Custom mini fridge incubator (pix)

Hello, I am making this incubator out of an old mini fridge. would you all please take a look, tell me what you think, and make some suggestions. I am planning on using a Johnson controls a419 thermostat.

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture070.jpg

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture064.jpg The fan is from a microwave that I salvaged and wired up.

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture066.jpg In this pic, you are looking through the double pained plexiglass window. That is a nite light with a switch on the outside, so you can look inside without dumping the heat.

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture067.jpg The back side. You can see the nite light on the left plugged in.

http://i447.photobucket.com/albums/q...Picture065.jpg This is the inside of the door. You can see there is an air gap in between the plexiglass pains, for better insulation.

Let me know what you think, and if any of you have made a costom incubator, would you post some pix of it so I can get some ideas. Thanks!

Very cool, I used a ice chest last year but its to small for my plans this year. Should work no problem :gj:

I would put the heat strip along the back with the fan blowing down on it to evenly distribute heat. Thats how mine are set up. When you fill it with egg tubs the bottom is going to be much warmer than the top as the heat wont distrubite properly.

Here is a pic of one of my setups
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w...ngle/Bator.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

I would put the heat strip along the back with the fan blowing down on it to evenly distribute heat. Thats how mine are set up. When you fill it with egg tubs the bottom is going to be much warmer than the top as the heat wont distrubite properly.

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That is a good piont, I didn't think of that. Thanks!

I'm doing the exact same thing. I'm curious about the fan. Is it wired to the thermostat/flexwatt? Or is it just on all the time?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jenn

I'm doing the exact same thing. I'm curious about the fan. Is it wired to the thermostat/flexwatt? Or is it just on all the time?

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it's wired by itself and will run continuously.

Thank you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

I would put the heat strip along the back with the fan blowing down on it to evenly distribute heat. Thats how mine are set up. When you fill it with egg tubs the bottom is going to be much warmer than the top as the heat wont distrubite properly.

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I have been thinking about what you said. Since heat rises, wouldn't it be better for the heat source to be on bottom? I think that would help distribute the heat more evenly, and the fan blows air across the rising heat to help even more. What do you think?

Heat does rise to a certain point but when the bator is filled with egg tubs they will interfere with the hot air circulation so it will be warmer under and cooler over. The reason I run it along the back is so

1- heat is even distributed.

2- egg boxes dont interfere with circulation

3- fans runs down heat strip circulating air everywhere so no hotspots(or cool spots) form.

IMO you want to try to keep the bator temps as even as possible. When you have temp variations it causes condensation. If the bottom is warmer then the top then condensation will build up on top of egg box and drip on eggs. Thats why you want to have the bator running with egg boxes for several days prior to adding the eggs so temps inside and outside the eggbox and all around the bator are even thus no condensation.

Wish I could find a cool drink fridge like that coke cooler to make a bater out of......