water bottles in incubators?

This might be a dumb question but its one that I'm curious about nonetheless.

Every DIY cooler incubator I see has full water bottles placed on the bottom of the cooler. What is the purpose of this? Does it help with humidity or its it just something to fill up the space so your heating less area?

Those are to increase the thermal mass of warm objects inside the incubator so the temperature doesn't swing. The water inside the tubs keeps the eggs humid.

I second that....keeps temps more stable inside the bator, and for some reason you open the door it won`t take as long to heat back up.

Also helps retain some heat should the power go out for a short time.

I just want to point out that a good thermostat in an incubator is the BEST investment. My Herpstat keeps temps so accurate its crazy. It bounces back temps from the door opening and feathers them to the perfect temp before the temp in the tub has a chance to change at all. If you have a good setup and a good thermostat the water bottles are not needed.

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Originally Posted by blk02ssmonte

I second that....keeps temps more stable inside the bator, and for some reason you open the door it won`t take as long to heat back up.

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^This^

Also not everyone uses them, I do not.

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

I just want to point out that a good thermostat in an incubator is the BEST investment. My Herpstat keeps temps so accurate its crazy. It bounces back temps from the door opening and feathers them to the perfect temp before the temp in the tub has a chance to change at all. If you have a good setup and a good thermostat the water bottles are not needed.

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Don't know too many people that run a cheap stat on their bators.
My VE200 keep everything where it needs to be BUT whatever thermostat you are using having the water will help and your thermostat wont have to work as hard.

Doesn't matter how big or small an incubator is, I always would recommend putting some water bottles on the bottom. We don't ever put eggs that close to the bottom anyways because temps could be a hair off if perhaps the incubator is sitting on the floor.

We have walk in incubators with shelves on both sides and we lined the bottom with gallon water jugs. Again, it's mostly for stability reasons and keeping the heater from not working as hard. If you have a tall incubator it might be worth while to put a small fan in to circulate the hot air around.


Good luck if you plan on building one, they aren't too hard :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BrianDallek

I just want to point out that a good thermostat in an incubator is the BEST investment. My Herpstat keeps temps so accurate its crazy. It bounces back temps from the door opening and feathers them to the perfect temp before the temp in the tub has a chance to change at all. If you have a good setup and a good thermostat the water bottles are not needed.

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Bingo! I like drinking cold water. If you're that worried about a power outage,buy a generator! Besides... hot water bottles will keep the temp up better that any 89 degree water bottles in an outage. It's the "sheeple" effect, that followers do.;)

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Originally Posted by grcforce327

Bingo! I like drinking cold water. If you're that worried about a power outage,buy a generator! Besides... hot water bottles will keep the temp up better that any 89 degree water bottles in an outage. It's the "sheeple" effect, that followers do.;)

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And what good would the generator OR hot water bottles do when you are at work and the city does a rolling brown out???
They kill zones for 30 to 60 minutes at a time.
Yes I have unplugged my incubator without water and it drops about 5 degrees in 30 to 40 minutes.
With water there is a 3 degree drop in an hour.

Guess I can be a sheep but I dont have to worry about my clutches when Im out making a living. :rolleyes: