Finished Incubator

[PythonWallace]

I completed my incubator over the weekend. It's a converted wine cooler with 4 shelves and 2 - 5' sections of 4" flexwatt controlled by a Herpstat. The cooler has a built in fan, lock and an L.E.D. light, and has room for 1 liter of water per shelf, behind the boxes. When I finished it I realized that I'm hoping for 5-6 clutches this year, so I have to build another one unless I can squeeze 2 mojave clutches onto one shelf. I think I saw my 2,000g female from a pastel breeding ovulate yesterday, so it should be in use soon.

[Jerhart]

BRAVO!!

I WANT ONE NOW!

[Adam_Wysocki]

Right on Jake! ... Strong work.

-adam

[daaangconcepts]

Very nice Jake!

I WANT ONE NOW!

Me too

[PythonWallace]

Thanks guys and girls! I originally used 11" flexwatt and it actually caught on fire, or at least started smouldering, against the plastic inside the incubator. I switched to the lower wattage 4" and it's safe now, but I had to scrape up the burned flexwatt and melted plastic and scrape the soot/resin off the inside of the glass. I was at work when it happened, so I'm lucky it didn't torch my condo. You have to be careful with flexwatt.

[Jerhart]

Thanks guys and girls! I originally used 11" flexwatt and it actually caught on fire, or at least started smouldering, against the plastic inside the incubator. I switched to the lower wattage 4" and it's safe now, but I had to scrape up the burned flexwatt and melted plastic and scrape the soot/resin off the inside of the glass. I was at work when it happened, so I'm lucky it didn't torch my condo. You have to be careful with flexwatt.

This is a good post, for those of you who have built an incubator using a cooler or fridge, how do you avoid melting the plastic inside? Can you put something beneath the heat tape to cut down the chances of it melting the plastic?

[PythonWallace]

If the inside is thin plastic I would stick with lower watt tape or use Reflectix tape between the tape and the walls. Or both. That 3" and 11" flexwatt can get really hot.

[NickMyers03]

i like it...i work at an appliance store ( im the kitchen designer here) and we have old appliances in all the time and some that are OLD in the back that the boss still wants to sell for top dollar...im waiting until he is ready to just give it away so i can make myself a good large size incubator...i think im going to need a glass door unit because the one i currently have does not have one and i can see myself going crazy LOL

[PythonWallace]

i like it...i work at an appliance store ( im the kitchen designer here) and we have old appliances in all the time and some that are OLD in the back that the boss still wants to sell for top dollar...im waiting until he is ready to just give it away so i can make myself a good large size incubator...i think im going to need a glass door unit because the one i currently have does not have one and i can see myself going crazy LOL

I think the glass front is a must, for me at least. I would be opening the door daily to check on the eggs, and probably every 20 minutes toward the end. Mine has vacuum insulated double pane glass on the door, which is cool. I forgot where I bought it, but I've mentioned it on here before. It was a refurb for $130 delivered. Good luck getting one from your work. That would be a nice benefit.

[RogueStar]

Wow, excellent work! Amazing, that's exactly what I'm thinking of doing!

I'm not american so I'm unfamiliar with flexwatts, could you post a pic showing the heating system a little better?

Did you have to modify the cooler itself (drill holes etc) or can you still use the cooler, as a wine cooler when not incubating? Or what I'm planning, as a winter cooling "hotel" for corns for winters.