I need some help

beth wallbank · 02-25-04, 05:19 PM

I have a 15 cf freezer that has just been given to me and is like new, but am sick of having 8 little incubators all over the house. Is there anyone out there that could help me out in transforming the freezer into an incubator so I can rid myself of all these 40gallon incubators everywhere?
Thanks in advance.

crocdoc · 02-25-04, 06:44 PM

I am using a bar fridge as an incubator, so I imagine it will be similar. All I've done is fit light fittings onto the back wall (most people do this towards the bottom, below the lowest shelf, but I have them above and below), put in red light globes and have them run on a dimming thermostat. The thermostat probe and thermometer remote probe are both fixed to the centre of the back wall.

The light in the centre top is a 'long life' flourescent that fits into a standard globe fitting, for viewing the eggs

The thermostat and max/min temp probes are in the centre of the back wall (here's a shot with centre shelves removed)

a close up of the shelves

They are drilled pvc with small ramps to tilt the egg boxes in case there is any condensation on top. This hasn't been an issue, so probably not worth the bother. A lip at the front of the shelves prevents the egg boxes from sliding forward.

A word of warning, although I have a couple of clutches incubating in there, this is my first time using this incubator, but so far it has been working extremely well.

beth wallbank · 02-25-04, 09:50 PM

Wow,........That looks great. How is it for holding the humidity? I am always worried about that.

crocdoc · 02-25-04, 09:59 PM

the incubator is dry. The egg boxes are humid. I have no doubts that the incubator could hold humidity, for it is very well sealed, but I felt I'd have better control over humidity levels if I only had the egg boxes humid.

Senator Gracken · 02-25-04, 10:33 PM

umm a little off topic but if you decide to get rid of any of the other incubators let me know i'll probably take one off your hands.
Joseph Elliott

beth wallbank · 02-25-04, 11:08 PM

if I can get this freezer set up and working to par you are more than welcome to one.

Lisa · 02-26-04, 12:18 AM

If the freezer is like new and runs well i would make minimum modifications to the freezer so you can use it to hold feeders when you're not incubating.

I would do a similar set up as above how ever i wouldn't attach anything to the walls of the freezer. I would put remote heat sensors (with the cords) for each egg box and have a heat source and controller for each egg box, the freezer it's self would be just acting as an insulator from the outside world.

I plan to do this my self with a fridge, with temp displays on the outside. when not incubating i can turn around and use it to brumate snakes.

JDouglas · 02-26-04, 12:42 AM

Crocdoc,
Thats a very neat looking incubator. I would be worried that a bulb would burn out and temps would drop.

Beth,
If it it a tall fridge I would use 3 or 4 inch heat tape up and down the sides from top to bottom and use a wafer thermostat or a thermostat that has a corded probe. Also heat will rise to the top causing the top shelves to be warmer. A small fan could be installed to fix this. I would reccomend reading all of Stockwells posts and getting advice from him.

crocdoc · 02-26-04, 02:05 AM

JDouglas, that's why there are four bulbs. That fridge is so well insulated that three of those bulbs could burn out and it would still stay warm enough, and the chances of three (never mind four) bulbs all burning out at once are pretty slim indeed. The good thing about bulbs over heat tape is I can tell instantly if they are working properly.

The downside to installing a fan is that most produce their own heat, so they need to be attached to a thermostat as well. In my case, as I'm using a dimming thermostat, the fan would have to be on a separate on/off thermostat and would cause its own fluctuations so the precision of the dimming thermostat would be a waste.

There is a 1 degree difference between the top and bottom shelves of my incubator, both temps well within the range of the species I am incubating.

crocdoc · 02-26-04, 02:17 AM

oh, by the way, Lisa - I can't see there being many months when that incubator isn't going to be incubating eggs, so keeping it as a functional fridge for two months of the year wouldn't have done me much good. The eggs in there at the moment have around an 8 month incubation and the female multiclutches.