Incubator running to hot Incukit

[rainbowhatchery]

I just built my first homeade incubator out of a full sized fridge. I installed a 225 watt Incukit heater and thermostat. Its preset at 99.5% but the temp is running several degrees to hot in the fridge. The thermostat is accurate because I have 3 other thermometers in there to keep the temp consistent throughout but its running at around 102. There is plenty of circulation as I installed a 20in box fan in the fridge so I know circulation is not an issue. Also it seems a bit odd to me but I guess maybe its just because fridges are insulated so well. The thermostat on an Incukit shows how hard the heater is working to keep temp and its only running at around 6-7% to keep the temp at 102 degrees, that seems pretty low to me. When I looked at other threads most peoples were running at 50-60% power. Its an old fridge so maybe its just insulated better I dont know, I originally put a lightbulb in and just one 75 watt light bulb had it at 120degrees. Any suggestions on why it would be running a few degrees hot would be great.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Honestly? Just to cut to the chase, I believe your unit is perhaps over powering your cabinet. That may be simply more wattage than you can use, it seems to me. You'll find the folks at the Warehouse are pretty good in the customer service department. Have you talked to them yet?

I bought the 40 watt version as it is all my box needs. If you drove your box with a 75 watt light bulb during testing, that suggests to me that the 225 watt unit is over sized. Dunno.

 

[Fred's Hens]

In reading over on the site, they suggest using with a 200Watt light bulb for a compatibility test. Again, if you used a 75 watt and found it powerful enough, it suggests to my mind that 225 watts is simply too much.

You can adjust these units. You'll likely have to dial yours down and perhaps you've already tried that. I realize there is a gap between the 40watt incukit and the 225watt incukit. Probably would have been great had they offered a 75-100 watt unit. You'll probably find you're gonna have to dial your big unit down to a trickle. Of course, you COULD drill a couple healthy sized vent holes and that might cool things down as well.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Fred thanks for that because that was kind of what I was thinking. I figured maybe it was running as low as it could since its only running at like 6% of its power and that was still to much. I drilled 3 vent holes last night thinking the same thing but I think they could probably be bigger I just used a small drill. If that wasnt the problem I didnt want to go putting a fist sized hole in it lol. Just kind of amazed me though because the cabinet sized incubators like a sportsmen that are not even as big as my fridge run 225watt heating units, doesnt get much bigger than a full sized fridge. I guess its just insulated alot better than I thought. I sent the company an email and I tried to call they just were not open yet this morning but your telling me what I was already thinking so Im betting your right. I dont know how I could dial it down any more though its already running about as low as it can run. I converted the door cabinets into an empty space and have a huge 20in box fan inside the door to circulate air like crazy, I could probably put a couple good sized vent holes in the front door which would mean that big box fan would be pulling air in at a pretty good pace from the outside. What do you recommend vent wise for an incubator that size. Should it just be a few pencil diameter vent hole or a few holes the size of your thumb or ? I know the small incubator I used to use has vent holes about a pencil diameter so going this big in comparison a vent hold you could put your hand through might not be out of the question I guess.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I like to make the vent holes match something so I can plug some of them, should it be necessary. In smaller boxes, I make them about 5/16 or 3/8 because I have a bunch of those soft foam ear plugs for running machinery or a chain saw.

You can buy rubber tapered plugs at just about any good hardware store in sizes up to an inch.

I wouldn't hazard a guess as to what you'll need on the fridger-bator but ventilation is important and often overlooked as to the important roll it plays in good hatch rates. There are a number YouTube DIY incubators made from refrigerators so you might take a look at what some the folks have done for vent sizing.

You might also copy some of the manufactured incubators and approximate the cubic feet of your unit and compare your venting against one of similar cubic feet. See what you can find out about their vent size, location placement and number.

 

[Strader]

I had a 60 watt bulb in my cabinet incubator and two of the 100 watt heaters from incubator warehouse and this was way to warm. Could not get my temps to stay down. I removed the bulb above the rear fan and installed 60 watt LED bulb, which has almost no heat at all and the incubator is perfect now. My temps are always 99.5 to 99.8. cabinet is 17x25x33

 

[Strader]

here's a pic of the heating elements I used from incubator warehouse.

 

[Yiannisk]

If your incukit has the same menu philosophy as incukit 40,
try reducing the value of ctrl ofs and the value of osp slope
do it in steps of 5 and wait check and repeat, i had the opposite
problem with incukit 40 (too low temp) and fixed it by increasing them
in your case decrease them

 

[rainbowhatchery]

I did similar with an LED bulb. I had gone all the way down to a 25 watt bulb that provides light and then replaced it with a 13 watt LED bulb that gives off no heat. I will try making a couple much larger vent holes. I turned the upper freezer section into where my container of water is with a small fan in an opening blowing down into the fridge part. I think I will drill some pretty large vent holes up there maybe thumb size that I can plug if need be. With the heater running at 6% strength I dont think it will have any trouble keeping the temp up and maybe that will fix the issue as well as give me alot more ventilation.

 

[rainbowhatchery]

Customer service for Incukit was great and walked me through a setting change and it works amazing now.