Fridge Incubator Question

Ok so last night we brought in my fridge from storage. holy crap did that suck, bringing that heavy guy down stairs and such! Anyways this is now my new winter time project Ill be working on while my snakes go at it.
I know I need to remove the compresser? But I know nothing about mechanics and neither does my boyfriend to be honest.
I dont know if anyone can explain it or has pictures of the process?
Any advice would be great! Thanks

http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x...-18_153311.jpg

Not sure why you would need to remove anything. Just make sure everything seals tight and add some flexwatt to that monster.

you should change the sign on top to "Cold Blooded", that'd be awesome lol

Dont have to remove the compressor unless you want the weight off. Be sure to have it properly taking off so freon is in the lines and compressor. Need to dispose of it so its not released into air.

Add flexwatt 11" size and 2-4 fans to even out temps and a herpstat.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...r/100_2662.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...r/100_2846.jpg

Well that's why I thought I needed to remove the compresser.
The person I bought it from sold it as broken so it doesn't cool but I still would not want freeon to leak in the fridge if any.
The lights work so I wouldn't mind plugging it in from time to time. I know how to rig up everything else but I just dont know what I need to remove so if I wanted the lights to work.

does the fan and light still work in it? if it does,,, theres your fan. if the light works (and you dont want it on all the time), you could put a inline toggle switch on it and turn the light on as you need.
i have the same set up as you do, and love it! it works perfect!!!! if your interested,,,, i could make a video of it and post on youtube (in a few days) and leave a link on this thread..
spooky

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Originally Posted by mr.spooky

does the fan and light still work in it? if it does,,, theres your fan. if the light works (and you dont want it on all the time), you could put a inline toggle switch on it and turn the light on as you need.
i have the same set up as you do, and love it! it works perfect!!!! if your interested,,,, i could make a video of it and post on youtube (in a few days) and leave a link on this thread..
spooky

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The fridge already has a switch for the lights :)

I would very much appreciate that video very much!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mr.spooky

does the fan and light still work in it? if it does,,, theres your fan. if the light works (and you dont want it on all the time), you could put a inline toggle switch on it and turn the light on as you need.
i have the same set up as you do, and love it! it works perfect!!!! if your interested,,,, i could make a video of it and post on youtube (in a few days) and leave a link on this thread..
spooky

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Please do post the link here when you have the video. I'm getting the exact soda cooler next week.

just tried to do a vid for ya,,, and my card is to small for my video camera.... my camera card is at work, so ill get it tomorrow and do the vid then...
spooky

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Originally Posted by mr.spooky

just tried to do a vid for ya,,, and my card is to small for my video camera.... my camera card is at work, so ill get it tomorrow and do the vid then...
spooky

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That would be great thank you!

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Originally Posted by mues155

Well that's why I thought I needed to remove the compresser.
The person I bought it from sold it as broken so it doesn't cool but I still would not want freeon to leak in the fridge if any.

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The warning about not releasing the freon into the air is because it is highly illegal and violates EPA rulings to allow it into the atmosphere. If you are going to remove the compressor, get a professional to do it properly, so you don't accidentally cut something wrong. Just because it doesn't cool, doesn't mean there isn't any freon in it.

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Originally Posted by Annarose15

The warning about not releasing the freon into the air is because it is highly illegal and violates EPA rulings to allow it into the atmosphere. If you are going to remove the compressor, get a professional to do it properly, so you don't accidentally cut something wrong. Just because it doesn't cool, doesn't mean there isn't any freon in it.

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Do you think freon would leak even if the fridge isnt plugged in?

Mine was completely stripped off when I got it for 2 reasons, take some weight off, and to prevent any future leak.

What you do is really up to YOU

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Originally Posted by mues155

Do you think freon would leak even if the fridge isnt plugged in?

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Freon is a pressurized gas cutting a line will release that gas, it may not cool because the compressor was bad.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Alright, first of all.....Are you EPA certified to work on small appliances? If not, it is a violation of federal law to even touch the refrigeration system(I believe it is right around $20,000 fine). I say this because that is what I do for a living(yes, I am EPA certified). Second of all, working with refrigerants can be very dangerous as they cause severe burns when they come in contact with skin in liquid form. Third of all, if you leak that stuff into the air in that room you displace all of the oxygen and cause asphyxiation to you and your animals, which means no eggs to even think about using your cool incubator to incubate.

