incubator will be built :)

If she put water into the tubs today, and didn't strive to make sure the water was the same temp as the incubator, the water will cause a temp differential. Its going to take quite a while for the water temp to equalize completely with the air temp in the incubator, especially since it is somewhat insulated from the incubator by the sealed tubs (no air exchange). Until the water temperature reaches the same temp as the incubator, condensation is to be expected!

Steve

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Originally Posted by hoo-t

If she put water into the tubs today, and didn't strive to make sure the water was the same temp as the incubator, the water will cause a temp differential. Its going to take quite a while for the water temp to equalize completely with the air temp in the incubator, especially since it is somewhat insulated from the incubator by the sealed tubs (no air exchange). Until the water temperature reaches the same temp as the incubator, condensation is to be expected!

Steve

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It might but the water would be on the outside of the egg boxes (which already have condensation)...so she shouldn't get any on the outside as the outside is what needs to come up.

If there was no water anywhere I would agree completely with you.:)

Wow; this is much more in-depth than I thought by looking at photos and make-your-own incubator instructions!
I had put the water into the tubs last night around 10pm. I guess that since they are further from the heating element, they will never get as warm as the water in the bottles along the bottom, or the air temp?
Maybe I should just go with vermiculite in the boxes? i wanted to go substrateless but if it is too humid, wouldn't it be akin to using overmoistened vermiculite? Though the eggs will not come into contact with the water underneath the rack in the tub, it would still create all of this condensation..
The humidity in the incubator itself is at 80 percent according to my hygrometer (a seperate unit from the thermometer.)

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

The humidity in the incubator itself is at 80 percent according to my hygrometer (a seperate unit from the thermometer.)

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Do you have open water in the incubator itself? I am curious why your humidity is so high if you don't.

Everything (boxes and all) should all get to the same temp (you have an almost identical setup to me...including doing no substrate)...but you might be getting hotspotting that is causing the issue...you might have to break down and get a fan. (The substrateless setup doesn't have anything to do with this)

I added in a tub atop of the FW that is open and half-full of water, to help equalize the humidity disparity. I actually used water from the two bottles that it displaced, so that it would be roughly the same temperature (I did it quickly to prevent cooling.)
A fan would be no problem; I could just get one of those small computer fans.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

I added in a tub atop of the FW that is open and half-full of water, to help equalize the humidity disparity. I actually used water from the two bottles that it displaced, so that it would be roughly the same temperature (I did it quickly to prevent cooling.)
A fan would be no problem; I could just get one of those small computer fans.

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OK...so what is the temp difference now (box vs. incubator)?

Cool news; the helix temp is 89 (what I set it at) and the tub is 88; they have not been this close yet. :) We'll see; I am home all evening and night and will keep an eye on things.

sean i know you're trying to help, but you should try listening to others as well before you write them off because to be quite honest brad was in no way wrong no matter what you think. condensation is formed by air cooling and not being able to hold humidity as it could when it was warmer (dewpoint). the condensation in the container is caused by convection, which generates currents in both air and water in a closed container which causes differences in pressure, temperature and humidity. not saying i know all either considering i am in no way an expert or even close, but if you would just listen to others and consider what they have to say before writing them off. this is also important to consider for this topic since condensation is quite the problem for developing eggs.

So theoretically, if the temps are the same in the tub and in the outer incubator area, would the condensation cease?
I hope so.

in air 100% humidity means that it is in equilibrium and is fairly static, this doesn't mean not moving it just means that the changes between gas and liquid equal out. but once it levels out condensation will be less of a problem, but i think adam has said before that he keeps his eggs away from the sides of egg boxes? also i think it's been said before that late in development condensation will start to form again due to eggs giving off their own heat...i think.
the only thing i've ever incubated are leopard gecko eggs, so eggs this large i'm not sure about

*think about a water bottle that you've left in the sun, at first the condensation will be crazy, but eventually once things level out, there's just sort of a fine mist on the sides.