- update-humidity at 29 cant get it up please help

[~*B*~]

i have a large bowl of water with a sponge in it.
temp is at 90 and steadilly rising.
i am using a cabinet incubator my hubby built.
it is a forced air (has a little 7" fan in it).
how do i get it up? i have searched and searched and
only seen add a sponge or wet washcloth. i have a sponge
in the water bowl.
my eggs will be arriving tomorrow and weds. i need to fix this
pronto.

we have added more ventalation hole.
on the sides and back. i have it up to 33 humidity and 100 temp.
i am getting so discouraged. i have 75 eggs waiting to go in and
more coming tomorrow. please help me.
would pictures help? i can post some.

 

[katrinag]

How long has the humidity been at 29? Is the fan by the bowl of water?

 

[~*B*~]

bowl of water is on the left heat source in the middle and fan on the right.
so fan is blowing across heat source to water. make sense?
i do nto have any other holes in the back other then the 2 up top for cords and such to go through.

forgot it has been a couple hours for the humidity and it is 29-30 during this time.
also there is condensation building up on the door (it has plexiglass panels) so i
know there is moisture in there.

 

[Kim_NC]

Well, you might double check your humidity gauge. Do you have another one you can add for a comparison? It seems if you have condensation, then you certainly have moisture. But, I'm not familiar with cabinet incubators - no idea if condensation is typical or not.

Usually condensation results on any glass surface when the air is carrying moisture and the temperature is significantly warmer on one side of the glass than the other.

If the gauge is accurate, then...

You will get more humidity from a larger surface area than a smaller surface. This is because the larger surface area will more readily evaporate the water to make moisture in the air. So for example - if we have a shallow 10" bowl or pie plate and a deeper 4" bowl which hold the exact same amount of water - the 10" surface will add humidity more quickly, because there is more surface area to release moisture.

OK, I re-read that....hope I phrased it well enough to make some sense.

 

[~*B*~]

ok i took the bowl out and put in a long take n toss foil cake pan on the top shelf
and another on the bottom shelf. my incubator is 2x2x4. i am thinking it may need 2 to get it up there. i also added a heat source to the bottom to help the temps go up. i will keep playing with it tonight and hope it improves. i have lots of eggs showing up in the next day or two. i am worried i wont get my incubator correct for them.

 

[~*B*~]

please see post 1 for update
sigh i need help.

 

[equus2]

What are you using to measure humidity? I agree, if you have condensation, you have humidity. You should get another hygrometer as a test, and replace the battery in the one you are using. Oh, I'm so frustrated for you!

 

[WalkingWolf]

Did you put warm water in the container or cold? If you used cold and are starting from a cold bator it will take a while. It takes minimal water to bring up humidity, it is the surface area, but deep water will cool itself also slowing the humidity. Add rocks to your container along with a sponge on top you will see your humidity rise. Also containers of water do better at the top of a bator than the bottom heat rises.

I have my water in the bottom and yes it is deep with no sponge but mine has a heating element in it to raise the temp of the water. It is very effective. I use it for a hatcher and once filled I do not need to open the door for 3 days. I could not find a heat element to fit so I built a DIY 25watt element.

 

[~*B*~]

the condesation is currently gone now.
i added a big sponge to each one
(removed the small one) and will wait and see.
i dont know what else to do.

 

[gabrielle1976]

The first thing you need to do is calabrate the humidity guage so you have a realistic view of what the actual humidity is, usually if there is condensation then the humidity is over 70 percent. but if you have a big cabnet bator you may need to check the top bottom and middle to see if there is less humidity in certian places.