What to trust?

so I have my incubator set up. The Herpastat shows 89.1. The zoomed shows 93.3 but is usualy around 90.1 and the other zoomed inside the egg tub shows 83.5. The incubator has been up and running for over 6 months. What temp do I trust?

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Originally Posted by Raverthug

so I have my incubator set up. The Herpastat shows 89.1. The zoomed shows 93.3 but is usualy around 90.1 and the other zoomed inside the egg tub shows 83.5. The incubator has been up and running for over 6 months. What temp do I trust?

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I would trust your Herpstat over a zoomed thermometer/thermostat. I had the same issue with my Herpstat not matching my Accurites. I ended up using my temp gun to try and confirm, and the Herpstat was spot on. One Accurite was under and the other was over. If you use a temp gun, make sure you're not measuring the temp by pointing it at eggs as it will read high. My eggs were about 4 degrees hotter than the ambient temp inside the egg box. I ended up just pointing the temp gun at the substrate and the temp probe to get an accurate temperature...

We have had eggs going for four weeks today. Candled Saturday and saw movement in all of them. I am trusting the temp gun and comparing it to my readings on the Accurite. The Herpstat is reading 89.2 the Accurite is showing 89 outside the tub and 88 inside the tup. I am pointing the temp gun at the side wall of the egg box and the eggs and the readings are within tenths of a degree of one another. They are both showing 87.6 or higher but neither show 88. I dont trust shooting the substrate as the temp gun needs a somewhat reflective surface. Vermiculite, especially the fine stuff I am using, just does not have good reflectivity and so I believe the measuement is distorted.

If you are not seeing the desired temps then just adjust your thermostat/heat source up or down accordingly. Just do it in small amounts like a few tenths at a time and recheck until you acheive what you want. Good luck

How much of a diffarence should I see between inside and outside the egg tub (while the tub has no eggs)

What I would trust is a temp gun to double check your temps ;)

Herpsat if far more reliable than Zoo-med however having a RELIABLE thermometer is very important as well. :gj:

the problem is we dont have a temp gun right now and most I read are showing there could be up to +/- 4 degrees or 2%.

That could depend. I imagine you are testing with substrate or what ever you are planning to have in the tub when you have eggs. I wouldn't expect there to be much. We are seeing about 1 to 2 degrees difference between the interior and exterior readings on the Accurite thermometer.

Again, all we are really concerning ourselves with is the temp reading in the egg box using the temp gun, and that the incubator stays very consistent. MasonC2K did some tests with Accurite thermometers and found some variances from one to the next. So what I am doing is comparing the reading with the temp gun to the reading on my thermometer. Even if they are not the same, as long as the stay the same difference apart each time, then I can gauge the inside temps accordlngly.

So imagine you take a temp with the gun it says 89 and at the same time the Accurite reads 90. The next time you check the temp gun reads 92 and the Accurite says 93. Thats consistently a degree difference in the same direction. So you could assume that if you want to keep the inside of the box around 88 then you would set your temps so that the Accurite reads 89, but then check it with the temp gun. Always trust the temp gun.

I hope that answers your question and makes sense too.

EDIT: Sorry by the time I posted I just read that you don't have a temp gun. You can get one at Home Depot or Lowes. It is worth the money for absolute piece of mind.

I would never trust anything with the Zoomed name.

The specs are the tell here.

Herpstat is +/- 0.9ºF
zoo med +/- 2ºF
PE2 ir gun +/- 1.7ºF
Most IR guns range between +/-2ºF to 4ºF

The herpstat in correct working order is many times the most accurate. Thermometers come in two flavours, cheap or accurate. The herpstat is quite accurate for the price there are better more accurate digital thermometers out there but few under the 200$ price point. My personal one is well over the price of the herpstat 4.

Ok I went to Home Depot and got a Riobi temp gun. Im getting it pulled in to about 89-90