My DIY Incubator/wine chiller :)

[nimblykimbly]

I've finally finished my Incubator made from a thermo-electrically cooled wine chiller; thought I'd share it with you all!

*If I'm missing anything, or have messed up in any way, please feel free to tell me! thanks!*

I picked up this wine chiller off of Craigslist for $30... the guy was getting rid of it because it ran but didn't chill anymore - perfect! Anyway, if you guys can find one of these models that chill thermo-electrically, you don't have to worry about any compressor, Freon lines, etc. I thought it was really pretty easy to convert into an incubator!


Here is the inside, before I messed with any of it.


Took the back cover off....


Was a little daunting at first....


...but the thermo-electric unit pulled right out. Clipped the wires.


This is the fan that blew the cool air off of the TE unit and forced it into the chiller. I ended up turning this fan around so it blew into the incubator.


Measured the space to cover with a square of styrofoam.


These were attached below the thermo-electric unit to keep it from overheating.... (please disregard my cheap box wine )


I unscrewed one of them from the frame, and then clipped the wiring to the other, since I wouldn't need it, preserving the wiring to the single fan to move inside my incubator.

This grate and fan inside unscrew from the interior easily...



Put the additional fan through the hole....



...screwed it into place, and covered the wiring with electrical tape.

Oh man, that fan looks way dustier than it does in person.......

aaaaand heat tape! Then screw the back fan back into place and replace the grate over top.


Back to the back... need to cover that hole.... I used styofoam and hot glue to stick it in place....


And then replaced the back cover! Done! (Well, it does still need a couple internal thermometers and hydrometer )

Here it is in place in my rack/python center.....


These tubs (I think?) are a little bit big, as they are nearly 8 qt tubs... I'd read you can use 6 qt reasonably...? Anyway, if you can, I think I could fit a total of 6-8 tubs in here....


I'm really happy with how it turned out! Now just waiting on my thermostat for it! I did run it all for just about a half hour just to make sure it all worked, and it got up to 94* pointing my temp gun at a non-heat tape surface. Thanks for reading

[sugar shane]

very nice...........Jim

[nimblykimbly]

very nice...........Jim

Thank you, Jim

[MisterKyte]

Once again, this whole set up just looks so frickin' fantastic.
I've actually been looking for a box like this but I have yet to see a decently priced one that isn't the size of a lunchbox on my CL. :/

[nimblykimbly]

Once again, this whole set up just looks so frickin' fantastic.
I've actually been looking for a box like this but I have yet to see a decently priced one that isn't the size of a lunchbox on my CL. :/

Thank you! Try putting 'wine chiller' in the CL search, and check CL's in your surrounding areas (as long as you don't mind the trip!) I drove two hours to get this one