Need Help! Trying to mod my bator with a fan!!

[daisychick]

I am putting a pc fan in my still air hovabator! I have all the stuff and am ready. but need to know from those of you who have a 1588 genesis. Which way does the fan blow?? Does the air blow down onto the eggs? Or does it flow up toward the lid and then circulate around? my fan will be mounted on the lid but can blow up or down so am trying to copy the same flow that the genesis has.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I don't have a 1588, I have the other one. Can't for the life of me remember the number, 1582 maybe? Anyway, the fan should never blow directly on the eggs. The one in my hovabator blows up, the pc fan in my LG blows to the side.

 

[daisychick]

Is the one in your hovabator mounted on the lid? and then it blows up like toward the lid? if that makes any sense...

I am technically challenged

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, my hova looks just like the 1588, except I have the one with the wafer thermostat. And yes, it is mounted on the lid right in the middle. The one I added to my LG is mounted to one of the windows.

 

[daisychick]

Thank you sooooo much that helps a lot! I am gonna have my DH mount it right now!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Good luck. I haven't had much luck with my LG since I added the fan to it. Now the hova works like a dream, but it came with a fan in it. I think I'm going to take the fan out of my LG, I had better luck with it without the fan. Just be careful, cause if the fan is big it can make the temp of the incubator go up.

 

[daisychick]

this is a little fan and I am going to test it for sure. The worst that can happen is it doesn't work and I just unplug it and use it as a still air.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Just a tip, it will probably help, but don't rely on the bator as a 'forced air' until you have hatched one batch in it. I think that's where I've messed up. I put the fan in my LG, started running it around 99-100 degrees, and can't hatch a thing in there. I'm seriously thinking of just taking the fan back out of it. I'm sure the weather has some to do with it, but it shouldn't make that much of a difference.

ETA: If you run it at 100-101 for the first batch and they hatch early, then you know the fan is working and you need to lower the temps.

 

[daisychick]

Thanks! I will just have to wait and see how it works. It is really loud right now....

I am running it empty to see if it keeps temps stable. The fan was quiet until we hooked it to the bator....now it is like a little airplane.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Try putting a few baggies in it filled with water to help stabilize the temps. An empty bator has a lot of temp swings.