Or, should I say WHAT ISN'T wrong?
I think ours is possessed.
Currently we have four incubators running with a total of about 200 eggs. We have remote thermometers in our incubators so we can track them in our kitchen. We are in the habit of checking the temps unconsciously every so often. Tonight as we were finishing our last cup of tea and are about to retire for the evening, we gave the thermometers a final glance as we leave the kitchen, and the stinking LG had jumped to 106 degrees. Just 15 minutes earlier we had checked them all and the temp was fine.
This happened on Day 19 of a 36 egg hatch. We panicked, cooled the eggs, and readjusted the LG.
This is our second, and last hatch in the LG. We have noticed, in the last two hatches, wild, sudden, and unexplainable temperature spikes and drops in the LG. At best, the LG simply does not regulate temperature well.
These incubators are the ones sold at most feed stores and pet shops. My dear husband, who has been studying this $50 box of pain, has come to the following conclusions:
1. The foam box is just too thin. It doesn't insulate well enough against ambient temperature changes.
2. The windows are too large. These form two huge thermal holes in the top of the box. This compounds the thermal stability problem, especially if you are trying still-air incubation. This second time we had installed and used a fan.
3. The range of the temperature control is too large. It goes from the high 70's to poached in a few degrees of rotation. The adjustment is too coarse. The smallest possible tweak jumps the temperature a couple of degrees.
4. The temperature control is too sloppy Just tapping the control lightly can cause the setting to significantly change.
5. Random spikes. The thing seems to suddenly decide to jump five or more degrees for no apparent reason.
We have an old Hovabator which my DH bought second hand from a pet shop. It had been used for years. We have used it hard and successfully for years, as well. It has been scrubbed in the bathtub with bleach. It has blown away while drying in the sun. Cats have clawed it. Kids have sat their books on it while in operation. The wafer thermostat is rock solid. We can set it and forget it. Our hatches in it have been wonderful.
This weekend, after we see if any of these eggs survived, my husband is going to perform a tear-down of the LG temperature regulator. Maybe then we'll understand why it is so unreliable. One good note, the heating element seems to be OK. Probably the only thing salvageable on it.
Did we get a "dud" LG? Or are they all this unreliable? I would never recommend an LG to anyone.
PnP
I think ours is possessed.
Currently we have four incubators running with a total of about 200 eggs. We have remote thermometers in our incubators so we can track them in our kitchen. We are in the habit of checking the temps unconsciously every so often. Tonight as we were finishing our last cup of tea and are about to retire for the evening, we gave the thermometers a final glance as we leave the kitchen, and the stinking LG had jumped to 106 degrees. Just 15 minutes earlier we had checked them all and the temp was fine.
This happened on Day 19 of a 36 egg hatch. We panicked, cooled the eggs, and readjusted the LG.
This is our second, and last hatch in the LG. We have noticed, in the last two hatches, wild, sudden, and unexplainable temperature spikes and drops in the LG. At best, the LG simply does not regulate temperature well.
These incubators are the ones sold at most feed stores and pet shops. My dear husband, who has been studying this $50 box of pain, has come to the following conclusions:
1. The foam box is just too thin. It doesn't insulate well enough against ambient temperature changes.
2. The windows are too large. These form two huge thermal holes in the top of the box. This compounds the thermal stability problem, especially if you are trying still-air incubation. This second time we had installed and used a fan.
3. The range of the temperature control is too large. It goes from the high 70's to poached in a few degrees of rotation. The adjustment is too coarse. The smallest possible tweak jumps the temperature a couple of degrees.
4. The temperature control is too sloppy Just tapping the control lightly can cause the setting to significantly change.
5. Random spikes. The thing seems to suddenly decide to jump five or more degrees for no apparent reason.
We have an old Hovabator which my DH bought second hand from a pet shop. It had been used for years. We have used it hard and successfully for years, as well. It has been scrubbed in the bathtub with bleach. It has blown away while drying in the sun. Cats have clawed it. Kids have sat their books on it while in operation. The wafer thermostat is rock solid. We can set it and forget it. Our hatches in it have been wonderful.
This weekend, after we see if any of these eggs survived, my husband is going to perform a tear-down of the LG temperature regulator. Maybe then we'll understand why it is so unreliable. One good note, the heating element seems to be OK. Probably the only thing salvageable on it.
Did we get a "dud" LG? Or are they all this unreliable? I would never recommend an LG to anyone.
PnP
