Incubator not working

[BugEyesThe_Chicken]

Hi,

I posted this in the incubating & hatching board but I'm starting to think that was the wrong place. Sorry. Well, to make this easier in my other post I said:

I was wondering if anyone could help me with this, I usually let the mother hen(s) hatch the eggs so I really don't know how to use an incubator. We got 14 I believe quail eggs earlier and the woman we got them from nicely let us use her incubator but didn't explain how to use it very well so I am quite flustered right now. Its on my desk right beside me with the eggs inside it and it's on and I followed what the woman said, put water on the bottom and all,(in the right place), but whenever I try to turn it down it shuts off! And whenever I turn it up it wont go down from 104! And even though I open the vents it still wont cool down to 100 or 98 at least, I would really like to at least have some hatchlings from this but this is just annoying me to much. The one I am using looks like this,

hope someone can help soon, don't want the pore little quail eggs to not survive the heat.

I hope someone can help, as stated a couple times in my other thread I really don't wanna lose all 14 eggs and its to late to take them out and wait until morning to get some help.

 

[mypicklebird]

Backing up a bit- in the future- don't put eggs you care about in the bator until you trust it, and have let it run for a bit and gotten the temps stable. Eggs are counter stable for days to a week or so. Don't rush in.

So after saying that- how are you measuring the temps and where is your thermometer. The photo looks like a still air type- which will have hot spots under the coil. Does it have a fan?

Can you call the lady? Has she used it successfully recently?

It takes 30min or longer (I usually wait a few hours) for the incubator to come to equilibrium after making a change in the temp control- are you waiting very long between fiddling with the control? Are you opening it to check the thermometer?

You want to make small changes and watch the temp for an hour or so before making another small change, make sure you trust the thermometer, and realize that in a still air incubator- it will be hotter right under the heat element.

Temps will fluctuate somewhat as the heating element goes on and off in response to whatever is controlling it. It sounds like you are turning it down, and it shuts off because the sensor knows it is too hot- it should cycle back on once the temps drops below to whatever you just set it to. You may just be making too many changes too fast.