Its FINALLY here!!---incubator temp issues on genesis

[Intheswamp]

adrian: The medical thermometers are indeed the ones that you use to measure a fever with. The digital ones do turn themselves off after a period of time to keep the batteries from discharging. They are really only used to check the accuracy of other themometers. I've wondered about making a hole in the side of a styrofoam incubator about egg-center high, then inserting the stem of a digital thermometer into the hole and slipping a water wiggler onto the tip. This would allow me to turn the thermometer on and off from outside and give a fairly accurate temperature reading.

You might think of using a medical thermometer that uses "spirits" or mecury. The problem with these is that they have a built-in restriction/constriction in them that holds the fluid at the level it raises to so that once it's taken out of the mouth (or wherever) it will hold the temperature reading. A liquid thermometer would need to be one that could readily raise and lower the fluid level...like a darkroom thermometer or whatever.

Theorectically you could take a bare thermometer stem, glue it to a piece of blank rigid plastic backing, and then place it and a medical thermometer in a cup and add warm water. Adjust the temperature of the water until the medical thermometer reads 99.5F and then mark on the plastic backing where the spirit level is on the thermometer stem. Use an industrial Shapie or something to mark with. You could even go further and mark off a degree or two either side of 99.5F.

k625: The fluctuation that you speak of is fine. My question is whether you have been able to compare the digital themometer with a medical one to be assured of it's accuracy. If you have a medical thermometer then you can sit a small cup (maybe a small medicine cup) of water in the incubator along with the digital thermometer and wait 3-4 hours for the water to get to incubator temperature. Once the time has elapsed look in and note the temperature of the digital unit and then stick the medical thermometer into the cup of water. Compare the two thermometers and figure how much (if any) the digital is off from the medical...whether you need to add or subtract a fraction of a degree or two when you read the digital.

NancyDz is right, some places really jack up the price on the thermometer/hygrometer units...beware.

Best wishes,
Ed

 

[adrian]

I went out today and bought an extremely accurate fever thermometer for about 19.99. On the back, it says temperature is guaranteed to be within 0.2F of the exact temperature. I was able to check the accuracy of my thermometers and one of them was actually... At the time... At least three degrees off. However, one of them was 0.1F less than the medical thermometer, so I'm going to trust that one. However, from time to time I'll check with the medical thermometer.

But it really ruins the accuracy when you have to remove the lid just to turn the thermometer on. What do you suggest I do about that?

If you poke a hole in the styrofoam, as well, how would you cover it up so as not to lose incubator temperature? Perhaps even taping it over would suffice?

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
That sounds like a very nice thermometer and should do the job of checking your digital thermometer/hygrometers. As for being able to use it to sporadically double check the temp inside the incubator you could simply put a water wiggler inside the incubator and when you want to use the medical thermometer simply open the incubator and slip the stem of the medical thermometer inside the wiggler. If you can't find a wiggler you could make one from a couple of ziplock bags. If I were to put a hole in my incubator I think I would be tempted to install the thermometer permanently.

Ed

 

[adrian]

I put a hole in the incubator at about egg height, and sticking the thermometer through the hole without the water wiggler (completely unfamiliar with the term) works very well for me. It's the tip that registers temperature, so that is the only part that needs to be inside the incubator. It's convenient for me to simply press the button when I pass by the incubator. Almost all the thermometers are off by at least 0.5F. This disappoints me, but at least I have a good thermometer, now.

 

[adrian]

Just wanted to update.
My accurate thermometer agrees with two other thermometers. They are thermometers designed for checking the temperature of cooking meat. One of them I use for checking the temperature of hand-feeding formula, and the other I just bought. It has a wire running from it, which enables me to have the sensor in the incubator and the readings outside of it. You can set it so that it alerts you when it reaches certain temperatures. I think this could be useful if you set it to a temperature that is unacceptably high, so that if it reached that, it would alert you. I have two other, identical thermometer / hydrometers that are intended for reptiles. They read more than a degree below the actual temp. I also have a thermometer / hydrometer that is intended for household use. It agrees with the two reptile thermometers sometimes, while other times it agrees with the three others. So I have three against three. Should I trust the thermometers that read the same as the fever thermometer? It is guaranteed within +/- 0.2F...

Am I insane for having six thermometers in my incubator?

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Well, the medical thermometer should be the most accurate one, thus the ones reading closest to it would be the more accurate ones of the others...use them. Remember, too, that you can always add or subtract the amount the others are off and get pretty close...the key point is the consistency with which they read.

Ed

 

[k625]

IntheSwamp--- I have now been to walmart, and I have all 3 of the same thermoeters that you have shown in your pictures on the previous post. All temps are rising, so It will take a few to see which seems to be more acurate. I hope my origional thermometer/hydrometer has been correct

If all is well, eggs are going in

 

[k625]

well...one says close to 98.8 one says 101 and the other says 101.5...ughh...

I thought theses little suckers were suppsed to be factor set for just right about 100....??

 

[adrian]

If you have a turner in there, it's going to increase the temperature, no doubt. That's just one reason of many that I don't use automatic turners. I've had great success hand rolling five times a day.

It seems like the thermometers that don't read the same temperature as the others simply have a problem recognizing the temperature in the incubator after it's dropped once. After every turning session, the other thermometers will go back to the "right temperature" soon after, but those ones won't.

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
k625, you have three thermometers there but which one is reading closest to the correct temperature? The only way to know is to compare them to a precision (in our world that would be a clinicla/medical) thermometer.

adrian, the turners do heat up but I think that if they were so hot as to raise the temperature above the thermostat's set point then the thermostat would never cycle on and turn the heating element on.

I'll repeat again that the digital thermometers (not the digital medical ones) have to be compared to a precise (medical) thermometer to know if they're giving a correct temperature reading. If the medical thermometer gives a reading of 100F and the regular thermometer reads 101.5F then you can pretty well be assured that the regular thermometer is reading 1.5F too high so when you look at it simply mentally deduct 1.5F to get a more accurate temperature reading...if it's reading lower then add the difference.

Ed