How long does your bator take to heat up???

[Badbaby05]

I built my first one. Have never had a bator before and got it plugged in but it seems to be taking hours to get to temp. How long does this normally take?? I've had it plugged in since noon and it's now 4:30. Is that to long? Maybe I need a larger watt bulb. It's a forced air bator with a 40 watt bulb and a reptile hot rock in it. Got temp to 93 so far but 4 1/2 hrs seems so long to still have temp climbing.

 

[Emmalion]

Check it after 24 hours of running and see what the temp is then.

 

[smarsh2]

that seems too long to me too. it depends on how big your bator is. i made one that was about 3 square feet inside and a 60 watt heated it nicely. either you need more heat or you are losing too much heat.

 

[pascopol]

Quote:
My Brinsea ECO reaches 99.5 in about 10-15 min.

My homemade small cabinet bator about 1 - 1.5 hrs


Any bator should heat up in 3hrs or less. You need either more wattage or if your heatsink (rock)? is large it may still be absorbing heat.

I do not believe "stabilizing" a bator for days like some reccomend for their infamous LG's.

If I have to stabilize bator for days I throw it into trash pile.

 

[Badbaby05]

I'm going to go check it again and I believe put in a larger watt bulb. The "rock" is hot

I did check that earlier as I thought the same thing of robbing heat

 

[Badbaby05]

60 watt bulb did the trick

Now to deal with hot spots and setting the thermostat!