homemade incubator-need help

[nellynelly]

i am in the process of building an incubator, and am having issues.

first, the only thermo i could find has 5 or 6 screw ports (not 2 like most i have seen used). i think that it can be used for 110v or 220, and 10 or 20 amps. so i plugged in the light bulb into 110v and 10 amps. the light turns on, but not off. i have set the temp screw to the lowest (below the scale) setting, but nothing, the light ust stays on. any ideas on what i did wrong? in my mind, must not be so bad, because everything turns on. could it be a broken thermo unit?

i left it on for 2 hours, and it only reach 102. would it be worth installing a smaller light and just having it on 24/7? open the door if the temp gets high? the problem i see with this would be during the lockdown phase.

 

[victor miller]

most people use hot water heater thermastats and you have to put them about a inch and a half to two inches away from it ( the bulb) . you can find them on ebay or go to your hardware store and get one they are around 8 to 10 bucks.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

How nice and how big of an incubator your building would determine but there are very nice all in one units, thermostat, heat and fan for desktop size and larger 100W and even 225w cabinet units from incubators wharehouse:

http://incubatorwarehouse.com/48-watt-incukit-dc.html



Not knowing what kind of thermostat you have, in this write up there is wiring for a 8 screw (STC-1000):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/build-your-own-incubator-with-the-stc-1000

 

[nellynelly]

the thermostat is for a hotwater heater. it is a top heating element. any ideas about teh light not going off? could it be a wiring issue?

thanks

 

[nellynelly]

it is wired like the diagrams found on this site. the only difernce, i included a female plug to the thermo, and have the fan plugged into that (so the fan only runs when the light is on).