incubator ideas! post your ideas for home made incubators, whether they work or not~

[WalnutHill]

I have a little giant 9300 and I had it in our room but them humidity kept jumping from 46-80% and I took almost all but a tiny bit in on row of water out and it was still like that. Also I calibrated the thermometer and it was 37° so it's 5 degrees off so I should set the temp at what?

For high humidity, increase ventilation.

For temperature, I am not sure exactly what you mean. If you have a still air 9300, the temperature on the top of the eggs right under the heater should be 38.3 to 38.9C (101F - 102F). Whatever setting it takes on the incubator to reach that temperature on the top of the eggs is the right setting.

But...be sure the probe is also right under the heater, at top of egg height or close. You can Gorilla Tape it to a golf ball if that is all you have. But that HAS to be in a consistent location.

 

[ducklove290]

When I calibrated my thermometer in the ice water it read 37.. it's suppose to be 32 so it is 5° off. So I was asking what I should set my temperature

 

[WalnutHill]

When I calibrated my thermometer in the ice water it read 37.. it's suppose to be 32 so it is 5° off. So I was asking what I should set my temperature

I personally wouldn't trust that thermometer for such a precise task. Do you have a thermometer in your medicine cabinet that you can use to check the actual temperature at the top of the egg?

 

[ducklove290]

I have lg 9300 still air. We had a old laptop so I took the fan out of it. I wired it and everything but now by question is where should I put the fan in the incubator?

 

[WalnutHill]

If you can tuck it in a corner and screen it off from hatchlings that may be okay, but the originals are mounted on the lid.

 

[silkielover5]

This is my incubator. Still working on it but im hoping to be able to put some eggs in it this weekend!

 

[BigRedRoo]

I'm thinking about turning an old dishwasher into a cabinet incubator. I'm thinking something on the line of a fan under a heating rod and cut the water piping and putting shelves in. What do you think should I attempt and let you know? Do you think its worth trying? Please let me know!.!.

I don't know if you tried this but I wold think it should be an easy conversion. especially if you can find a way to use the internal heating element!

 

[BigRedRoo]

Ok so Iv spent the last two days reading this whole post and now will ask a few questions in hopes that I can finish up my Mini fridge incubator:

1) Using light bulbs scare me after reading the horror stories so Ive taken apart a mini slow cooker. The heating element is a 120V 110W flex tape style element. I want to run this as my heat source as it gets REALLY hot really fast. I have a digital temp gun and I got readings of 220F in a minute. So how to mount this now is the question and is it better to wire this into a dimmer to regulate the heat and maybe try to set it at 99 and use a light bulb to take care of fluctuation or should I run the light bulb as stabilizing heat and run the heat strip at full tilt on a thermostat?

2) I was thinking the area at the bottom of the fridge is too small so I was thinking I would make a cut in the top corner of the shelf and a cut down both sides. Fold the steal flat on the bottom and the back Giving me a full 15". Any one ever tried that? I'm thinking area for thermal mass fans light bulb and thermostat. That would leave me the top portion for three egg turners and a hatchery.

3) I see everyone putting the heat source on the top. One of the genius of the world found out that hot air rises so why would you put the heat source on the top and not the bottom? With a fan drawing air down and a fan blowing across the heat source and the stat in the middle of the heat tape I would think this would be the most efficient.

Ill do a write up and pics when I'm done but if someone can answer these small hick ups Ill e back on my way.

As for an egg turner I'm going with the rotisserie turner. I have four trays I'm building and the eggs will lay on their sides and the eggs will roll front the back five times a day (that's how many settings I have on my timer). I will run the "meat skewer" down the center and use the meat prongs as my turning edge. This will push against the dowels and role them 3" each way for a total of a 6" role. this might not paint the best picture but I will post some pics as I get closer to the finish right now its all just a pile of pieces.

 

[JetCat]

with the fan blowing over the element it should dissipate the heat and not glow red hot.

my thoughts on the heating element at the top is it heats indirectly and allows the moving air to be what warms the incubator, just above the element (especially if you have inadequate air flow) will be a hot spot when it's on which could cook eggs if it were placed at the bottom.

 

[BigRedRoo]

Please do endulge me as to how you used the eating band from the slow cooker