Looking for an incubator...

[sumi]

So I emailed a company that builds them. The smallest one on their site is a 108 egg monster. I'm looking for something small, 40 eggs max. Asked them, since they build them to order, if they can help me.
Got a reply from the company today: they sent me plans for building my own incubator

I love this country...
(Am not in the US, unfortunately)

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
there are many many manufactures. A smaller 'bator eh.. Have you considered a Brisnea or an LG?

 

[sumi]

I'd take anything that works! Got a friend to built me one even, but we can't find a suitable thermostat either...

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

Where are you, sumi?

 

[sumi]

A very small town in South Africa. Not an easy place to find things things like incubators and related equipment! And don't get me started on chickens.
I've been trying to get a small incubator since last year and thought I should get someone to just build me one, but now we're struggling to find a thermostat...
But I'm not giving up!! I need to expand our egg business, we sell free range eggs and the demand is twice the supply at the moment. Hatching my own chicks is the easiest and cheapest option.
Had to laugh when I got that email today... Maybe I should ask them where I can get a thermostat?

 

[nizar]

old oven, water heater , there are many kind of thermostat. I live in the small city too, in iraq , I had hard time to find such a one. I bought a bad type 1$, and good one 12$.

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

Can you get an electric water heater thermostat at a hardware store? I'm sure you know that's what most of us do, when we're building an incubator from scratch.

 

[sumi]

Geyser thermostat? I thought of that, but I've heard that they don't work well? Someone said I should get a jacuzzi thermostat, but they are hard to get hold of.
Can you tell me a bit more about the thermostats you are using, then I can speak to the hardware store owner and see what we can do?
Thanks

 

[Edwards' East of Eden]

It's a replacement thermostat for an electric water heater, like heats the water for your house. I don't know what a geyser thermostat is - what we call a water heater (or, a hot water heater) is a water tank, about 30-75 gallons, which is either gas or electric powered and keeps water at a constant 100-120*F for the hot water spigot, for bathing and washing. What do you call that contraption in South Africa?

The thermostat looks like this:

The details for that thermostat can be found here.

Also, look at this video on youtube:

That's Rush Lane, a member here on BYC, and he's drilling a few holes in the thermostat so that it gets better air circulation to the switch inside, and it cycles better. He has a lot of other videos on his channel, too, which may be helpful for you.

 

[sumi]

Thank you so much! I'm just checking in now quickly, but when I have a bit more time I will look at the video etc and talk to the guy who's build me one. He's an electrician. He understands these things

We call water heaters geysers here, though I heard in some places that term is used to refer to an older male
I'll let you know how it goes.