Mold growing in my homemade cabinet incubator

[Double S Ranch]

Hi, I am new to this forum and have searched the archieves about mold growing in an incubator and have not found a solution to the problem. So here is my question, I have mold growing on the bottom front door as well as the bottom of the incubator, I run 2 fans, top and bottom, and my RH is always around 60%, it seems that the mold is only growing where the fan does not hit the wall directly as I have no mold on the back or on the top, my incubator dimentions are 4'H X 18"W X 2'D made of 3/4 plywood, I run tap water which is very hard and high in calcium. Any advice! Thank you

 

[Psak9Sports]

I would def make sure you kill the mold before incubating, bleach25/water75 works great for this. If you can, reposition your fans so that they blow air over the effected area. Also, you can try to lower your humidty a tad bit, just by increasing external ventilation holes.

Justin

 

[Psak9Sports]

Also, If your plywood is not coated with anything, try to coat it with something that will stop it from absorbing the water (humidity).

 

[MissJenny]

Is your plywood sealed? If not, it needs to be painted with a mold inhibitor primer and paint. BEFORE you paint, spray all surfaces with a vinegar/ water solution. Half and half is fine, 25/75, whatever. Allow to air dry. Vinegar is really better against mold than bleach. Bleach becomes inert when it dries, vinegar remains active each time it is dampened by humidity.

Best of luck and Happy Hatching,
Jenny

 

[al6517]

Yes Disinfecting after every hatch is paramount, seems like you missed a spot.

AL

 

[Double S Ranch]

Thank you for the advice, I should have known better and sealed the plywood, unfortunatly I have 180 eggs in it now that are ready to hatch these next 2 weeks, I will transfer the eggs to my old incubator and fix this one.

thank you