Incubator temp is still climbing. Why?

[Jungleexplorer]

Thanks for the encouragement. I really need some. I have always been poor but very responsible with money. I don't like to gamble. I don't mind investing money into something worth while, but when it goes badly, I get mad. As far as my incubator being one degree off, I don't know. I have lowered it to the lowest setting to try to keep it under 100. If I would have left at the factory default, (which was 99.5 according to the Cutler sale page) it might have gone up to 102 or 103. Every time it got up to 101, I adjusted it down a level if it stayed there for 24 hours. No telling how high it would have gone if I would have left it alone.

Anyway, I candled my eggs yesterday (day 7) and I could see blood veins on the ones I candled. I did not want to leave the incubator open long enough to candle 42 eggs so, I just did a dozen from different parts of the tray. I think on day 14 I will be able to candle them a lot faster, because at that point it will be a lot clearer if they are good or bad. I don't have enough experience to tell for certain at day 7, and since each egg cost me about $5, I would hate to throw a good one away.

 

[sparrker]

Please keep me/us updated. Fortunately when I start to incubate it will be from my chickens, so it won't cost me anything, But time which is worth plenty.I wish you luck

 

[adrian]

From someone who has used a 1588, an old one to boot, this is very strange to me. Mine is set to 3, was set to 4 when it arrived as well, and I have to say it is pretty solidly at around 99.3-99.6. Perhaps your thermostat is shot, but that seems a little strange because it is clearly able to maintain a temperature--just the wrong one for the setting. It may be the turner motor. However, my suggestion would be to reset it. I think they have instructions for resetting it anyway, as I think I have. Afterwards go to 2 or 3 and see what happens.

I get the feeling that it's not the turner motor, though. The lowest setting for me is something like 95 or lower. Even with a turning motor I can't imagine it being as hot as it is. In that case I'm not sure it would be the thermostat, but just the programming? Very hard to say, I would probably try to get it replaced if at all possible. Sorry that I'm not more help. I hope you figure things out. Like someone has said, though, 100.5 is not too bad.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Please keep me/us updated. Fortunately when I start to incubate it will be from my chickens, so it won't cost me anything, But time which is worth plenty.I wish you luck

I have about 12 days to go. I will report back on the results.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

From someone who has used a 1588, an old one to boot, this is very strange to me. Mine is set to 3, was set to 4 when it arrived as well, and I have to say it is pretty solidly at around 99.3-99.6. Perhaps your thermostat is shot, but that seems a little strange because it is clearly able to maintain a temperature--just the wrong one for the setting. It may be the turner motor. However, my suggestion would be to reset it. I think they have instructions for resetting it anyway, as I think I have. Afterwards go to 2 or 3 and see what happens.

I get the feeling that it's not the turner motor, though. The lowest setting for me is something like 95 or lower. Even with a turning motor I can't imagine it being as hot as it is. In that case I'm not sure it would be the thermostat, but just the programming? Very hard to say, I would probably try to get it replaced if at all possible. Sorry that I'm not more help. I hope you figure things out. Like someone has said, though, 100.5 is not too bad.

Yeah I am pretty sure it is the thermostat, because if it were the turner motor, lowering the thermostat would not have any effect. It has been set to switch #1 for the last 36 hours and it has stayed below 100. It has been between 99.5 and 99.8. It went down to 99.2 this morning for a little while after I had it open, but got back up to over 99.5 after a couple of hours. If it will just stay in this range for the rest the next 12 days, I will be happy. I will try to reset it after this hatch is over, but I will never use it to incubate eggs again. I might use it for lock down if I can get it to where I trust it again.

I have been studying on how to build my own and making a list of good quality rock solid components to put in it. I am even trying to design an automatic humidity control system, which is much harder then a temperature control system. If I get a good design and perfect it, I might consider making them for sale for some extra cash, because there is nothing for sale (that I can find) that looks quality made. Surly, I am not the only one looking for a serious quality home/hobby incubator. I may not be the world foremost expert at incubating eggs, but I am really good at building things out of wood and have all my cabinet making tools from my old company. Maybe this market needs a little competition.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

New development. I inadvertently may have stumbled on to something that may explain what has been going on with my 1588 incubator.

