My new incubator

[mykee]

It's taken ages for me to post this pic, but better late than never. Below is my new incubator, built by none other than Retic (Phil). It measures 48x24x24. As you can see, it has sliding glass doors, with extra overlap to retain both heat and humidity, a Helix DBS-1000 recessed into to the front to control my heat, and a dimmer with LED for the fan, which will circulate the 100% relative humidity air. Unfortunately, this pic is the only one I have, and as you can see, it is not completed in this one, with the edging yet to be added. I can reach my incubation temps of 90 deg. within minutes, and maintain it indefinitely, with no hot spots. Humidity is also maintained at 100% indefinitely. Big thanks to Phil for building me a moisture-impervious incubator, that works as great as it looks.
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/1004incubator-med.jpg

[BoidKeeper]

Pretty sweet man! So with any luck you'll hatch some ghost in there right?
Cheers,
Trevor
PS
Jack took his first meal since he's been here. He wouldn't take anything but live.

[mykee]

Trevor, no worries, he started on live for me too, but was eating f/t when he went off-feed. And yes, my female burgundy ghost ovulated a week or so ago, and I'm also expecting some killer pastels and some 'top-secret' clutches.....

[BoidKeeper]

some secret clutches.....
I hate secrets! I'll be into pastels next year too. A buddy of mine bought an adult male and we're pairing it with all my females!
2006 will be a good ball year for me.
Cheers,
Trevor

[crocdoc]

what sort of fan do you use with a dimmer without destroying the fan?

[mykee]

The one I have. I'm not sure what it is, but man is it heavy for a small thing.

[retic]

the fan is a 110vlt. from radio shack turned upside down to blow the hot air around the incubator. glad to like it mykee, hope you have great success with it. Thanks Phil

[meow_mix450]

that is one of the best lookiing incubator ive seen

Meow

[mykee]

Amd it's mine, all mine muahhhaaahhhaaahhh!!!!!

[crocdoc]

retic, those radio shack fans can be controlled by a dimmer? Is it one of the computer sized fans?

[retic]

ya but computer fans are usually 12vlt tho, they will not work on a dimmer and will not last as long, its better to use 110vlt fan they are 14.99 each at radio shack, also they have way more air flow than a 12vlt. hope this helps you out, also when you use a dimmer on a fan its best to let it wind out all the way then back it off as desired usually around 3/4

[crocdoc]

hm... here's the story: I have a computer sized fan, but it's the sort you'd see in radio shack (called Tandy electronics, here) that's been rigged up for mains power (240v here). Probably similar to the ones you've described. When I've used it in my incubator in the past, it tended to heat up the incubator (it produced a bit of heat on its own) and needed to be linked up to a thermostat.


Here's the issue part of the story: I use a dimming thermostat on my incubator and have been told that I can't link a fan to the same thermostat for it needs to be set up with its own on/off thermostat.

[Stockwell]

You can't really dim AC induction fans which is what we're talking about with the radio shack type.
Disrupting the phase much more than 10 or 20% will cause them to stall.
You might slow it down a bit, but it will stall out quite easily and be suceptable to stopping after even short power failures.
It's better to simply get a fan of the correct CFM and run it continually across line. You'd want about 25 to 32 CFM for that cubic foot space
And why would you want 100% humidity in your incubator? Its unnessesary and simply rusts and corrodes all the components.
Eggs should be put in secondary containers with the appropriate moist egg media, or a bare container within a container of water if you're using the new non media approach.
Keeping the moisture where the eggs are and out of the temp controlled cabinet is really the way to go, and will prevent damage to the cabinet and the components within.
The eggs need to go in separate containers anyway, to prevent the babies from escaping, so it makes no sense to have high humidity throughout the enclosure.
The unit looks great.... very similar to the mine in fact. I have a closet full of them :)
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/1801incubaotrs04-med.jpg

[JDouglas]

Great post Stockwell! Thanks for the info!

[mykee]

Roy, that's exactly what I'll be doing. Though everything in the incubator has been sealed for water-resistance, I will stil be using individual rubbermaids inside the incubator for my substrate and eggs. Thanks for the advice.

[Stockwell]

good Stuff Mykee....looks like a nicely built unit

Just as a tip for other builders.
I use and recommend ball bearing AC fans manufactured by NMB. I like the 3.15 inch square jobs, as they are easy to fit in even small incubators and only cost 21 bucks. I've had some in service 24/7/365 for over a decade....these things perform!

You can buy these fans by phone with a credit card from Newark Inone Electronics.
www.newarkinone.ca
Part numbers
3115FS-12W-B10-A00 22 CFM(Cubic feet per minute air flow)
3115FS-12W-B20-A00 27 CFM
3115FS-12W-B30-A00 32 CFM

For the smallest Hovabator size incubators under 2 cubic feet use the small 22CFM unit, which is only 6watts.
For over 3 cubic feet use the 32 CFM.(8.5w)
Low wattage fans like these are essential to avoid overheating your space with the fan watts.
I will occasionally use two fans for bigger or longer incubators.

The dimensions of Mykee's is ideal. Long and deep incubators generally perform better than tall ones, because heat rises, and tall incubators are very difficult to keep stable even with fans.
This is why I prefer to have a stack of individual units rather than one big tall one. Tall incubators are very handy and practical for stuffing in closets, but they will have temperature gradients with it always being hotter at the top.

PS.
the containers seen in my above pic, are baby snakes, not eggs.
I frequently use my incubators as a nursery for raising hold backs during the winter.
Incubators make good infermeries for sickies, and also thaw out rodents pretty quickly too...:)
I never unplug mine, they run all year round and generally always have something in them

[Tim_Cranwill]

Great info, Roy! :)

I built a "wet " incubator this year and have now converted it to a "dry" one. It occured to me, "why keep both the incubator AND the egg box humid?" Too much hassle...

Let us know how it works out for you Mykee. It looks nice! :D

[retic]

the fan in mykees unit is a 120 VAC 60Hz ball bearing fan that produces 32ft cubed/minute @ 12 watts, also i seal all the electronics wiring in galvanized boxes and painted with rust proof paint, and a totally sealed unit so if he wants to run 100% humidity he can. my personal unit i have is done the same way only smaller and what i do is put 2 hot water rubbermaids on the bottom on each side of heat tape to create humidity, but unit can also run dry just keep the rubbermaids with eggs moist to create your humidity, but i always have fan on regardless just to circulate the air better in a circular motion around unit

[Capital Dragons]

I just finished my latest incubator last month and I love it. However the humidity seams way to high. I keep all my eggs in rubber maid containers and I use to control humidity levels with the media I use. I was using Hovabators before. My incubator now is 3ft tall by 3ft long and 2ft deep. All melamine. I’m using a Helix thermostat with four 60watt bulbs. No standing water.

The only thing I’m thinking of is that I don’t have any ventilation holes or vents. I assumed the door gaps would be enough for air exchange. However they are quite tight. If vents are needed where should they go. I’m thinking of putting on the top left and right side if they are necessary. I’ll try to get some pic’s soon. Thanks in advance…