is 97 - 102 degree fluctuation ok?

[UncleTommy]

alright, I'm about to put my first batch of eggs into a brand new incubator i built. I have 2 25w bulbs with a water heater thermostat in between them and a pretty strong fan blowing in there. I just want to know if that fluctuation is ok, 97 degrees up to 102... I want to say it takes about 15 minutes to cycle...what do you guys think?

 

[Gypsy07]

Sounds good to me. With a 15 minute cycle, the internal temp of the eggs won't have time to heat up/cool down much, and will probably stay right in the middle of the two temps, which is 99.5, which is what you're aiming for. If you want to check this, get yourself a water wiggler toy and a thermometer with a proble. Stick the probe i the middle of the wiggler, to mimic taking the temp of the inside of an egg, and see what the fluctuations in there really are.

I have a homemade (not by me) styro bator that sounds a bit like yours, but without a fan. Air temp fluctuates between 96 and 105 but the internal egg temp only varies from 98.5 - 100. It doesn't get as good a hatch rate as my Brinsea, but when I'm low on bator space it does fine in an emergency.

 

[UncleTommy]

silly me, i need to go to bed, i didn't even think that air temp doesn;t matter as much as the temp of the eggs....duh. I had hear about a water wiggler before, but i didn't realize what it was. thanks ever so much!

 

[rebel yell]

If you will move the thermostat closer to the light it will not vary that much, about 1 to 1/2 inch away will work alot better for you.

 

[Bantam Chase]

I had a huge flux in mine until I put in some heat sinks... mine is a cooler, so I lined the bottom with Mtn Dew bottles filled with water (I used 100 degree water so the 'bator wouldn't have to heat that up, too). Now it holds a steady 99 degrees with or without the light. I cut apart a bird cage (didn't want to buy a roll of hardware cloth to use 2') and covered it with a shelf liner - you can't even tell. Directly under the bulbs I've put tall humidity pans with sponges sticking out... this way the chicks can't get too close to the 40 watt bulbs (even though I can keep my hands on them w/out being burnt) and my humidity is way up there for hatching.

Long story short - get some heat sinks in there and you won't have the temperature fluctuations.