Large Incubator build - need help

[greathorse]

Sportees you have done the hard part. Building a great looking cabinet is very much a craft. I have built a couple of bators and hatchers and for the most part they work real well, they just are a little ugly.

If I were you I would spend a few dollars on wafer therms and good switches and I think your temps will stabilze. In my opinion you will not have great hatches with those large temp swings.

Stick with Gary (Geareduplyn) for the technical side of this. Wiring is not really very difficult after you get started, it will all sort of make sense as you go.

You sure did build a great looking cabinet

One other question. Does the shelf that the water tray is sitting on go all the way to the back panel? If it does you have no way for the air to circulate in your bator. The fan will draw from the small compartment behind it and from the vent hole when you put it in, but you will need an opportunity for air to flow from top to bottom within the incubator. I cant tell from your picture if that is the case or not.

good luck

 

[ozzie]

I've read in another forum that the best way to circulate heat in these cabinet type incubators is through a second skin on the walls ie the fan on top sucks the air in pass a heating element (above) - and then pushes the air through side channels along the wall and then out through holes on the bottom. See http://forum.backyardpoultry.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7965386&p=188834&hilit=smart+incubator#p188834

in the Smart Incubators. According to the owner of the Multiquip and the Smart incubator, he says that the Smart unit which utilizes the above technology to circulate the air is by far superior to the multiquip system.

I would agree though, your cabinets are works of art and if you do get the heating down pat, they'd be sought after items.

ozzie

 

[chookmadhubby]

Hi There
It appears that the airflow within the cabinet is not really good, the fan looks to be beefy enough to get the same heat from top to bottom ok buy something is wrong
the concern will be when you get to hatch stage and move the eggs to the bottom of the unit in the hatch trays.

Does the airflow in the unit look like the following image?

Regards
Trev

 

[jvls1942]

chookmadhubby, If you turned your arows around , you would have a sportman.. the warmer air would be blowing across the water pan rather than the cooled off air.

 

[SportTees]

O.k. I' really bad a MS Paint but here is what it looks like

From what everyone is saying I need to basically drill some holes in the shelve under the lrg fan?? An get a better Thermostat

 

[chookmadhubby]

Sportees
if you move the shelf that the water pan sits on towards the front of the machine it will open up a gap between the shelf and the back allowing the air to flow better.
Just drilling some holes wont be sufficient.

Have a look at my BYC page at my homemade unit to get and idea of how to flow air thru it.

Regards
Trev

 

[NateDomRIR]

Sportees,

I finally got my bator built and running good. I first started with a small fridge-o bator. I got it up and running good, went and bought the auto-turner and wouldn't you know it, it was a hair too long.

So I bought a piece of 3/4 plywood and designed mine like the GQF I had with Emus. The outside demensions are 2'Dx3'Hx18"W. I cut 4 1"holes in each corner on the back panel, right now i'm using packing tape to adjust the air flow in/out. Since I had the fridge's metal freezer rigged and wired up, I used it, I was in a pinch.

I bolted the water heater t-stat under the metal freezer compartment right between the two 100 watt light bulbs mounted on the sides of the bator. I cut the metal so the bulbs could be screwed in after I mounted the freezer compartment.

The t-stat acts quickly with it in between the lights.
I was having a problem with the temp being to low in the bottom too. So I wired up two more pc fans on 3" 8/32 bolts where they are up off the floor. I have the front one sucking air down and the back one blowing air up. Last night my high/low was 100.2/97.7.
I also put 3 Ragoo glass jars of water in the bottom.

Right now my top temp is 100.8, thermometer on door window reads 99.5 and the bottom temp is 100.2.

I mounted to pc fans on the back of the freezer compartment to blow over the t-stat and in between the light bulbs.

It seems to stabilize better everyday. I've been running it since last Thursday.

I figure I can put 5, 41 egg auto-turners in it.

I hope can help you in some way. I'm bald!

Nate

 

[NateDomRIR]

Oh and I use a 1# hamburger plastic container for the water and it sits on the shelf between and in front of the bulbs.

Nate

 

[NateDomRIR]

And the shelf sits about 6" from the back and front of the bator. Plenty of air space.

 

[SportTees]

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I was afraid of that

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Great thanks for the info Nate do you have any pics of your setup you could post??