Incubator Ideas and/or Suggestions

[Robust_Beardies]

We are building an incubator out of a wine chiller, but were hoping on some suggestions and ideas from all of you.

What do you personally use for a thermostat and heat source? What positive or negative experiences have you had with different components of the incubator?? What would you do differently if you made another one??​

Post pictures of your incubators and brag a bit!!!​

 

[PythonWallace]

re: incubator

I just built one out of a wine cooler and it works great. I am using 3' of 11" flexwatt powered by a Helix thermostat. I basically drilled a 1/4" hole through the back of the cooler to run my stripped extension cord, disconnected the thermoelectric cooling unit, and wired the heat tape inside. I plug the flexwatt into the Helx and plug the cooler into the wall so the fan runs and the LED stays on. It can get to over 115 degrees, and only fluctuates ±0.1 degrees F with the Helix. I ran the heat tape around 2 pieces of abs plastic and taped it together so the heat source is 3 layers of flexwatt in a 12" square at the bottom of the cooler. I have a wire shelf just above that to put water bottles to help hold the temps when I open the door, then there are 4 shelves above that for egg boxes. I have pics, but not here at work. I'll try to post them later.

 

[fstop2100a]

I use the helix controller also. However as a heat source I am using two inch halogon lights from Home depot. They are used for under counter lighting but put out a lot of heat. I use a small 92mm fan that I bought on line and put in in the lower corner. On my gallery are some images of two that I built.

 

[PythonWallace]

That looks like you would get some major hot spots with those halogen lights, even with a fan.

 

[Robust_Beardies]

PythonWallace – We’d love to see what you built. It’ll give us some good ideas on how to go about doing this!

fstop2100a - Doesn't that type of cabinetry bubble up and expand when exposed to moisture? How did you prevent this from happening?

Here are some pictures of the wine chiller that we are going to be using. We took out the wire racks because they were the wavy kind that nestles the wine bottles into place and wouldn’t work too well with egg containers.

There is a hole in the top of the inside where it looks like the refrigerant lines are run. We were thinking about using that hole instead of making a new one. Also, there is a drainage hole (the red and green thing) in the bottom that had a slanted ramp-shelf thing just above it. We're guessing it was to drain excess condensation. The drainage hole leads to a bowl underneath the unit next to the motor. From what we read, about 100% humidity is ideal with dragon eggs. Is this correct? If so, do you think we need to seal off the drainage hole?

We were leaning towards flexwatt or heat emitters for a heating source because they don’t produce light. But, how much of each would we need to achieve the correct temperature?

Something else we were wondering is; if we plug in the chiller to the thermostat and put the incubator into a room that was always above our target temperature, would the eggs still hatch?

Door slightly ajar

Door open

Close up of top

 

[fstop2100a]

I have not had any problem with the cabinets or temp control. Eggs have hatched just fine. I like to have windows on the doors so I can see inside.

 

[fstop2100a]

Melinite does not absorb moisture at all. Its a plastic based product.