Incubator placement.

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I am trying out a fan forced incubator, I have a dozen duck eggs to put in. My last attempt was an abysmal failure with a little giant still air, on day 26 it spiked the temperature and killed about 15 eggs. I had it in a room with small
windows on the north side of my house, still, we heat with wood and the house is oriented south with a lot of glass (70’s passive solar deal). My basement stays a pretty constant 55-60 degrees F, would I be better off putting the incubator down there where it is colder with less temperature change? I am also thinking about the issues candling and opening to add water or whatever.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would opt for a closet in the upstairs where it is warmer. The closet will be more stable. I've been through the basement and top floor options many times. Both places with little giants and a variety of cabinets with much better thermostats and more robust heat elements.
In a cool space like our basements, it is necessary for the units to cycle much more frequently to maintain temperature.
In a heated space, even one that fluctuates with wood heat, it still beats someplace that is always cold.
If I had the chance. I'd use incubators in a small room with a thermostat and gas or wood heat that keeps the room at least 85F. The incubators would love that.
The two biggest problems with LGs are the obsolete barely functional thermostat and the undersized 40-watt heat element that constantly struggles to bring the uninsulated Styrofoam box to temperature. This struggle makes the thermostat go haywire.
A Sportsman cabinet has a 325 watt heat element.
My well insulated DIY combination incubator/hatcher cabinet had a combination of 3 different heat elements. one for the enclosed hatcher and two more for the incubator. Even in the basement it could come up to temperature in under 5 minutes.

What kind of incubator are you using?

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I would opt for a closet in the upstairs where it is warmer. The closet will be more stable. I've been through the basement and top floor options many times. Both places with little giants and a variety of cabinets with much better thermostats and more robust heat elements.
In a cool space like our basements, it is necessary for the units to cycle much more frequently to maintain temperature.
In a heated space, even one that fluctuates with wood heat, it still beats someplace that is always cold.
If I had the chance. I'd use incubators in a small room with a thermostat and gas or wood heat that keeps the room at least 85F. The incubators would love that.
The two biggest problems with LGs are the obsolete barely functional thermostat and the undersized 40-watt heat element that constantly struggles to bring the uninsulated Styrofoam box to temperature. This struggle makes the thermostat go haywire.
A Sportsman cabinet has a 325 watt heat element.
My well insulated DIY combination incubator/hatcher cabinet had a combination of 3 different heat elements. one for the enclosed hatcher and two more for the incubator. Even in the basement it could come up to temperature in under 5 minutes.

What kind of incubator are you using?

Thanks for the input, I don’t know what type it is yet, I wanted to buy a Brinsea but this time I am borrowing one from a friend who isn’t doing hatching eggs this year. IIRC was a Brinsea or the tractor supply knockoff. I believe I have seen it, but she didn’t say what it was when she offered it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Good luck.
There are two things you can do to vastly improve your hatch results.
Weigh rather than follow humidity and candle. You may still need to candle once or twice but not very often. Also, get another thermometer to verify the reading on the incubator. Those readings are often off enough to affect hatch rate.