question for all of you homemade incubator builders

[chicken truck]

I just built my first homemade incubator. No pics yet but It is made from a Large fish cooler. It seems that every watt of light source I use puts temp up around 106 degrees. I have tried in this order 40,25,15,13 watt bulbs. So I need a thermostat right. I thought a hot water heater thermostat would work but at the lowest setting it does not cut off until 106. my question is what type of themostats is everyone using? where do you purchases them? average cost.

I realy need to get this thing working. right! imagine me with 2 incubators....lol the wife is gonna LOVE IT!
Thanks for you help

 

[rhoda_bruce]

There is a man that has been helping me with my problem also and he gave me this connection with Sunny Creek Farms and Incubators in MN. You can check out my forum topic for the exact site.......I'm the one with the old hatchrite incubator. His site claims instructions, kits and such.

 

[Xero]

For my homemade incubator I purchased one dimmer switch from Lowe's for roughly $10 and a hot water heater thermostat for like $9-12 (pretty sure lowest it goes is 90 degrees F). After a week of tweaking I got it balanced out to where it mostly stayed in the ideal temp and the thermostat was more like a safety cut off switch. I got better constant temps this way than just using the thermostat alone.

 

[vkp23]

I used an old mini fridge to build my bator. What I did was I got two little under cabinet lights. one on top the other on the bottom. the one on the top has a high and low setting. I keep it on low. the one on the bottom I hooked up to an old aquarium heater thermostat. I watched my analog and dig thermometers and when it hit the right temps I turned the dial down on the thermostat til the bottom light went out. Now the bottom light will click on and off as needed. I had to use the analog thermometer because my dig is a piece of junk and is about 5-7 degrees off. I mostly use the digi for hydro purposes. But I have found this technique has worked great for me and it's doing it's job PERFECT.

Heres a pic or two.

 

[Xero]

Awesome setup VKP. Unfortunately, nobody I know has a dead mini fridge they are willing to part with.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

What does the hot water thermostat you have look like. Most are using them. Also how far is it from the light? If its right by the light it will kick of at a lower temp than if it is far from it.

 

[muddstopper]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=265597

 

[vkp23]

Quote:
Thank you! My husband helped me to build it. You can check craigslist and see if there are any for sell or free in your area.

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

In the first bator that I built I put in a computer fan for moving the air and ran it off a model train transformer so that I could control the speed. I also put the light on a dimmer and use a 40wt bulb. With that set up I can keep the temp within a degree at all times.

 

[chicken truck]

thanks to all. I kinda like the dimmer switch idea I havent thought of that.. The themostat i bought was just you standard hot water heater thermostat that ranges from 90-120 I believe. I have it placed about 6 inches from the light. think i'll try the dimmer switch A.S.A.P.