Incubator - 99% Humidity

Hi all,

I've been test running my incubator for a few days now. And I may or may not have a humidity problem.

I am using a 150 qt cooler and I am going substrateless. Without any water in the cooler, I am getting ambient humidity around 60% at 88 degrees. When I add water, I am getting 99% humidity at 88 degrees. Water is condensing on the inside of the cooler lid and on the sides. My instinct tells me this is too much. I could be wrong though. Please advise.

If this is bad as I expect, I could use some suggestions. I don't think it's the amount of water but perhaps its relative distance from the heat source?

Thanks.

You shouldn't be putting uncontained water in the cooler itself - you could have a major electrical hazard if it contacts your flexwatt wiring or fan. The water goes in the egg boxes, with some kind of grate to keep the eggs suspended above it (light diffuser on top of vermiculite, for example).

Dont have open water in there. The reason people put water bottles in is it acts as a thermal battery to keep temps stable. If you are condensating in the incubator thats not a good thing. You want the condensation in the egg box. You could end up with an electrical short or you could kill your fan completely. Water and electrical not good

Thanks.

I had been wondering about that. I got this design from 3 different people. All of them used boiled or distilled water in the bottom to be the main source of humidity as well as a temperature equalizer. Maybe these people were in dryer climates?

My next step is to seal the bottom level water and see what affect that has.

I would use vermiculite in the egg tub and if you dont want the eggs touching the vermiculite you can use a light difuser but the vermiculite will produce all the humidity you need. It will save alot of trial and error not to kention keeping your electrical safe.

You don't need to worry about the humidity in the cooler itself, just the tubs eggs are in. I don't even bother to measure humidity in my tubs, as long as you are going substrateless and have your verm/perl plenty wet you are good.