homemade incubator- heating help

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raygirl4386

raygirl4386

Chirping
8 Years
Jan 18, 2012
222
7
91
Milford, New Hampshire USA
i am going to be making an incubatorfrom a cabinet that was given to us, but we have no use for it. i know peolpe use light bulbs and water termostats but my hubby (who does HVAC) says they can have a huge temp swing. he is thinking up ways on how to use a heater thermostat. i saw at walmart though personal heating things (desktop size) could i use one of those for the heat instead of a light bulb?
also looking for a supply list so i can look around my house and see what else i might have laying around
thank you in advance
 
IT heats the Whole Cabinet, The link is just for the heating element which is nothing more than porcelain insulators and a long wire spring. You will need a separate thermostat to control the heating element, any type of thermostat will work with it, I personally use http://www.ebay.com/itm/RANCO-ETC-1...525?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e68bf5cfd on both my Incubator and Hatcher and find that they hold the Temperature Very steady. I tried Wafer Thermostats, the GQF multi-turn digital thermostat and several others and for my application and environment the Ranco is the most stable
 
If the heater you're speaking of looks like this, you should be able to use it.



This type of heater has a fan in the back, and heating coils in the front.
In order to make this work for heating an incubator, you could wire a thermostat of your choice directly to the power cord, and that thermostat would shut on/off this heater to maintain heat. The problem you would face, is that even when the heating element isn't on, you need a fan to circulate the air. So in order to make up for the fan being off when the thermostat shut the whole heater off, you would have to get another fan. About 8" or so. I recommend getting a metal fan from maybe the dollar store, or wal-mart.

Although the method above would work fine, you could simply get inside this heater, and wire the thermostat directly to the heating element, and instead of the thermostat shutting the whole unit off, you could have a working fan, and the heating element would shut on/off like it needs to. And this wouldn't require you getting another fan either.

Without the thermostat shutting the whole unit off/on, the fan can stay on continuously.

If you do decide to use this heater for your incubator, MAKE SURE IT IS SECURED DOWN, AND CANNOT MOVE. If you use this, make sure that you remove the cover on the front. It is directly in front of the fan, and the heating element, and not only does it block air flow, it also causes a safety hazard, because these heaters weren't designed to be used for 21 days OR MORE at a time. I don't think there is anything wrong with this heater, I believe it will work great. I would make sure that the fan is on full blast when you use it though.

Also, if you do go into this incubator build 'head first,' I would like to help you in any way possible. If you need help, just message me. I will reply sooner or later.

By the way. I don't recommend using the water heater thermostat with this heating element. Actually I don't recommend using a water heater thermostat in a fridge, or cabinet incubator. They work very well in small incubators. I have a cooler incubator uses one, but I don't recommend using them in a fridge or cabinet incubator.

I would recommend using a wafer thermostat, or a Bi-metal thermostat.

I have used both of them, and I like both. The only thing I don't like, is that the wafer thermostat requires a new wafer about every 2 years, and the bi-metal thermostat can be used about forever. I have an old friend that has an antique roll-x incubator, from the 70's, and it has the original bi-metal thermostat in it to this day. And this incubator works great.

I would recommend the bi-metal thermostat, but the wafers have NEVER let me down. Wafer thermostats can be used for most all temperatures, but bi-metal thermostats can be only used in temperatures of 80-105. The wafer thermostats can be used to control various temperatures, but the bi-metal thermostat can only be used in a 80-105 degree environment.
 
You should put this into consideration. When the heater on and off, there is a difference in heat circulation. If this difference is too much, then it's not so good. I suggest using 2 different heating source. 1 for constant on and 1 to adjust the temperature. Temperature change is not bad, sudden change in temperature is bad.
 
There's no specific things you need for an incubator. The only important thing is the temperature. People have hatched chicks out of cardboard boxes.

For the heat ! Lamps actually do work, and I haven't known them to have "swings". For mine, I use a 75 watt Fluker's reptile lamp from Pet Smart for about 20-30 dollars. I keep it facing down, not directly on the eggs, and the heat spreads throughout the thing. I have a still air home made. You should just try different things and see what gives you the best results. Quintip helped me with mine, and now it's going great ...

Thanks Quintip !

Good luck !:) I hope you find what you need !
 
Quyen Le said:
You should put this into consideration. When the heater on and off, there is a difference in heat circulation. If this difference is too much, then it's not so good. I suggest using 2 different heating source. 1 for constant on and 1 to adjust the temperature. Temperature change is not bad, sudden change in temperature is bad.
Click to expand...

If there is enough air flow in the incubator, the heat will disperse evenly throughout the incubator. When the thermostat turns the heating element off, the fan will remain on, and will start to cool the thermostat. When the thermostat gets cool enough, it will turn the heating element back on.

If your thermostat is sensitive enough, you wont have to worry about temperature swings.

As for having another heater, is not needed. I can understand having another heater, but it isn't necessary.

If you were using a 75 watt light bulb, and it was wired to a bad thermostat that gave you 7 degree temperature fluctuations, you could add a small 10 watt light that remained on constantly, and that would minimize the temperature fluctuations.

You don't need a second heater if you are going to use this heater. I have seen the coils this baby has, and they are actually much bigger than the coils of the GQF incubators, and you shouldn't have a problem with them heating your incubator to the desired temperature you are wanting.

GOOD LUCK!
 
Last edited:

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