As I have said before, I am using room humidity to control the humidity in the incubator and am using the dry method, which calls for humidity around 30%. For some reason, my humidity started to fall below 30% and got down to 24%. I kept increasing the room humidity level to bring it back up but it would not come back up even though I got the room humidity as high as 65%. So I added a tablespoon full of water to the unit to bring it up. The humidity shot up to 60% and I had to lower the room humidity way down to bring down to where I wanted it. But an interesting thing happened when the humidity went up; the temperature went down!

Now my problem has been that my temperature keeps climbing above 100. But in the short time the humidity was up to 60%, the temp dropped to 99%. As the humidity began to drop, the temp began to rise. It is now at 36% humidity and 99.8 degrees.

I am not a physicist or anything, but could it be that what ever type of thermostat is in the 1588 is humidity sensitive? This would explain why I had no trouble with the temp during my first batch of eggs and was following the "wet" incubation rule of 45% humidity.

I know that there is a thing called the, Heat Index, that combines the temperature and humidity to come with how hot it actually feels to the human body in the same the way the, Wind Chill, factor combines wind, temp and humidity, to tell how cold it feels. But, I thought these things only applied to living beings that generate body heat to stay warm. I am just wondering whether or not the 1588 thermostat mechanism is similarly effect?

Does anyone out there know about such things, or am I just barking up an imaginary tree?

 

[HatchCraft]

The observed temperature drop is due to evaporative cooling. Increasing the humidity lowers the temperature. The thermostat may not be affected by the r/h , It may actually be the thermometer which is affected.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Update! Day 14 candling results. 9 eggs look good out of 46 eggs. The rest are mostly clear with a few that show signs of quitting early on. Do you hear that flushing sound? That's my $200 going down the drain!

What else can I do? I mean, come on! I have devoted thousands of dollars of equipment to this effort. I put this incubator in $6,000 cabin that has controlled temp and humidity. I have monitored every thing carefully with multiple thermometers and hygrometers. What else could I have done?

Here are some interesting finds though. My egg turner has 7 rows for 6 eggs. I had the whole turner full, but only five of the eggs in the middle row are looking good. I had 4 extra eggs that I set beside the turner on their side and have turned by hand three times a day. All four of the eggs I have hand turned are doing well. So what does that tell us?

 

[quintinp]

I have one bit of advice, and a little story from experience.

I don't think you need to fret about the temperature so much.

One thing I always tell people when they get an incubator and have heard wonderful stories about it as the incubator they're getting is supposed to hold 99.5 rock solid and is really not what they thought it was supposed to be is that the rock solid 99.5 temperature people say they are getting is usually from using a water wiggler of some sort.

I have a Brower model 846 incubator. It is one of the big round metal incubators. I added a fan to it, and still got temperature fluctuations of 97.7 to 102.4.

I just hatched 18 chicks out of 21 eggs in that same incubator.

As for the egg turner, mine is warm, but not HOT.

I don't believe that your egg turner is getting over worked from the amount of eggs, but I do recommend checking the egg turner to see if it has something restricting the movement of the rails from turning the eggs.

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Update. After many emails back and forth with G.Q.F (the manufacturer of the 1588), they have agreed to send me an updated replacement top. It appears from our conversation, that what has caused the temperature rise in my unit is that the 1588 is factory set to operate at humidity levels between 45 and 65% and that running it at lower humidity levels may cause the system to raise the heat levels. They did not come right out and say this, but they have made statements that could be understood this way. They have maintained that there is nothing wrong with my unit, but that I should only use the wet incubation system (with 55% humidity level) because that is what the system is designed to be use with. I have asked them multiple time if using the dry incubation system with humidity level around 35% could be cause the inexplicable temperature rise, but they simply respond that they do not recommend using dry system and that is why my hatches are failing, and that it is not the fault of their incubator. They maintain this even after I have pointed out to them clearly that I followed their directions on my first batch and only hatched 1 out of 24 eggs. It's like talking to a record.

Anyway they said they will send me a new top; so let's see if they will. At least they are responding to my emails, unlike Cutler Supply that never has. I did not even contact G.Q.F, they called me because they saw my post on this forum about the problems with their product. They evidently don't like people commenting on the problems they are having with G.Q.F products on the internet and have a team to watch for this. Now that's a company that is watching out for their company name! No wonder it is so hard to find any negative reviews about their products.