How to use water heater thermostat?

[vegaschick]

lots of good info. i'm working with a wh stat right now but if i can't get the temp swing lessened where else do i look for a waffer stat? Las Vegas doesn't have much in the way of animal/farm supply and if i get something online the shipping takes forever cuz everything is sourced so far from me. hmmm. just wondering if IFA or someplace like that carries these waffers.


ETA: btw what is an acceptable temp swing? What temp is too high? too low? and does the other temps matter if the water wiggler is steady at 99.0 - 100.5?

 

[Penturner]

Mac, Thanks for the info on the Waffer, and the link. You make it all to easy

As for a back up In my final design I plan to have a back up anything. I know this group wodl tend to gather all the bad stories in one place sort of making it look like nearly every hatch failed in some way. But I do think that 21 days of continuous use is sort of beging to have some component give up. better safe than sorry. it iwll be a good way to use the excess components I will have anyway. I did add a 1 liter botle of water to the chamber as a load and plan to add another one as soon as I drink enough Pepsi. I let the bator run all night last night and it is staying right at 101.4 still air right now with an occasional hop up to 101.8. I have one of those digital thermometers that will track the high and low so I will let it run today while I am at work. humidity is holding very well at 41% to 44% with just a pill bottle for water. it took a bit of experimenting to get it under 50% and keep it there. the herdest part right now is finding 99.5 degrees with this stat. I will be adding two fans once I can find a 12 volt DC Wall Wart. I have several ideas on the air moving issues so the bator will probably go through several mods once I have all that up and running. everything from simply moving the fans to different positions, to making an air wall sort of like an air hockey table. I have about a year before I should even need an incubator. Might do a test hatch or two before then though since the eggs I plan on having are pretty valuable. Grey Jungle Fowl. Gotta go do the job that pays for all this now. Ugh Monday!!!

 

[Penturner]

Vegasgirl, you no be kidding on the lack of "Stuff" In Nevada. I am originally from Kansas where feed stores and Coop's seem to be more common than 7-11's. Then the ones they do have are mainly for Horses. Thank goodness for the internet. As for settling down that stat. drilling the holes went a long way toward that for me. It still does not set dead on any temp but I am hoping fans will help that some.

 

[Chickenfarmer 1-2-b]

I was thinking of modifying my wh stat until the last 2 days the temp has been holding at 99.3 without any fluctuation after I turned down the temp a little bit. Cant explain why it has been so constant, but I'm not complaining. I mount the stat along with the lights and the fan on the hardware cloth about 2 inches away from the wall. I find it best to adjust the temp in very small increment base on my light. For example, to turn it down, I wait for the light to turn on then right away barely adjust the stat until the light turns off. Also I try to add a small constant-on 8w bulb in there, but that causes more fluctuation.

 

[upthecreek]

Is electronic thermostat to costly for your incubator ?

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
That's up to you to decide... Personally, I don't think you gain that much for paying five times the cost of the wafer thermostat.

 

[Penturner]

Well I went and got a second WH Stat today. I drilled and carved this one out with my dremel tool. i took the first one apart and used it as a road map while carving. This one is running with a definite on and off rather than a non stop flicker. It ran up to abut 100 degrees then cooled back down to 98.6. So I just gave it a slight bump up and will let it run until tomorrow afternoon and see how it is doing. I let the first stat run all night last night and all day today then checked the high and low readings on my digital thermometer. it had a low reading of 98.6 but a high of 107. Not really certain about why such an out of sight high but I did move the whole thing to a completely different location. i am pretty sure I was getting way to much draft and heat for the house heater last night. plus I just didn't like how that stat was running. if this one does not start narrowing down the fluctuations then it is time to try out the waffer. One thing I am looking for is things that are reliable at least the majority of the time. there are always those exceptions but I am not looking for a design that requires you hold your mouth right to get it to work. one problem i am heading toward is that I am doing all this when I already know I will be placing the bulb, a heat sink and the fans in a completely different chamber. I am not sure if the stat will go in the egg chamber or in with the fans and bulb.

 

[upthecreek]

I was just wondering what you guys thought as you are much advanced in this than i , i'm not even to first base and you guys are hitting homeruns .
I would like to know if i made a bator would the electronic be less to worry about than wafer(i keep hearing of wafers going out) , the electronic unit on my GQF cabinet is right as rain for over 15 years ., set from the factory , it's absolutely amazing ~~~!!!!!!1


Quote:
That's up to you to decide... Personally, I don't think you gain that much for paying five times the cost of the wafer thermostat.

 

[Penturner]

I would actually have to see a waffer to be sure. But I am thinking that mechanically they are pretty much the same thing as the WH in that it is a disc of metal that flexes with temperature changes. TO much to explaine here but opening and closing slowly melts this sort of set up. The WH stat is encased in thick plastic. all this plastic tends to become the same temp as the air in the bator sort of giving a false reading to the metal disc. creating a lag that actually allows the air to swing in temp by about 10 degrees. What I am trying to do is eliminate as much of that plastic as I can but so far results are not what I want them to be. Keep in mind I have only been at this for 3 days and I do not consider anything I have found as meaning much. the system must run continuously without problems for 21 days. I have not been able to put 21 minutes together yet. it will come though. I am taking my time and learning as much as I can about what effects what and trying to understand why. so far not a lot of it makes clear sense.

 

[Penturner]

Oh by the way want a nearly non wear type of stat. go with a Mercury vial style. responce is hard to come by though as in it is slow in responding in changes to temperatures. But there is no wearing out of components with good ones. Bator would have to be set and kept at an exact place though tilting it even a touch would change the temp the stat is set at.