Little giant varies too much

[Dan Oelke]

So we have a little giant incubator and are trying to get the temperature right before setting eggs. Unfortunately, we barely touch the thermostat adjustment and the temperature will jump or drop 10 degrees. It starts at 95, then we turn the thermostat just a *small* fraction of a turn warmer and then the termometer reads 105. Adjust it back down and it is at 93. Back up and we are at 110.

This incubator does have the fan so the heat in theory should be fairly even.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Is this a common problem for the Little Giant incubators?

 

[seminolewind]

Hi. Try to keep the bator in a temp stable room. I found my bator to be much more stable when I draped some bubblewrap over the window. Made things much better.

 

[silkymom1986]

We used a LG until recently we bought ourselves a R-com20 for Christmas, and unforunatley, we never could find a way to keep the temp steady on the LG, you pretty much have to babysit it the whole 21 days if you want a succesful hatch. Are you using a wiggler for temp? That was the only thing that helped us a little, I'm so glad we don't have to babysit anymore!! Good luck with your hatch though!

We did hatch several out of it, just alot more work.

 

[yinepu]

Sounds like you may need to modify the temperature knob.. check out this thread.. it has hints and tips on how to make the LG bator work and play nice (including pics of the modified temperature knobs
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/601352/little-giant-incubator-tricks

 

[Arielle]

LG needs a long time between temp changes which is why its so very important to have the temp set well in advance of the eggs being set. I like Chookschicks advice; don't mess with the knob once it's within reason of 99.5. Rather use the 2 vents to fine tune the temperature. Once I start turning the knob, the temps fluctuate a lot. Very frustrating. But I should have followed the LG rules. LOL

 

[lswatson111304]

yeah mine is doing the same thing. It is hard to stabilize the temps when our weather goes from 70 to 30. I don't have central a/c and heat so the temps in the house fluctuate with which rooms I turn the heater on in. Its a big mess.

 

[yinepu]

yeah mine is doing the same thing. It is hard to stabilize the temps when our weather goes from 70 to 30. I don't have central a/c and heat so the temps in the house fluctuate with which rooms I turn the heater on in. Its a big mess.

I can't even use a LG during the summer.. even with it turned off the temp shoots way up

I did use it for hatching some quail eggs for New Years.. seemed to work ok since we had the heat on
Mostly though I think of the LG as being a dust collector

 

[silkymom1986]

yeah mine is doing the same thing. It is hard to stabilize the temps when our weather goes from 70 to 30. I don't have central a/c and heat so the temps in the house fluctuate with which rooms I turn the heater on in. Its a big mess.

I had the same problem, I found it helped some by putting the LG in a closet if you have one with room in it and keeping the door closed, it helped stabalize it a little with the temp in my house fluncuating so frequently.

 

[ncmtngal]

HowdySilkymom1986,

How do you like the R-Com 20? I'm torn between that one and the Brinsea 20 Advanced.

Thanks,
Kerri in NC

 

[silkymom1986]

HowdySilkymom1986,

How do you like the R-Com 20? I'm torn between that one and the Brinsea 20 Advanced.

Thanks,
Kerri in NC

So far I absolutely love it!!!! Just set it and forget it, lol

No babysitting, the temp and humidity have not gone up or down once. I am on day 11 of my first hatch with it so hoping for a good hatch rate,

I'll try to remember and let you know how the results are. I was torn between the R-com and Brinsea too, hubby talked me into the R-com, so we shall see.