Temp stabling in home made bator

[jay1995]

I cant get my home made bator to hold at 99.0 - 101.0 F. I know thats the wrong temps should be between 99.5 - 100.0 F But it goes lower. it will hold at 97.0 - 98.0 F. I have turned it up and it reads 99.5 but then drops and does the same stuff again. It is a styrafome cooler with fan and hot water thermostat and 60 watt bulb. closed and seeld closed. But wont hold... Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

[perrym1962]

That why I prefer a wafer thermostat. Much more reliable, but that is just my opinion. And we all know what those are like.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

I would turn it down a teeny bit, but the range isn't too bad...as long as most of the time the temp equals out to be 99.5 then it's ok...
do you have a probe type thermometer you could put in a water wiggler? that shows you the temp the eggs actually stay at even though the air temp fluctuates...

 

[jay1995]

Quote:
No I am trying to earn some money from my parents to get one. I hope I can do it soon.

 

[Chickapooh23]

Adding a water bottle with warm water may help stablize it. You may want to check your location also. It may be to cool, try putting it in another spot and see what happens.

 

[ThreeBoysChicks]

I made two additional adjustments to mine. First, I remounted the fan so it was blowing on an angle out over the light to circulate air better. I have three thermostats and the farthest corner is 99 - 100 degrees and the closest to the heat source is 99 - 101. Second, (thanks to idea from gopherboy) I put two tall jars of water in the bator to help stabilize the temps when it is opened. Working great.

Also, when you make an adjustment, wait at least 30 minutes before you make any more adjustments. I find that it needs to stabalize. And when there are eggs in there, it seems to stabalize even faster.

Oh yeah, the orange thing behind the water heater thermo is a Nerf Dart. I wanted something to keep it out away from the wall. Ignore the MIN and MAX those are from when I used the thermo when i was testing my hatcher. That is working great now also.

In these photos, there are 31 eggs currently incubating.

 

[TheNewMrsEvans]

Great suggestion...I added the "heat sinks" aka jars of water to mine too!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Moving the heat source closer to the thermostat helps stability to.

 

[twigg]

Quote:
Be careful with this. If they are too close they can affect the proper working of the thermostat.

The object is to keep the average air temp throughout the incubator at the correct level. If there is a radiant heat source too close to the thermostat there will be a risk that it delays coming on.

The heatsink method does help stabilise the temp in an incubator with an underpowered heater .... but be careful how you use it.