Temperature is unsteady in my new Incubator.

How many watts is that bulb? If it is too big then the temperature will just continue to spike because even when the bulb shuts off it will radiate heat.

 

try this...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=26580-thermostat-modification


put the thermostat on where it can get a breeze of the heat... also, put some spacers between it and the styrofoam walls... there's a little hole that needs to sense the temp... also the metal plate on the unit itself...

 

check what the others have said.

No doubt you can follow instructions with wiring. Why waste your time with styrofoam? As good as it appears you are: go ahead and do it right:

Either build one of wood or get a college-dorm type refrig and convert it.

 

Your Tstat is too far from the light, it needs to be about an inch or 2 from the light and the metal back should face the light. Just experiment on how close it needs to be before you mount it.

 

It seems to me with just one heat source you will have swings in temp. What I did was have one 40W bulb on all the time then one 25W that is controlled by the water heater thermostat, that way even when the thermostat clicks off the 40W is still on and it does not cool down rapidly. I would guess the 25W light comes on every 15 minuites for maybe 5-10, and my temps range from 99 to 102. From what I hear the commercial 'baters fluctuate a few degrees as well. ALso it did take about 2 days to dial in the temps, up to then it would cycle too low or too high, the sweet spot was hard to find.

 

When I built my last incubator last April I had this same problem.. I did not have a thermostat hooked up so I took a piece of cardboard and wrapped it in aluminum foil to fit the width of the bator.. I placed it about 1 inch away from the light and then hot glued it to stay in place.. this kept the direct heat off the eggs.. Make sure you leave a space of about 2 inches from the top of the bator so that you get good air flow from the fan to circulate the warm air...

I also agree with the previous poster.. Make sure your bulb is not too hot.. You can always get a bulb that is a little less and it might work a lot better.. Such as, if you are using a 40 watt, try a 25 watt....

Goddess

 

Quote:really...? i mounted mine on the farthest point from the bulbs... i would think that the air temp will cause it to turn off or on... kind of like how an aquarium heater works... it's working off of the ambient incubator temp, and not the temp of the bulbs... wouldn't this work better...?


gonna have to do some more research...

 

Its not the temperature of the bulb, the light is heating your thermostat up.

The best thing I think to do in this situation is get a dimmer switch and a smaller bulb to regulate the temperature, instead of a thermostat. Adjust the switch accordingly like in a commercial bator. You can pick up a dimmer at a home improvement store. And the fan should be in a symmetrical(Middle of the top, bottom, or side walls) position in the bator because it needs to circulate heat evenly. If its just in one section, one part may get no circulation at all, and the other may not be getting enough heat.