have gotten water in the old can so I'm still waiting for hunidty to drop!!

 

[Kiraeh]

That's gonna be a sweet incubator! I like the hardware mesh boxes, makes it easy to keep things organized.
What happens if you only put one light on the temp controller and leave the other on all the time? Would that give you a slower gradient?

 

[Brandysgirls]

That's gonna be a sweet incubator! I like the hardware mesh boxes, makes it easy to keep things organized.
What happens if you only put one light on the temp controller and leave the other on all the time? Would that give you a slower gradient?

Well I never thought about that...I'm new to incubating all together so I really don't know how these things workI should but I don't..I know how to work the nurture right lol! But u don't really have to do anything! And the guy that built it for me made those boxes to keep chicks safe and seperate for different types of eggs!! I love them! I'll try to leave on the one heat light and see how it does! And also I can't find a thermometer that is accurate do u know of what I would use for this?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

It says average temperature is 99.7 so that should be fine. Go to the aquarium section at Wal-Mart and pick up some cheap thermometers if you'd like to make sure there aren't hot or cool spots. Sweet setup! Hope it works!

 

[MGG]

You have to calibrate the thermometers. There's no way to be sure they're accurate otherwise. That's a really cool incubator. I have the NR too, it's great. I hope you get it figured out!

 

[Brandysgirls]

It says average temperature is 99.7 so that should be fine. Go to the aquarium section at Wal-Mart and pick up some cheap thermometers if you'd like to make sure there aren't hot or cool spots. Sweet setup! Hope it works!

Oh ok thank u so much!!! I couldn't figure out what type of thermometer to use I have bought about four different digital thermometer/ humidity readers and every one of them read completely different by some as much as five degrees and with this cabinet incubator the temperature is set at 100 so it kicks on if it gets below 98 and stays on until it gets a hundred then it kicks the heat lights off again and it'll cool back down to 98 degrees before it kicks on again but according to my govieethe temperature is heating up to 103 degrees not 100 so if the Govee is accurate then I'm going to cook the eggs...that's the reason I was trying to find any sort of thermometer that was sort of accurate!!!that way I can still use the Govee but if it's 2 degrees high I'll know it u know!!! Thanks for suggesting that thermometer!! That's the one I haven't got yet lol!

 

[Brandysgirls]

You have to calibrate the thermometers. There's no way to be sure they're accurate otherwise. That's a really cool incubator. I have the NR too, it's great. I hope you get it figured out!

How do I calibrate a digital thermometer? I can't exactly put it in boiling water or ice water?

 

[MGG]

How do I calibrate a digital thermometer? I can't exactly put it in boiling water or ice water?

Put it in a ziploc bag first. Here's something I wrote up for another thread.

Definitely calibrate. I put mine in sealed Ziploc bags, and submerge them in a tall cup mostly full of crushed ice and a bit of cold water. Not much water though. Give them at least 10 minutes, check, and if at 32 you can take them out. If not, leave them longer. 30 minutes at most. If they won't go down to 32 try the ice bath again. If it won't go to 32 I'd discontinue using it. Only use ones that go down to 32

 

[Ruby Rogue]

These ones are accurate. I looked at all of the ones on the rack...and bought a few that all read the same... you may have hot and cool spots as well. Hope the new thermometers clear it up for you.

 

[Brandysgirls]

Put it in a ziploc bag first. Here's something I wrote up for another thread.

Oh my gosh I feel really smartZiploc bad duh!!!! Thank u for that lol!!! I can't believe I never thought of that!