Humidity ? on hova bator 1588 reading too high

[destin0709]

I set up my hova bator 1588 at around 3 this afternoon. I have been watching temp and humidity and temp has gone up to 99.1 and is staying there right now. My humidity is 70% and has dropped to 68%. I filled water in center troth where it said to, did I add to much water? How do I bring humidity down? I wanted to put eggs in on Thursday morning but I need humidity down.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

To lower the humidity, you must lower the SURFACE AREA of the water. Take a clean paper towel and blot out the water from one of the reservoirs. Then check in again in the morning. If it drops too low, add water back sparingly and check the humidity at regular intervals until you get it where you want it.

The Genesis 1588 controls the temp just fine on its own - but you have to really watch the humidity. And always be sure, when adding water, that you keep it as close to the 99 degrees as possible so that the overall temp in the incubator doesn't change.

 

[destin0709]

I will try that and see what happens. Thanks

 

[destin0709]

I went to take water out but before I did I had taken out the temp/humidity meter a little before and reset it. So before I took out the water I read it and it now says 99.3 and humidity is at 60%. So maybe it just needed reset? I'll check it again before going to bed and see what happens.

 

[Coopa Cabana]

For incubating the first 18 days, I try to run my Genesis at 55-60, and refill when it drops to 50 (which is about every day and a half). It's dry out here in Colorado - I have to keep water in all the reservoirs!

 

[destin0709]

This morning reading is 99.5 and 50% humidity. Going to put a little water in the smallest troth and see what happens.

 

[cmom]

Quote:
For an experiment to see how much the humidity increases you could add some water. The humidity will change once you put your eggs in. That is perfect where the incubator is right now. I incubate at 99.5 and 50% humidity and my hatches are very good. I just increase my humidity around 65% to 70% during lock down.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, that humidity can be a little touchy. With the reservoirs on the 1588, you can try filling different ones, one at a time to see what happens. I generally just go with the center one like they say and it works pretty well, but sometimes doing just that one I can get various readings, from low 40's to mid 50's.

As was mentioned, surface area is what counts, not depth of water in the reservoir. If you can't get it down ay other way, you can put aluminum foil or something similar over part of the reservoir to lower the surface area.

Something else to watch. It is hard to see how much water is in the reservoirs. If you overfill the reservoir and some runs into a neighboring reservoir, the surface area will go high for a while, until the excess dries up. If your humidities are jumping around, that might be a cause. I don't think you need to ask me how I know about that one.

 

[destin0709]

I added just a few tablespoons and so far staying at 99.5 and 55% humidity which is supposed to be good for the call ducks I hope to hatch. So hopefully I got it now. I was getting so frustrated. I even tried a sponge and it went up to 70% too. Could it be that the humidity in my house is reading 44% so I don't need alot of water?

 

[Coopa Cabana]

It will definitely be different for people in different climates (i.e. Florida vs Colorado vs Ohio Humidities), and it will also change seasonally (winter humidity is different than summer humidity).

And remember, once you add the eggs, it will change again.