Incubator silicone smell

I'm not sure how many people build their own incubators but my boyfriend is in the process of building one for me out of a wine cooler. He's almost got it done but we can still smell the silicone that was used to fill in gaps and holes. Is this normal? I would think after a few days it would have been cured but I'm worried about putting any eggs in it when it smells like that. Any ideas?

It can take 1-2 weeks for silicone to finish off gassing.

How much longer do you have before your clutch is laid?

You could try to run it up to temp and open the door sometimes silicone will out gas faster. This holds to pure silicone, 100% solids(like SCS1200), partials I am not so sure about.

I have 2 clutches due any day now. I guess I can let them maternally incubate until the smell is gone but I'd really like to have them back on feed as soon as possible. Everything else is done other than putting the shelves and water bottles in and we've been in the process of testing it since last night at 89 degrees. He said the last time he put any in was about a week ago but it still smells..... almost like vinegar? It's a weird smell. He's going to try putting a bowl of water in there to increase humidity to try and help it cure faster if it really can take up to 2 weeks.

Also, he said it didn't start smelling like that until last night when we turned it on and got it up in temp for testing it. Then it started smelling funky again.

What kind of silicone did you use?

Silicone does smell like vinegar. It really reeked when I lined my boas cage but it stopped smelling after a day.

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

What kind of silicone did you use?

Silicone does smell like vinegar. It really reeked when I lined my boas cage but it stopped smelling after a day.

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100% silicone calk. Yes it did stop after day 2 and he thought it was cured at that time but now it's smelling again.

Aaaaaaaaand it looks like one female did lay. Not sure how many eggs yet since I don't want to disturb her and the eggs not be incubated. From what I can see they look to be good eggs. I'll let her incubate for a few days and hopefully the smell will be gone by then. Thanks all for the replies and I hope to give good news in updates on the eggies :).

Try cranking the heat like open the door and place a forced air heater inside and leaving the door open for a day or so and see if that helps. 100% solids silicone usually stops and stays stopped ther thinners evapourate out. the others often hold thinners longer. Silicone caults and adhesives contain acetic acid vineger is 6% acetic acid (or so depends on the type and brand) so they share a similar componet this is why it smells the way it does.

Upon thinking of that if you had a strong UV light (true black light) that *might* help as it breaks down acetic acid. This is just a straigh shot in the dark it maynot make any difference at all. It might be worth a try if you have one.

The smell seemed better last night but we did put a bowl of water in to increase humidity to help it cure. I can see that it's quite humid in there now. If this doesn't work then I do have a small space heater that I can aim at it. Everything else looks perfect. He even redid the lighting so instead of a dark blue light it's bright white LEDs so I don't have to open the door to check on them. I'll post up some pictures when I know the caulk is completely cured.