large incubator heat source options - Page 2

Bristen · 01-06-05, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
Nothing it all. It will work. I've hatched eggs in incubators like that.

Its just not my first choice. But I have no beef with it, and I am certain that it will work for you. Heck, I've hatched eggs back in the old days with just a heat pad and not even a dimmer. But that was a LONG time ago..............

ok, thanks for the reply Jeff.. you're right too often, so when you have problems with something, I want to know lol!

Have a good one,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle · 01-06-05, 01:18 PM

Heh heh, still not my first choice though. Seems like a lot of unnecessary work with fans and heat levels and and etc etc... Its hard enough getting fertile eggs and getting babies started for sale after they hatch, why add more work to the process.

My incubatorS? Three. All the same. Picture this; a giant, rubber-lined (or plastic-lined) INSULATED wood box with top opening doors. 3 feet wide, 3 feet long, and 2.5 feet tall. Half-filled with water with a submersible aquarium heater calibrated to 90F. Then, plugged into a Helix, which is calibrated to 91F for safe measure. Rest the egg boxes above the water on bricks, piping, whatever. Close the lid, hatch the eggs.

I'll take pics when I'm setting the heat back up for 2005 eggs. Right now, they are acting as benches for about 30 Rubbermaids and I ain't moving those Rubbermaids to take pics now, LOL!

BoidKeeper · 01-06-05, 01:54 PM

My only problem Jeff is I don't want to build the box. I use the smaller versions of your incubator that are made from Styros but when it comes to building a large box and insulating it I would much rather convert a fridge because it's a ready made insulated box that all I have to do is heat.
Cheers,
Trevor

Vengeance · 01-06-05, 02:00 PM

Would those colmen coolers offer the insulation needed as well using the same water heated method? I saw a post a while back on here where a guy used pop bottles filled with water, seemed like a good idea. How much of the incubator do you fill with water?

BoidKeeper · 01-06-05, 02:43 PM

I think so. I've also seen a comerical incubator made out of an igloo cooler. You can see igloo right on the lid.
Cheers,
Trevor

Justcage · 01-08-05, 11:59 PM

I know the incubator your talking about.. They are outragous, even my dealer cost was absurd.. The "dry" fridge is my personal fav as I like to adjust the humidity in the tubs themselves rather than the whole unit.. Smaller tubs will be quicker to respond to the water added to them but on the flip side they will dry faster..Just my .02...

Jeff_Favelle · 01-09-05, 04:23 AM

Quote:

My only problem Jeff is I don't want to build the box. I use the smaller versions of your incubator that are made from Styros but when it comes to building a large box and insulating it I would much rather convert a fridge because it's a ready made insulated box that all I have to do is heat.

That's cool, to each their own. But I haven't found a fridge that was built with the exact dimensions of current Rubbermaid models in mind. Now have I found a fridge that can be dismantled in 10 minutes for transport. I like building stuff to suit MY needs. Not trying to change my needs to suit a device that would take me 2 hours to build myself.

But everyone is different, and no one is wrong here, not by a long shot. Do what works for YOU and everything else will be gravy!

lakeridgekennel · 01-09-05, 06:21 AM

I use a nesley top loading icecream fridge i got from a friend. I fill the bottem up with water and have 2 sub water heaters and have a fan built in i put a couple bricks in it and put a plastic shelf in it and it can hold tons of smaller rubbermaids in it. O have styro at the top to insulate it. it works good and i can keep in with in 0.5 of a degree.
Just my way

The Dom · 01-09-05, 09:15 AM

Brinsten ...

A o.5 different bettween each top and botom level is not thta much of a big deal but Its something I am trying to avoid.. thats why I would not build one vertical again ... but it works great..

As for the heat tape , mine is 11 inches wide too .. and I wired 5 feet incase and i could raise the temps over 100 with that easilly.

It will work .. but Jeff has a point .. its just more work ..

After building one I agree but I still like my incubator.

best of luck
Dom

Bristen · 01-23-05, 07:52 PM

Hi everybody,

the heat tape arrived a few days ago.. I started wiring it up tonight.. I decided to start with two 3' sections (a total of 6') of 11" heat tape, which means a total of 120W. Testing it now as I type this. I temporarily plugged the heat tape straight into the wall power outlet to see if it's enough to get the whole incubator up to the right temperature (it started at 72F and it's currently at 80F - using Helix DBS1000 just to monitor temperature for now).

Anyways, I have a question... is it ok if I lay heat tape on the bottom of the incubator two on top of each other? Will having two on top of each other make them get too hot or something?

I'll make sure to post pictures and results of the project once I'm done.

Thanks everyone!
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle · 01-23-05, 08:09 PM

I would think that having the heat tape spread out rather than one super hot spot would better suit your purposes. I would run it down the back if I was doing it that way.

Bristen · 01-23-05, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
I would think that having the heat tape spread out rather than one super hot spot would better suit your purposes. I would run it down the back if I was doing it that way.

Down the back? I can easily do that.. I was thinking having the heat tap on the bottom as much as possible.. if I put the tape on the back, won't the egg boxes that are close to the heat tape be warmer than the egg boxes that are not close to the heat tape?

Bristen · 01-23-05, 08:32 PM

The temperature has now reached 86F... I had tried the heat the box up with a 150W heat panel and it took a couple of hours to reach 90F.. looks like it's going to take at least the same amount with the heat tape.. I may end up adding another 3' strip of heat tape so that if I open the door or something it doesn't take too long to bring the temp back to the correct temp.. We'll see how it goes...

Later,
Bristen.

Jeff_Favelle · 01-23-05, 09:08 PM

Once the eggs, metal, rubber, containers, vermiculite, water, etc etc etc heat up to 90F, injecting it with 65F air (ie opening the door) isn't going to cool things off. It'll heat back up within minutes. The problem will be is if your probe is measuring AIR TEMPS, and if you open the door, the heat tape will kick back into high gear, even though the eggs are still 90F. That's when they can go up to 95F.

Bristen · 01-23-05, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeff_Favelle
Once the eggs, metal, rubber, containers, vermiculite, water, etc etc etc heat up to 90F, injecting it with 65F air (ie opening the door) isn't going to cool things off. It'll heat back up within minutes. The problem will be is if your probe is measuring AIR TEMPS, and if you open the door, the heat tape will kick back into high gear, even though the eggs are still 90F. That's when they can go up to 95F.

Right, that makes sense... the problem with the Helix, is that I was told that it has to "feel the heat" (from Jeff at Helix).. because if it does not, then it may "think" (software) that it's in a very large enclosure with a small heat source.. that means that it would compensate and bump the temperature up or something.. I didn't quite understand everything, but Jeff did say that the probe has to "feel" the heat when it pumps power to the heating element... for this reason, it has to mesure air temperature...

However, I think that if the thermostat did not have software "thinking" in the box, you could actually perhaps put the probe somewheres where it would mesure more the objects temperatures instead of air (for example, hide the probe behind, or under something with mass such as a heat sink or something)... just some thoughts going through my head...

Anyways, incubator now has reached 88F and it's been running for close to 4 hours now... it may reach 90F eventually, but since I have to go to bed soon, I'll hook up the Helix.. don't want to run the heat tape all night all full power and risk getting the house on fire.. especially that this was the first heat tape I manually wired LOL!!

Thanks for the reply Jeff, you're my only friend on here tonight it seems

Later,
Bristen.