waterbottles in incubator- for what?

as the title says- for what do u guys put waterbottles in the incubator?

i mean they are closed, so they cant be needed for humidity- whats the reason for it?

Holds heat for when you open the incubator

They help bring the thing back up to temp faster as they are giving off heat too.

They also help keep temps a bit more steady

I put a post up asking the same thing just a few down from your post. It seems a lot of breeders don't do water bottles or even fans.

In my experience....

Fans are a MUST NO DOUBT ABOUT IT

Water bottles-not as important, but will use them for every egg that gets incubated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rj1204

I put a post up asking the same thing just a few down from your post. It seems a lot of breeders don't do water bottles or even fans.

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We had a little bator, no fans, just bottles, worked great.
but in our fridge bator, we have 2 fans, and bottles in the door

I do water bottles for more than one reason. I am one of those that are always opening up my bator door so like someone previously said it helps to re stabilize the temps inside once the door closes back up. Also when my tubs get a lil dry I use water out of those bottles to put water back into my vermiculite to raise the humidity back in the tubs. Since the water in those bottles are the temp I need inside the tubs no need to get tap water and try and feel for close to temps. I use a mini office space heater with a built in tstat and fan and it works great it just takes a little tinkering to get to the temp desired.

I have read that many breeders experience issues with the fans causing the heat to go up. The thermostat won't recognize the heat because it is measuring the heat tape. So, if you have it set for 89, your thermostat maybe at 92 but the temp in the incubator is at 92 because the fan is producing heat.

I have a small Red Bull fridge and plan on putting 6 egg tubs in it. It will have about 2 inches of room between each shelf and the tubs will be right next to each other, side by side, 2 tubs per shelf.....3 shelves.

Does the fan have to be directly above the heat tape or can it just be anywhere in the incubator providing some type of circulation?

Just put your probe in the middle of your incubator and set it for 89

Whether your fans give off heat or not, it will be detected by the probe and adjust the heat tape accordingly.

You should NEVER put the probe on the heat tape.....

Id like to hear which breeders you talk about that said this....

Really? Huh, I always thought it would be best to put it on the heat tape so it wouldnt over heat. I'd be mostly scared it would catch fire if the tape didnt have the probe directly on it.

EDIT
DOH! Fans.... Nevermind my insane ramblings.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rj1204

I put a post up asking the same thing just a few down from your post. It seems a lot of breeders don't do water bottles or even fans.

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I don't use either, and have never had any issues.

Either way, even if you put the probe in the middle of the incubator and you have a fan that produces a lot of heat, it will still be much hotter up top by the fan. I know the fan will push the heat around, but still warmer up top. Heat rises and you have heat being produced by another source other then your heat tape. Hell, I don't know what works and what doesn't, I just read somewhere about a couple breeders that experienced this. Is there a difference in heat generated by a fan between AC and DC?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rj1204

Either way, even if you put the probe in the middle of the incubator and you have a fan that produces a lot of heat, it will still be much hotter up top by the fan. I know the fan will push the heat around, but still warmer up top. Heat rises and you have heat being produced by another source other then your heat tape. Hell, I don't know what works and what doesn't, I just read somewhere about a couple breeders that experienced this. Is there a difference in heat generated by a fan between AC and DC?

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WRONG. I have 4 80mm fans on top pushing the heat back down. Top of my incubator temp was IDENTICAL to the bottom. My probe was suspended in middle of the incubator not attached to the heat tape.

Picture shows Herpstat and accurite same temps top to bottom.

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/s...r/100_3246.jpg

Also ALL fans generate heat. Whether its bearing or bushing they will generate heat. Take your temp gun to the center of your fans in computer and youll notice a 80-90F temp coming off them. Dont matter if its AC or DC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rj1204

Is there a difference in heat generated by a fan between AC and DC?

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yes a big difference!


ppl use bottles to keep better temps... usually tis because the incubator they are using is not insulated well or the room is especially cold.
the fans help to prevent hot spots

I will definetely put a fan in and hopefully everything stays stable. Which is the better fan (or one that produces less heat).....AC or DC?

ok thanks guys- sorry i almost forgot this thread....lol

but i use small pc fans too in my incubator (cola fridge-a-bator). ill try it with the bottles. the bigger the better ha? i mean if i put 4 1,5l waterbottles its better than 2 0,5 liter bottles, or am i wrong?

to the probe. in rack systems u put em mostly on the flexwatt (most breeders do that) but in an incubator, i wouldnt do it.

in germany we dont have flexwatt (unbelievable ha?- it doesnt exist in whole europe)- so i use heatcables. i got a biotherm pro thermostat. it has 2 probes and can run 8 temps per probe. its a pretty cool thing.
i use 2 15 watt heatcables. on on the top plus the top sides and one on the bottom and the bottom sides.
with the thermostat, i can controll them both differently. it works perfectly. never had any problems.

i didnt open the door so much, cause i can see threw it and use clearboxes- so i notice the most without open the door. but once or twice a week, i open it and check the humidity of the vermiculite etc.

never had any problems. i dont think its a major problem. i have the tempreture constantly- no night time drop. but some german books say if u use nighttime drops, u get bigger and healthier babies.

anyways- but thats cause i think the difference for a while doesnt do much bad...

ill try the waterbottle method. maybe its ok and works for me.

the idea with the water from these bottles to use for the vermiculite is great. just because of that its worth a shot!!!

thanks for that tip!!!

ive got a question. do u guys have little holes in the clearboxes where the eggs are in? i always thought about it. when the babies come they breath air. when there no holes, they could die...or?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rj1204

I will definetely put a fan in and hopefully everything stays stable. Which is the better fan (or one that produces less heat).....AC or DC?

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if the fan you put in your incubator is effecting your heating, then you have way to big of a fan, is use 2x 20mmx20mm dc fans to circulate air around my igloo coolerbator and my temps are 100% the same, left to right, top to bottom.

i have 5 little heads sticking out right now also.... lol