LG temp low

[kupi99]

OK, so I had few good days, but now my LG is runnning a v. low temp again, 97.7. Been there for at least a couple of hours. Should I twist the knob and brave the spike? Should I just leave it and it will fix itself? This is not the first temp prob I've had with this hatch, so this isnt a "one time things, everything will be ok." I've venn trying not to "babysit the bator" this week, but this temp is pretty low.

Seriously, nothing is going to come out of these eggs...

 

[Goose and Fig]

I'd turn it up a tiny bit- if it gets too hot after 1/2 hour or so, open it up for a second to cool it down and turn it back down a pinch. I have had the same problem- just have to turn that little nob so slightly. The thermometer that came with mine doesn't seem too accurate either. I bought another one and it always reads low, while the LG one reads high. So far so good!

 

[Sugar Sand Farm]

I don't turn mine at all I cover it with a blanket or towels until the tmep comes back up. I find the LG's temp is really dependent on the temp outside so when its cooler in the house I cover it This is only my 3rd hatching but so far I have had very good results. With a 60% and 75% for the first two. Just a suggestion its what I do.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Good suggestion. These small units are easily influenced by ambient conditions. Even small changes in room conditions which you may not detect can affect them. This says nothing of the changes in atmospheric conditions which also affect them.

DO what has been mentioned to get the temp back up. Then put some flat stones, ceramic tile, water filled baggies or bottles inside to help hold heat and mitigate temperature swings.

Get some bubble wrap and duct tape and make a coozie cover for it. Mind the vents and just make a nice insulating jacket this way.

If you have a little used closet or cupboard, away from traffic and disturbance, that is a much better place for it than out on the counter top.

I set mine on a scrap piece of 1" insulating board to further isolate it.

Are you using a water weasel to measure temp? You should be.

Dont panic, but act speedily. Next time do all this well before you set eggs and let it run for a week with only some water filled 20 oz soda bottles in it. Once you have learned how to stabilize it - then set eggs in it.

 

[kupi99]

OK. I put blankets around the bottom, not the top. I had another group of people on here tell me that putting blankets around the bator was causing my porblems with temp and humidty. And sure enough, taking the blankets off helped the humidty hold stable, and help the temp hold stable too, until today.
Hopefully that will warm it, and not screw up the circulation / humidity. I apparantly have some very pourous eggs, so I'm doing what I can to keep the humidity up.

I did get it all stable and ready to go with a couple rocks and everything for about a week. I put the eggs in and that weekend we had some really bad storms. So I dont know what happened to the bator (I'm a teacher and the bator is at work) in storm, but since then, its been screwed up. Won't regulate, wont do anything. These last two days have been the best. Suffered from some awful temp spikes so far too, ranginging from 114 that first weekend with the storm to 101something. I'm really trying to avoid more of them. When I candled on day 10 (today is day 15) we had at least one good one, possibly two more good ones, and I dropped the one that definately good. I was surprised to see some alive when I candled, but I'm pretty worried about them not being to get out or deformities due to crazy temps.

So, we'll go back to the blanket, but on the bottom. I dont know how y'all do this, its starting to get frustratingly hard. Just hopinf for at least one chicky for my class at this point. Just one.

 

[gabrielle1976]

Never tweek an Lg for a slightly low temp , 9 times out of 10 you will end up with a spike later.
I make shure the room isnt drafty and then I cover half my LG with a blanket and wait and watch .
Sometimes it just got reaaly cold at night so it got a little low and by the time the sun comes out and warms things up it goes back on its own.
Adjusting LGs should be a only when you really have to thing then when you do you have to adjust so slightly you dont really feel the knob move.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
I'd think a classroom would be one of the worst ambient locations, just looking in at this situation. All the coming and going during the day, things get settled at night and - bammo! It happens all over again the next day.

Also, passing storm fronts wreak havoc with small bators, which are just open to the atmosphere, essentially. Any fluctations in the vapor (barometric) pressure and they follow suit. It can take days to settle that down. If your unit has electronic controls, its also possible that something got zapped, although I'd call that a remote chance.

Blankets around the bottom may block the vents, so watch that. The vents are one of the few regulators you have - if you block them then, ooops! another possible source of trouble. Better to make a form fitting cover that allows for the free flow of air around the vents.

You are right, it is more complex than first imagined, especially with these small, styro units. All things considered: barometer, room fluctuations, inquisitive children, ham fisted operators and all the sundry goof ups possible, well.. it is surprising we do well with these units at all. One must remain persistent.

I hope that lesson is one your students take away from all this, no matter how the hatch comes off.

 

[kupi99]

"Never tweek an Lg for a slightly low temp , 9 times out of 10 you will end up with a spike later."
Thanks, gabrielle1976. That's what I was afraid of.



Yes, the comings and going prob aren't helping much

.

The weather might have been another deciding factor in all this. When I got the bator all regulated and set before the hatch, the weather was nice and sunny and had been that way for a couple weeks. After that big rain storm, the weather turned rainy and wet. I'd be sunny for a day or so, then rain again (my kiddos have been out to recess like three times over the past two weeks or so). So that might have an influence, too.

All this makes me glad I have the bator in a cabinet, at least. Hopefully that's making things less worse than they could be.

I've also made several errors, despite my best efforts not too. Not blanketing it right when it needed it, not candling before I set the eggs, so I ran my humidity too low at first, opening up the bator all the time to fix my thermo that keep falling off the top of my eggs, not leaving the rocks I had in there in when I put the eggs in, dropping and most likely killing one, yea.

My kiddos are excited though. On day two several of them were claiming they saw a couple of them coming out. I had to assure them many times they just saw a shadow, b/c its not possible they were coming out. They seem to have gotten the idea by now

.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
It's all good. We've all been there- Lord knows how many I've killed before I learned what worked.
That is another lesson the kiddies can take from this, aside from the purely biological ones:

Sometimes, we fail. But that's no excuse to give up, or stop trying to improve.

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There are other improvements you can make for next time. They are easy and cheap and will substantially increase your chances of success.

To get this started, you want to answer these questions:

1. What is a water weasel, and how is it used in incubation?
2. What is a hygrometer and how is it used?
3. How are the vents best employed?
4. What is thermal buffering and what is it's importance in the incubator?
5. What is my ambient humidity and how much do I need to change it?
6. Am I still using the piece of junk thermometer that came with the incubator?!

These should get the dialogue going....

 

[kupi99]

OK, its it's doing it AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

I swear, I'm just going to shot myself right now. Those eggs are dead or deformed, how the hell do other teachers do it? I know other teachers use LG's, how come mine wont get stable! If I try and not block vents with a blaket, nothing happens it doesnt warm. Its raining again today, so the bators screwed up.

I've resorted to just cover the vent holes with the blanket, which will just screw up how its regualed, but those are gonners anway!!! AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

SHould I bother candling? I mean the bator showing 97.2 this morning, taking out them seems like a bad idea, since they're too cold as is. Maybe should I just candle and save myself the aggravation of having to come up on saturday to get a bunch dead eggs out of the turner.
OK, now its down to 96.9!!!!!

SSSSOOO Frustrated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's seriously threatening to storm, though right now. Should I just wait till the storms past to try and do anything? I swear after yesterday, and then this, with everything else, there's no use.