DIY Incubator using Wine Cooler - Flexwatt Placement?

If you can see the photos, the bottom of the cooler I'm using is not flat. It steps up halfway to the back. I could go up that step and up the back easily with 11 inch FW.

Is that ok? There's a built in fan that I intend to keep and I was going to put a few small water bottles in that bottom section.

Thanks

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Up and over the step should be no problem.

Idk i've heard of ppl having problems running the flex watt over a step like that

What problems have you heard about?

that the flat shelf put will mess up the gradient and more heat flows up along the back side instead of it all pushing out towards the door.... thats just what i've heard tho it might be able to be counteracted with a fan blowing directly along the back wall tho idk....

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...a_imag0937.jpg
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...a_imag0938.jpg

Up and over the step is fine. No temp change or gradient in my cooker..

slapdirty: Why didn't you run the FW on the very bottom, before the step, where the fan is? That's where I was going to place some small water bottles, laying on top on the FW.

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Originally Posted by slapdirty

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...a_imag0937.jpg
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...a_imag0938.jpg

Up and over the step is fine. No temp change or gradient in my cooker..

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so do you just have the one fan or do you have another one up top? Also where do you place the probe and what thermostat are you using?

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

slapdirty: Why didn't you run the FW on the very bottom, before the step, where the fan is? That's where I was going to place some small water bottles, laying on top on the FW.

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Maybe he was concerned about a water bottle leak touching the flexwatt. Now that I think of it.. I'm kind of worried about my own water bottles.

spitz is right. I put water bottles down there, so....

Ben, I only have the one fan with an adjustment knob. I usually run the fan about 1/3 speed. I have the probe on the right side of the incubator in the middle(you can kinda see it). I am using a herpstat 1. The incubator runs exactly 1 degrees hotter than the thermostat reads..

There's no need for that much heat tape, I'd cut it so it only runs on the back wall, problem solved.

lol.. it goes from 50-88 degrees super quik though.. back to the future quick!

Oh ok so you dont place it on the flex watt.... So do you think it runs one degree hot because of the probe placement?

I think most people do put the probe right on the flexwatt. My placement could be the reason for extra degree. Also, the herpstat says accurate to .9 deg.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slapdirty

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...a_imag0937.jpg
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...a_imag0938.jpg

Up and over the step is fine. No temp change or gradient in my cooker..

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Looks like some professinals built that :D

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

There's no need for that much heat tape, I'd cut it so it only runs on the back wall, problem solved.

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I finally put the whole thing together and ran it last night. I put 11 inch flexwatt on the back wall only - 20 inches long. Checking it this morning the temps were not consistant throughout even though I had a computer fan running and no boxes inside. I noticed that the thermostat was running the heat tape full on to maintain the 89 degrees I set it to.

I don't want the heat tape to stay full on all the time and I need to even out the temps on all levels.

Do I need more heat tape?

Do I need a bigger fan to move the hot air around?

Does the fan need to be angled? Mine is stuck to the ceiling and blowing from left to right along the back wall.

If I add more flexwatt it will run over that bottom step. Is it OK to place egg boxes directly on the heat tape? Won't those get hotter than the others?

Also, do you hang the probe (where?) or do you put it in an egg box? My cooler only holds six 6qt boxes.

Thanks.

Anyone?

I'd say the wiring is jacked up if it's not reaching temp. You should have no problems reaching 89 with that much tape in there, fan or no fan.

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Originally Posted by spitzu

I'd say the wiring is jacked up if it's not reaching temp. You should have no problems reaching 89 with that much tape in there, fan or no fan.

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The cooler in the photo is not mine. I have a piece of flexwatt that's 20 inches long - back wall only.

I put the probe in an empty 6qt tub and it did reach 89. The tape is not full on all of the time but it does turn on frequently (blinking red light).

I ordered a bigger fan. I have to figure out where to mount it to get the heat to circulate properly. The bottom shelf is cooler that the upper two.

try adding a second fan opposite of where your fan is now. Make sure all the holes are plugged.

Maybe try playing around with probe placement.. But... when snakesrkewl said I used to much fw, I reduced my flexwatt(by cutting it which I shouldn't have done) to an 18 inch strip :colbert:. Now my temps are jumping around 4-5 deg inside the tubs(no matter what i set the fan to), and this never happened with the flexwatt going over the step. U may want to run the fw over the step, just to be sure...

I moved the probe into the tub on the bottom shelf which was the coolest. That just made the other tubs hotter but within range 88-90.

I should get my new fan in a few days and I'm hoping that placing it on top in the center blowing down the heat tape will help to stabilize the temps. I may remove the smaller fan or put it in a different spot.

Thanks

I also have the a wine cooler like yours with the step. I used 11" flex watt taped to the back wall down to the top of the step. Put a small fan on top near the back. Had it running for 4 days now and it keeping the temps pretty even top and bottom.

I was concerned about running the flexwatt on the step because I want to put egg boxes there. The boxes would have been sitting right on the heat tape.

The new bigger fan came and made things worse so I didn't use it. I moved the original smaller fan to the top center blowing down along the flexwatt.

It's weird. With the t-stat at 90 all the readings inside are very close. At 89, same thing. At 88, the bottom tub/shelf is cooler.

All of the testing so far had been with only three empty tubs, one per shelf. I'm going to set up the egg boxes with perlite and water and run it again with all six boxes in place. Hopefully the temps will be stable and within the 88-90 degree range.