Now that I have got all of that off my chest....Just run some flexwatt down one side and use a computer fan to circulate air so you dont have hot spots in the cabinet. What i did was used a rheostat to dim the speed of my fan because I noticed it wasnt allowing the heat tape to heat correctly. Use a thermometer to check the temps at all spots of the cabinet and make sure you have even temps through out. That should work out just fine for you. Good luck on your breeding season.

If you want to plug it in with out worry of the compressor starting just unwire the compressor from the electrical board. Follow the wall plug into the fridge and you will find where everything gets its power and just unplug the lines that run to the compressor

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ok but my question isnt really being answered.

The fridge as is...without it being plugged in or anything would it be safe to incubate eggs in? Or can freon still just be present in the fridge as long as the compresser is attached?
Does the compresser NEED to be removed by someone for it to be safe to incubate eggs?

I dont really need to have the lights work so plugging it in as is isnt a necessity.

Freon will never be resend in the fridge unless there is a leak and you would smell it.

Your perfectly fine to incubate with that

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Freon will never be resend in the fridge unless there is a leak and you would smell it.

Your perfectly fine to incubate with that

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As Rich stated...The only way freon would leak into the fridge is if there is a leak. It would have to be a leak in the evaporator coil. Odds of this happening are slim. You should be just fine.

heres a link to the video... its nothing special but it works great..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtcK13Uw1Zo
spooky

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Freon will never be resend in the fridge unless there is a leak and you would smell it.

Your perfectly fine to incubate with that

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Ok great. I think I do want to get the compresser professionally removed anyhow because I do want to use the lights and it has a built in fan on the top of the inside, so that would be helpful as well!

I would like to get it going where the compresser is gone, and when I plug it in the light can be toggled on/off and the fan is on at all times.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mr.spooky

heres a link to the video... its nothing special but it works great..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtcK13Uw1Zo
spooky

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Thank you for your video! That fridge is setup the EXACT same as mine. I think I might use your method of the false wall and rigging that fan up. Seems like it would work better then those CPU fans anyways.
I appreciate your video!

your welcome,,,, sorry that i dident go into the electrical part of it,, but if you take your time, its not that hard,,, theres not too many wires.
spooky

I have a true cooler and here's what I found using it them for 2 seasons.

Leaving the compressor intact gives the unit nice stability, removing the compressor makes it easier to move the incubator but it's not as stable once in place.

The fan in true coolers create a lot of heat and makes it difficult to keep all of the shelves the same temperature, and it doesn't blow the air where you want it.
I also don't recommend leaving the light on, I have a 4 foot tube in mine and took it out, lights add heat, lights go out, not a good thing imo.

I use a bathroom ceiling fan(fart fan) and sat it on a towel, the noise from the fan vibrating was loud, lol.
To regulate the fan I plug it straight into a zoo-med rheostat giving me excellent control of fan speed. The rheostat made regulating the temperature shelf to shelf a breeze, before I always had several degrees difference in temperature shelf to shelf.
The fan faces to the rear of the incubator and blows against the back wall taking the heat upwards. I found that turning up the fan too high created more heat on the bottom of the inc than at the top, so I just back the fan speed down a little at a time until the temperature shelf to shelf becomes the same.

I surround the fan with water bottles and use the top shelf for water bottles also. Having a fan that's too weak to move the air in the incubator means having hot and cool spots. Computer fans work well in mini fridges but IMO aren't enough circulation for a larger true cooler.

We had a 100% hatch rate on 11 clutches in this inc this season, I'm fairly pleased with it :)
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/PICT4725.jpg
http://i968.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/PICT8818.jpg

I will be testing a false wall in this incubator for the coming season, the biggest flaw in placing flexwatt on the walls is that the part of the tub that is closer to the wall is hotter than the middle of the tub.