HOVABATOR therms. are JUNK!!!

HOVABATOR therms. are JUNK!!!
OK, I just posted about my Hovabator fluctuating. It turns out, shortly BEFORE I went to raise the temperature because the thermometer read 76o, The temp. felt pretty warm to my hand, so I hit it with my Tempgun ( I used this and the Hovabator included piece of JUNK!!! to initially set it up) and low and behold I'm at 89-90o F. I ALMOST cooked ALL of my first years eggs...
So I am slowly dialing DOWN the temps, back to 82o.

Anyway I'm looking at the Hovabator thermometer and I realize that there are two tiny pieces of wire holding it on to the flimsy plastic degree marked backing and that with the slightest pressure ( Ohhh...something like pushing it into the incubating medium to get an "accurate" measurement) will SLIDE the Darn thing producing a COMPLETELY innacurate temperature measurement...There isn't even a mark on the backing to show where it should be placed, so it could be innacurate right off the bat. I almost lost more than a K of eggs for the price of a drop of glue...Needless to say it's in the trash ( there's no mercury in it)

PLEASE ADVISE ANYONE YOU KNOW WITH ONE OF THE HOVABATOR THERMOMETERS TO THROW THEM AWAY!!!

I'm posting this on a few other forums, please feel free to copy this and put it anywhere else they may be used. I'm going to contact the company about this also.

maybe im a little crazy but i have a whole bunch of thermometers in my incubators so that i can avoid problems like this... glad you caught it though.

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Originally Posted by ForkedTung

PLEASE ADVISE ANYONE YOU KNOW WITH ONE OF THE HOVABATOR THERMOMETERS TO THROW THEM AWAY!!!

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Why did you even consider using that plastic stapled to cardboard piece of junk?
Hook it up to a thermostat and you won't have temp fluctuations.

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Originally Posted by SPJ

Why did you even consider using that plastic stapled to cardboard piece of junk?
Hook it up to a thermostat and you won't have temp fluctuations.

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Well, there is a book that was written/ editited in 05' by someone very well known in the Herpetoculture Hobby that in fact stated that "the Hovabator comes with a hard-to-read but accurate small one" I have contacted the author already and notified them about the ones they send out now.
Still, I find myself at fault for relying on

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that plastic stapled to cardboard piece of junk?

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because you are exactly right!!! especially considering I had a Tempgun sitting in the next room.............DUH

Hopefully you're not also relying on the wafer thermostat as well and are using a quality thermostat on it?

I received this from the company GQF mfg. It was a next day reply, so at least they care and are interested in correcting the problem. If anyone would care to send them ANY info. on the therms. OR any problems they've had with the Hovabators I'm sure it would be taken into consideration.
Maybe we could get them to make a reptile version that would better suit our needs if they knew what a huge market we are?

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I'm not sure, One thing would be to secure it so it CAN"T slide. Another would be to put a mark on the backing so you can see if it HAS moved. I'll post this on some of the reptile forums so anyone can send feedback also. Thanks for the timely reply. Kyle
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>
>
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> ----------------------------------------
> > From: sales@gqfmfg.com
> > To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: RE: thermometer
> > Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:52:25 -0400
> >
> > Thank you for the good feedback. Would it help to cut the bottom of the
> > card and clear plastic to expose about an inch of the thermometer at the
> > bulb? This may allow the thermometer to be inserted without hitting the
> > card.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > G.Q.F. Sales Team
> >
> > G.Q.F. Manufacturing Company
> > P.O. Box 1552
> > Savannah, GA 31402
> >
> > Phone 912-236-0651
> > FAX 912-234-9978
> >
> > www.GQFmfg.com
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: kyle
> > Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 1:30 AM
> > To: sales@gqfmfg.com
> > Subject: thermometer
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi, I have one of your thermometers that comes with the Hovabator. It's the
> > one with the white plastic backing. The wires don't hold it in place very
> > well and it slides. Many, many reptile enthusiasts use it for incubating
> > their eggs also and to get an accurate measurement it needs to be pushed
> > into the incubating substrate. This causes it to slide. I may well have lost
> > over one thousand dollars worth of eggs because of this flaw and if they
> > survive may possibly be deformed. PLEASE reconsider upgrading/ not
> > including/ or at least finding a better way to affix the thermometer to the
> > backing.

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You never mentioned if you're using an independent thermostat or relying on the wafer that comes with it?

I was relying on it, now it's Herpstat all the way baby................................

yeah, I had a hovabator cook a clutch of eggs using its wafer thermostat. Our power went out.. then went back on.. temps spiked. They're just not ideal in my opinion.. some might use better thermostats on them. But for me, flexwatt, helix, and an old wine cooler is where it's at. (and 3 thermometers lol)

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

yeah, I had a hovabator cook a clutch of eggs using its wafer thermostat. Our power went out.. then went back on.. temps spiked. They're just not ideal in my opinion.. some might use better thermostats on them. But for me, flexwatt, helix, and an old wine cooler is where it's at. (and 3 thermometers lol)

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I am with you although I used a big igloo cooler but works great. I think building your own incubator is a great thing. It requires a little research some trial and test of the incubator. That is a good thing IMO.

Chuck