Herpstat Not Heating Enough . . .

Your flexwatt should be heating more than that. I think either you've lost a connection to the flexwatt or your herpstat isn't putting out any power. To test this simply unplug your flexwatt from the herpstat and plug the flexwatt directly into an extension cord. You should be able to feel the flexwatt start to warm up when you hold your hand on it. If it still isn't warm, you're not getting power to the flexwatt and need to re-check your connections. To test the herpstat, if you have a lamp around and a regular old incandescent light bulb, plug it into the herpstat while you've got the red indicator showing it's heating. If the lamp doesn't light, your herpstat isn't putting out power. And yes, you'll want to get the fan before you set up multiple shelves with eggs. You may or may not need more flexwatt once the fan, flexwatt, and herpstat are all working.
- Paul

The proportional curve on the Herpstat is adjustable too. I bet you need to set it higher. It defaults to the normal. What are your ambient room temps? You should probably have some water bottles in there too to help keep temps properly when you open the door. That piece of flexwatt is going to take some time to heat that properly. Make sure you aren't using foil tape on the probe. Email spyderrobotics next. Some of the best customer service in the industry.

Regards,

B

I second that the fan would help, and in an incubator that size I have always heard that it was mandatory.

No harm in adding that extra flexwatt... These people know what they are doin :)

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Originally Posted by PiedPeddler

Your flexwatt should be heating more than that. I think either you've lost a connection to the flexwatt or your herpstat isn't putting out any power. To test this simply unplug your flexwatt from the herpstat and plug the flexwatt directly into an extension cord. You should be able to feel the flexwatt start to warm up when you hold your hand on it. If it still isn't warm, you're not getting power to the flexwatt and need to re-check your connections. To test the herpstat, if you have a lamp around and a regular old incandescent light bulb, plug it into the herpstat while you've got the red indicator showing it's heating. If the lamp doesn't light, your herpstat isn't putting out power. And yes, you'll want to get the fan before you set up multiple shelves with eggs. You may or may not need more flexwatt once the fan, flexwatt, and herpstat are all working.
- Paul

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Thanks much! I will test out both the flexwatt and the herpstat separately ASAP.

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

The proportional curve on the Herpstat is adjustable too. I bet you need to set it higher. It defaults to the normal. What are your ambient room temps? You should probably have some water bottles in there too to help keep temps properly when you open the door. That piece of flexwatt is going to take some time to heat that properly. Make sure you aren't using foil tape on the probe. Email spyderrobotics next. Some of the best customer service in the industry.

Regards,

B

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Yeah, the proportional curve on the Herpstat is one of the first things I adjusted when I saw the problem. It is set to HI2. Ambient room temps are approx. 75 degrees. I do also have a quart milk jug full of water sitting in the back behind the shelves.

And I had also planned to email Spyder if I continued to have problems. I hated to bug them with stuff that may be more of an error on my end than a problem with their product. However, with the above-mentioned testing, I should be able to see if it's the Herpstat itself or a flexwatt issue.

*Side note/Update: The temps have dropped even lower today: they're reading 74.9 now.

OK, I have tested both. I plugged the flexwatt updirectly to the power, it is heating. I plugged a small fan (the one I intend to put inside the incubator eventually) into the Herpstat while it was supposedly heating the incubator. Fan was running. And as of now, the temps seem to be climbing slowly (it's now at 76.7). Perhaps I just didn't have a plug fully inserted somewhere? I didn't notice one when I was unplugging everything for testing, but I suppose it's possible. ;) In any case, now everything's plugged back up, and I made sure connections were firm when doing so. Hopefully everything will get where it's supposed to! LOL Keep your fingers crossed guys! haha

Good news! Herpstat now reading 88.3 degrees, though the individual tubs are ranging from 78 to 94. I've now added the fan to see if it regulates temps throughout.

Thanks much to everyone who offered assistance or advice! It is greatly appreciated, and glad things seem to be looking better!

One pitfall I have found and the only complaint I have with herpstats is they use cheap cords

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Originally Posted by Simple Man

Make sure you aren't using foil tape on the probe.

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Sorry to hijack the thread.....but I have never heard this before. Can someone explain why you shouldn't use foil tape on the probe?

Thanks.

At $3.40 a foot its really hard to understand why you wouldnt remove your one foot section and install the proper three foot piece???:confused::confused::confused:
You might be able to hit the temps that you want BUT you are going to overwork your flex-a-watt and/or your thermostat. If you are lucky it will just quit working but it might make you a small camp fire too? Who's fault will that be??
The problem is not with the thermostat, X-amount of flex-a-watt is only going to heat x-amount of space. Kind of like trying to heat your house with a zippo lighter, yes it will get the job done but it is not enough to do the job. Now you open the front door and your house drops to freezing temps and takes forever to heat back up after you close the door. Get the point??

You can run more flex-a-watt than you think you need and your t-stat will make sure it doesnt go over set temp. ;)

I'm not neccessarily opposed to adding more flexwatt if need be, I was merely trying to pin down the exact problem. Apparently there wasn't a good connection somewhere, and I don't think the flexwatt was even getting power before. It is working now, however, and the incubator is heating properly now. However, to be honest, I don't think a 3' piece of flexwatt would even fit in there . . . it might, but there might also be some left over that would wind up wrapping around to the outside of the fridge.

Since adding the fan, temps have regulated much better. The 3 tubs in the middle are reading 89 degrees, and the upper-most and bottom-most tubs are at 87. I don't really know that more flexwatt is needed . . . the temps are where they're supposed to be, and the thermostat doesn't seem to be overworking itself (no constant heating/off/heating cycles). Of course, I welcome everyone's input, especially since I am new to and not very good at these DIY things. What other things might I look for that would tell me the thermostat and/or flexwatt is being overworked?