Need HELP on fridge incubator

[lnlfarms]

HELP

I built an incubator from a old fridge with ice box on the top. I have only converted the fridge part for incubation and hope to turn the freezer area into hatching area. I am having a terrible time getting temp and humidity regulated throughout the lower incubation unit. I currently have 2 100 watt bulbs on each side of the fridge with large computer CPU fans on the bottom and top. I put the water in the bottom of the unit and have the thermostat (green house thermostat) on the side toward the front. I have a power supply wired into the thermostat so whatever I plug into the supply will come on and off with temp. I currently have lights and fans on thermostat. I am unable to get a regulated temp throughout the whole unit. I can have a temp difference of 5 degrees based on where the thermometer is placed. Humidity has been a nightmare. I even added two more dishes closer to lights to try and get it up but still barely able to get over 50% with that. Also the door seal is not solid but it is still quite tight. What I mean is there are small 1/8” gaps in about 8 areas on the door seal but I do have a tight latch on it.
I am now convinced this is all configured wrong and need the advice of all the experts here (I am a slow learner). Below is a drawing of the fridge .
What I plan to change is

1. Put two lights on bottom (60 watt) and one on top (100 watt)
2. Put fans to blow across light on top and bottom. Bottom fan on right and top fan on left to try and get a good air circulation. I am just wanting to know if I need to make sure fan isn’t blowing on eggs or not?
3. Put in a wafer thermostat (was thinking of putting this in center by incubation tray)
4. Put in a egg turner on incubation tray
5. Maybe try and get better seal on door ( not sure this is a big issue tho?)
6. Put large water tray on bottom and top of fridge and maybe one in middle)

Lucky for me I had three banty chicks start sitting so I was able to have them hatch out the guinea eggs. ( note to self…bantys kick guinea chicks out of nest)

Anyways I guess my questions are

1. where do I need to put the heat source(s) (200 watts heated the area and it went on and off about every 10 minutes)
2. How do I get the humidity up?
3. Where is best location for thermostat?
4. how much air circulation
5. Do I need fans on when heat source is off

Thanks for reading my rambling here
Lewis

 

[Yiannisk]

I will say what i did ,
fan on top big one blows to the top
water tray to the bottom and fan small blows downwards
and yes fans are always on
heating elements (i do not use lamps but wire heaters) one on top and one smaller bottom
thermostat in the middle

 

[lnlfarms]

Thanks for the input.
How large of a fridge do you have?
What size is the "big" fan?

 

[Yiannisk]

I can not give you the exact dimensions because i used a fan i removed from an old microwave oven (the one that cools the magnetron)
But any fan from 15x15 cm and up to 18-20 will do fine or use 2 smaller 10x10 cm
the fridge was 110 H x42 W x 46D cm (i say was because i used it for a while and then sold it ) it was too big for my needs

 

[quintinp]

You probably need more airflow, your fans are barely moving any air. I used 2 (4" desk fans) They aren't plastic, and move the are much better than the computer fan.

For your sized incubator, maybe getting a large 8" fan for the bottom, and leaving the cpu fan in the top might do the trick.

 

[lnlfarms]

THANKS!!! I will get a bigger fan and move my heat sources....and use a better thermostat! Might be up and running after the weekend.

 

[Yiannisk]

I suggest you use one of this thermostats it is cheap and tested in my incubators it is very reliable you may need to recalibrate with a good thermometer (read the instructions how to do it )
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Off-110V...433?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc6ce28f9

 

[quintinp]

I recommend a wafer thermostat. They are very good at holding temperature. The only bad part about them, is that the wafer needs to be changed about every year. I don't like that about them, but wafers usually won't cost more than $10, and that's with shipping.

I haven't used a thermostat as good as a wafer thermostat, that didn't require yearly maintenance.

 

[lnlfarms]

Thanks Yiannisk. I did buy one of those BEFORE the wafer and after 2 weeks gave up on trying to get it to work so grabed my greenhouse thermostat and used it(bad idea). The instructions were VERY bad and not written in good english plus it had nothing on how to calibrate.I could never it neverget it working when I wired it. Maybe I wired wrong since I never had good instructions. Maybe you could give me some lesson on wiring the thermostat to the heating source because I sure never figured it out...lol. electric and ordered for USA 110. Would love to try it...if for no other reason but to have it hooked to a backup heat source incase wafer fails.

 

[lnlfarms]

What about getting the humidity up to were I need it. The lockdown should not be a issue because that is in a smaller area ( freezer compartment) but incubation area is giving me fits