question about foam cooler incubator

[dave27889]

I fixed athe above type incubator. I have tried a 25 watt bulb it was to hot. It was about 113 degrees with four holes in the top. The humidity was 39 percent. I now have a small 7.5 bulb in the unit and I closed all the holes and sealed them well. It now won't get warm enough. The temp is only 84 degrees and the humidy is around 43 percent but I spilled some of the water in the container.

I have seen other incubators like this one and they used the same walmart type cooler and their temp was just controled by holes and the light bulb. I have a wafer thermostat coming in the mail but was just wondering about the others. I am trying to sell some of these type incubators at the local farmers market. I am trying to make them as cheap as possible because people in this area don't have a lot of spare cash. I am also going to build some of the wooden type incubators. I have building plans for these and they are really nice. I am an electrician by trade and very good at mechanics also so I am sure they will sell. The wooden ones just cost so much more to make and I have to pass the cost along. I also help the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts and think it would be a great project for some of them.
I would appreciate any help I can get. Thanks to all, Dave in Washington, NC

 

[redhen]

well dave, i cant help ya..but i can give ya bump up on the page here..and someone will come along and help...good luck!

 

[speckledhen]

What are you using to measure humidity? Just make sure if it's the AcuRite with the probe that you are NOT using the probe to measure humidity. It doesn't. The entire unit has to be in there. Your thermometer may be off. I have a cooler bator (see my sig line for the link) and use a 60 watt bulb AND a night light so I can see when the bulb goes out. It works great.
I would not close up the air holes. You must have oxygen-these are living things and need to breathe.

 

[dave27889]

my cooler is the small foam type cooler. I have the same type temp and Humidity prob you are talking about. I got it at walmart also. I have holes in the bottom for fresh air to come in and one small hole at the top for air to go out. The other holes were for the extra heat to go out. I have read up a lot on how to make these type incubators. I even looked at all the temp probs and checked to see that I got one of the ones that all mesured the same temps. The store temp was running about 75 degrees and they had 15 of the gages. 8 of them were reading the same temps. I also made my own wiggler out of a ballon and stuck the prob into the pouch I made in the ballon. I was still getting high temps.
I guess tyhat mine is just a lot smaller than yours. I am thinking of putting two of the 7.5 watt bulbs in this cooler. Thanks for the comment.

 

[speckledhen]

I think yours has to be smaller. My cooler is a 48 qt cooler. The holes are usually for air flow and humidity control, not really heat control. Seems that your bulb may not be staying on long enough? Hope you get it worked out. These homemade bators need lots of tweaking.

 

[mrsengeseth]

how far away from the light is the thermometer? could you move one or the other further away?

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
If you are talking about the little 'bait box' coolers, I have one of those. I have tried putting just a 25 watt light bulb in there, same problem too hot. I have tired using a light dimmer switch, which works well, as long as the temperature of the room doesn't fluctuate much. The one thing I haven't tried is the water heater thermostat. I want to try and get mine working right, without having to use these. even the cheap ones are $8, and I too wanted to try to make some to sell.
I saw one on youtube that was made out of a bait box, with a 25 watt bulb, and they said it worked, but it is not as easy as it looks. Two 7.5 watt bulbs might do the trick, provided there is not much fluctuation in the room temp.
Maybe you could try adding more holes around the base of the cooler, to let even more air in? That might help. Otherwise, I don't know what to tell you. I have since started using mine as a hatcher/brooder, because the temps will stay even enough for the eggs to hatch after day 19-20, and of course the baby chicks can handle a little bit of temp. differences. Let me know if you figure out how to fix it. I have more or less decided to just get another LG to hatch in. Maybe when the bigger coolers are selling again, I'll try it again then... Good luck.

 

[dave27889]

I just tried letting in more air by putting twice as many small holes in the bottom. I don't think I made myself clear a while ago. I worked in the A/C and Heating business and was an electrician. I have about 25 years of doing this type stuff. Whenever you exchange cooler oustide air you bring it in through the bottom and it leaves out the top because hot air rises and cooler air would be drawn in from the bottom. I have my bulb hung from the lid of the cooler and I have the temp and humidity unit in the other bottom corner. I just think these bait coolers are too small. I have a wafer thermostat coming in the mail and I am going to rob some old waterheaters of their thermostats. The only thing wrong with waterheater thermostats is they are meant to be up against a steel tank even when you us a metal box to mount them you don't get the contact you would in against a waterheater. Waterheater thermostats also are not as temp sensitive as I hope the wafer thermostat will be.
I am not trying to be a know it all but I have worked with a lot of heating and cooling stuff. Thanks, Dave

 

[Bandana]

I dunno, but if you did use 2 of the 7.5 bulbs, maybe you could rig it so only one of them turns on and off to regulate temps. Might be a good way to keep temps fairly stable.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
The way some people on here have 'fixed' the water heater thermostats is to mount it onto an electrical socket (?) You know, the thing the electric plugs are put into. The metal boxes? I don't know what they are called, but people put that on the side of the bator, and mount the thermostat onto that.
You can also get a heat cable/rope for the heat source, I have heard those work real well. And I don't think it would be all that expensive since you plan on making a lot of them.
The reason I said to put the holes around the base is so there wouldn't be anything blocking them, unless you have your cooler sitting on a wire rack. Cooler bottoms are made to sit flat, so there probably isn't much air getting into it.
Or you could try to add a small PC fan to it, that may help. I got one off eBay for $4.