incubator pics/heat in door

[Dave763]

I figured since there was a cavity in the door, it would be a good spot for the heat/fans. This is the third setup. First I had a fan that was to small. Then I put one in that heated up the incubator past the T-stat setting (120v). Now I will run this setup for a few days to see how it works.
4 feet flexwatt and 2 120mm 12v pc case fans

[RichsBallPythons]

Might want them fans on top. So the rising heat can be blown back down and equal out top to bottom

[Dave763]

Air is drawn in at the top. Out at the bottom. Creating a constant air flow inside the incubator.
I'll monitor the temps and see how it works.

[snakesRkewl]

Might want them fans on top. So the rising heat can be blown back down and equal out top to bottom

Looks similar to the false back one someone else posted except Dave's using the door instead.

I'd be concerned that pulling the heat out with the door might alter temps too much, but that's what testing is for.
Let us know how it goes dave

[Dave763]

Temps are even top to bottom and stable. So far so good. I'll let it run and see what happens.
I don't expect any eggs for about 3 or 4 weeks so I have time to work out the bugs.
I think it's going to work out nice.

[Jeremy78]

Kinda surprised it wasn't asked yet hehe...

Why'd you put insulation on top of the heat source? It would be more economical/ better/ safer to have the heat on top of the insulation. Your tape (as of now) is heating between the insulation and the outside of the door.

Do a test. Use your temp gun and check the temps on top of the insulation. Then pull the insulation back and check the temp of the tape.

It could also be pretty dangerous if your probe is in the fridge. The tape could get a lot hotter then expected sandwiched between insulation then out in the open.

Just my $0.02

[Dave763]

Kinda surprised it wasn't asked yet hehe...

Why'd you put insulation on top of the heat source? It would be more economical/ better/ safer to have the heat on top of the insulation. Your tape (as of now) is heating between the insulation and the outside of the door.

Do a test. Use your temp gun and check the temps on top of the insulation. Then pull the insulation back and check the temp of the tape.

It could also be pretty dangerous if your probe is in the fridge. The tape could get a lot hotter then expected sandwiched between insulation then out in the open.

Just my $0.02

Do you really think that the temp of the outside of the radiant insulation would be anywhere near the temp of the surface of the flexwatt? Really man, use your head.
Think of how a forced air heating system works. Air passes over the heat exchanger in the plenum where it picks up heat and distributes it through your house.
Here the air is heated as it passes through the cavity in the door.

As to it being dangerous to have the probe in the fridge,...um you must be joking right. If the probe is not in there how would the herpstat know the temp? On the contrary, it would be very dangerous if the probe was not in the fridge.
I have had it running for a few days now temps are stable and even top to bottom.
People, whatever you do please make sure the probe is in the incubator with the eggs or you will cook them.

[Matt K]

I think you're misunderstanding him Dave. He's saying that putting the insulation over the tape will make the tape have to work harder to heat the fridge. Of course the probe goes inside the incubator, but he's saying that even with the probe inside of the incubator, with the heat tape having to heat through insulation, the tape is going to heat up beyond what it needs to to warm the incubator, making it potentially dangerous.

Now I don't know anything about radiant insulation, so I don't know if this argument is sound, but it makes sense to me if it's anything like normal insulation. He's meaning to say that because the surface of the radiant insulation won't be as high as the flexwatt, problems could occur. Anywho, I think he was just making a helpful inquiry, and you might have gone off on him a little bit, lol. I dig how the fans look at the bottom there, perfect fit, and I like the idea of having air pass through that gap in the insulation on top and blowing to the bottom, where it could naturally rise. Seems like a cool design to me.

Cheers,
-Matt

[Matt K]

To add onto that, I don't think Jeremy noticed the gap on the top of the insulation, or realized that there is air between the heat tape and insulation. I think he thought that you simply put the insulation tightly over the heat tape on the door. I can see from the pictures how this would be an easy mistake to make.

Cheers,
-Matt

[Dave763]

Early morning post,...sounded a bit cranky. Sorry.
Temps are even top to bottom, and nice and stable.Herpstat is 0% to 10% output to hold temps stable. I doubt at that low of an output, that the flex watt is very far above the Herpstat set temp.

Anyways its looks like everything is working great, good thing as we have a bunch of clutches on the way

Again sorry about the snippy post