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I tried this as well about a year ago. Some things that I learned, and may work on again. Your heat sorce burns humnidity when its on, so the faster you can cycle the heat on, up to temp and off, the less humidity you will burn up. You must have a controller that is dependable and is accurate. No water heater stat here. Tried that. Not fast enough or accurate enough. A lower wattage heater, that is on more gives less temp swing than a higher wattage heater that is hotter but heats faster. However a lower wattage heater that is on more burns more humidity. The humid air that you pump in , forces out drier air. Nice, as we need oxygen exchange . But pushing cold wet air in displaces warm dry air, causing the heat to run more. Get my drift. Had a revalation just now. Place the air pump in the bator, so it pushed warm dry air, through the stone, to pick up moisture, and back into the bator . You would still need vents open for air exhange, but would not be repalcing all the air in the bator. When I did this last year, to get the mosture up, I was using a pretty big pump and stone, which was doing about a complete air exchange in my small incy every 3 to 5 minutes. I had all kinds of problems. I have retro fited an old Montgomery Wards single tray redwood incy , with one of those 15.00 china controllers. Love it. I doubled my heat wattage, and this thing now heats like my sportsman. Heat on for 10 to 15 seconds, heat off for 45 to 55 seconds. Open bator to add water, ck eggs, what ever. Heat on for 15 to 20 seconds , heat off for 45 to 50 seconds. It holds temp well and has not varied in temp more than .2 degree for 15 days. I do have a small fan to move air , placed in the center blowing up on the lid. Temp does not vary anywhwere in the bator, completely stable. Now I may be able to do something with humidty. But I have a 8 in round clay dish on the floor of this with a sponge in it. I fill it with water and it lasts about 2 and 1/2 days. This holds a very consistant 32 percent humidity. So I am good with that. I move eggs to my sportsman hatcher to hatch. Good luck with your project. I will be watching. I have an old Des Moines 300 Egg redwood incy that is my next project. This one was heated with kerosene, 3 trays side by side. I plan to upgrade to electric, build egg roller system , kinda like the lyon roll x . set 1 tray each week and move my eggs to the hatcher. May need to implement a humidity controller in that one.
