How's my incubator look?

Hey guys,

I just finished (well, pretty much finished) setting up my incubator. Im only expecting 1 clutch this year (fire x cinnamon) so thats why I'm just using a small cooler. I'm pretty sure I'm not forgetting anything but please let me know if you see something missing or if something doesn't look right.

I have one strip of flexwatt on the bottom with light grate on top of it to create a space so the egg tub isn't sitting directly on the flexwatt. I also have a strip of flexwatt on each interior wall of the cooler. I ran all the wires out of the cooler and cut a small notch out of the lid so that even with the wires there it still closed and sealed pretty tightly.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/27/se4ujuba.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/27/y8ujydy3.jpg

This is just with a 6qt tub in there with the light grate in it too. I should be able to fit a few water bottles in there too:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/27/8yguveta.jpg

I plan on getting a herpstat 2 to run it. I still need to get an accurite thermometer too. After talking with nikki and coleslaw, I *think* I'm going to put the probe of the herpstat on the bottom strip of flexwatt and run the probe of the accurite inside the actually egg tub. Does that sound right or is there a better way to setup the thermostat and thermometer probes?

Thanks for reading!

-Mike

Nice! That incubator looks really good!

You're gonna 'bate the crap out of those eggs!

Maybe a fan?

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Originally Posted by swansonbb

Maybe a fan?

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I wasnt gunna bother with one since its such a small space. Fans are for preventing hotspots but i doubt in that small of a space id run into any trouble.

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Originally Posted by pookie!

You're gonna 'bate the crap out of those eggs!

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Im cramming that bator with eggs. CRAMMING!

Sweet, nicely done Mikey

It looks empty... :D. Nice though. I have all my stuff, just need to find time to get it all together. Seriously though, lucky you have eggs coming! I'm jealous.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

It looks empty... :D. Nice though. I have all my stuff, just need to find time to get it all together. Seriously though, lucky you have eggs coming! I'm jealous.

Sent from my ADR6410LVW using Tapatalk 2

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I "hopefully" have eggs coming. Tonites feeding nite, my girl is still eating so im still pairing lol.

I would put the flex watt at the bottom and not the sides. Also get some water bottles to lay on the bottom then the grate on top of that this well help minimize any hot spots in the tape. I like the small SAMs water bottles you can get from Walmart. No need for fan since it so small. Overall looks good.

Looks awsome. You may have overdone it with the Flexwatt ;) LOL. But as long as you get that Herpstat, your laughin! Nice job.

I built one out of a cooler last year. I agree that the small space wont require any fans. Water bottles help hold temps just in case something happens (power outage, blown fuse). But as long as that bad boy is sealed up tight, should work great!


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CRAM THAT TUB AND 'BATE THOSE EGGS HARD!!!

As I said before, I think it looks good. I could see the sense in having all the tape on the floor and water bottles on top... Buuuut I'm still a newb too lol. Hopefully someone really experienced will comment!

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Originally Posted by Coleslaw007

Hopefully someone really experienced will comment!

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Hope so

Looks great! I just did a video on a diy cooler , I am a huge fan of the diy style :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNZAa_bYOiY

Just keep a eye out for the flexwatt on the sides, you don't want them to close to the tub. I would get everything ready as if you were ready to go and check the air temp along with the temps inside the tub. You might not even need the tape on the sides.

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Originally Posted by joebad976

I would put the flex watt at the bottom and not the sides. Also get some water bottles to lay on the bottom then the grate on top of that this well help minimize any hot spots in the tape. I like the small SAMs water bottles you can get from Walmart. No need for fan since it so small. Overall looks good.

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Yea i have one strip on the bottom and one on each side. Im not sure just one strip on the bottom would be enough. I plan on ordering the herpstat and thermometer on thursday so once i get them ill be doing a trial run with everything. I was also thinking about putting the water bottles under the grate like that too. I'll try that too during my trials and see how it works out.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Yea i have one strip on the bottom and one on each side. Im not sure just one strip on the bottom would be enough. I plan on ordering the herpstat and thermometer on thursday so once i get them ill be doing a trial run with everything. I was also thinking about putting the water bottles under the grate like that too. I'll try that too during my trials and see how it works out.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys!

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I have the same concept with a 150qt igloo cooler and it works great. Good luck and let us know how the testing goes.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Im cramming that bator with eggs. CRAMMING!

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YUSSSS MY MINION!!! CRAMMED EGGS!!! :rage:

I have just shy of 2ft of 11" Flexwatt in my wine cooler 'bator- also running on a Herpstat. The Herpstat is generally running ~20% power to maintain 88.5F. It's probably just a bit larger than your setup and has one 120mm fan.

My site has pics and a build plan for one under the "Projects" page.

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h.../Incubator.jpg

This is random, but I have the same shoes as the ones in your picture:banana:

I only used heat tape on the bottom but I don't see how it'd hurt to have more tape - the thermostat should keep it in check. I'm a huge fan of water bottles in an incubator. It's amazing how fast you get up to your target temp after opening/closing the bator with the water bottles in there. When I first crank my incubator up it takes hours to get up to 88 degrees(and this is in a house that's typically in the low 80s already). I might lose 4-5 degrees when opening the incubator but with the water bottles it gets back to 88 in a flash. Then, if you ever need to add water to an egg tub, you have plenty perfectly baked H2O ready to pour. I don't like my eggs close to the tape so I use bottles as a buffer too. I'm sure you'll do a bit of tweaking once you start running trials, most of us do and it's part of the fun. Good luck and keep us posted.

http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/z...s/DSC03387.jpg

Flexwatt does not heat evenly across the tape. I'd still use a small fan to circulate the air.

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Originally Posted by joebad976

I would put the flex watt at the bottom and not the sides. Also get some water bottles to lay on the bottom then the grate on top of that this well help minimize any hot spots in the tape.

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Exactly my thoughts, also be careful about how much flexwatt you put in there. For some reason mine would not stay stable until I took out a stip of flexwatt. My fridge bator only has 3 strips of 4 inch, so you may only need 1 or 2 strips.