Condensation frustrations

The title says it all! :oops:

I've had my mini fridge incubator and egg boxes set up for a few days now, and it just doesnt feel right to me.

I've been having loads and loads of condensation. At first I was using a peice of cut glass to top my egg box, and the condensation was out of control. Big large drops of water had formed on the lid of the glass.

I switched lids to what I am showing in the pic (cut rubbermaid) and everything seemed to be straight, untill now.

Here's now...

(side of egg box)
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...nakeys/6-3.jpg


http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...nakeys/1-5.jpg

(top of egg box)
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...nakeys/2-5.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...nakeys/3-5.jpg

PS. I am using substrateless incubation.

Right now this is just my trial box and without eggs, but I will have eggs within the new few days to a week.

Is this much condensation okay?

If no, what can I do to correct this??

:tricho:

Thanks
Susan

Is your perlite floating?

Edit: I saw the part about substrateless incubation, sorry...

If your humidity is up to snuff, it should be alright (although condensation is an indicator of HIGH humidity). Just try and make sure that the water doesn't pool up on the eggs themselves.

I would, to prevent so much water from pooling, to put more perlite in your mix and see what happens that way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Is your perlite floating?

Edit: I saw the part about substrateless incubation, sorry...

If your humidity is up to snuff, it should be alright (although condensation is an indicator of HIGH humidity). Just try and make sure that the water doesn't pool up on the eggs themselves.

I would, to prevent so much water from pooling, to put more perlite in your mix and see what happens that way.

---

The humidity is at 98%. I was thinking that I maybe had too much water, I might try adding more perlite. Thanks for the help Heather! :hug:

Any time, my friend!!!

Good luck with whatever you are hatching!!! :gj:

Good advice :gj:

I use the same method and what I have noticed is when the egg box humidity and the incubator humidity are way different (as your seems to be) you get more condensation inside the boxes (probably due to the surface of the plastic inside/out being different temps (as carried by the moisture)

So my recommendation is to add an open box/bucket of water to the incubator to help drive the overall humidity up...this is what I do and my condensation is much lower.

Hope this helps.

If you tilt the boxes slightly, the water will run down the lower side rather than dripping on the eggs.

Thank you all for the great info! :gj:

I really feel so much better now! :hug:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JeffFlanagan

If you tilt the boxes slightly, the water will run down the lower side rather than dripping on the eggs.

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Question:

Were you paid to say that???? :O Just wondering :O

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lord jackel

I use the same method and what I have noticed is when the egg box humidity and the incubator humidity are way different (as your seems to be) you get more condensation inside the boxes (probably due to the surface of the plastic inside/out being different temps (as carried by the moisture)

So my recommendation is to add an open box/bucket of water to the incubator to help drive the overall humidity up...this is what I do and my condensation is much lower.

Hope this helps.

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Wow, Thanks man! Thats a great idea!! Totally going to try that! Thanks for sharing!

Temperature fluctuation creates the condensation - you need to put some water bottles or something inside your incubator to stabilize the temperatures. My boxes run about 99% humidity (gauge doesn't actually go to 100% but I'm guessing 99 is close enough) and I don't get any condensation at all. But I don't do the substrateless either so that might be the downfall of that method.

Good luck! :gj:

Susan... when you set it up did you use warm water?

One of my boxes took 3 days to stabilize, and didn't really do so until I left it alone.. :rolleyes:

I've noticed that I get condensation when I open the boxes... any time there is a temp flux, the sides sweat. Not like yours, to the point that there are drips... but it gets about 1/2 that much...is your inc seal supa tight? Or maybe in a spot that is getting cold breezes, etc?

I've watched my gauges out of curiosity, and 1 degree difference will cause condensation to form... Hope some of that was useful? :oops:

BEST O'LUCK girl! You'll get it all worked out! :gj: