Questions About Building An Incubator.

Hi Everyone,
We have 2 HovaBator incubators and they work great but I feel we are in need of something bigger. I have been doing research on building a homemade one. I went to our local recycling facility and picked up a small refrigerator for this purpose. The freon has already been disposed of and all I have to do is remove the compressor and cooling elements. I have a rheostat and a couple of digital thermometers to maintain the proper ambient heat inside the incubator. I do , however, have a couple questions (OK, 4 questions) about some of the assembly.

1. The fridge dimensions are 19" x 19" x 33". Should I use 1 or 2 pieces of 11" FlexWatt as the heating element? Not sure exactly how much FlexWatt is needed to do the job efficiently (I am thinking atleast 2 pieces).

2. As long as I check on the clutches regularly for humidity levels, will i need to put a bin of water in the bottom of the incubator on top of the FlexWatt to keep humidity levels high? Or, will just checking them regularly and spraying them as needed be sufficient?

3. Where the fridge is a smaller one, will/should I have to install a small (Computer) fan inside to circulate air flow or will just general maintenance of the bins (checking the bins regularly/weekly) be sufficient enough to allow proper heating and air circulation or will I have to worry about warm/cool spots in the incubator if I do not use one?

4. Do I have to install some kind of vent/s in the fridge to allow for fresh air exchange through the incubator or will just checking the bins regularly allow adequate exposer of oxygen to the eggs during the incubation cycle?

All replies will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to help me with my dilemmas.
Jay

BUMP. Looking for some insight.
Thanks,
Jay

We use upright freezers to the same ideas apply. I would probably use two pieces of flexwatt. I'd just check on the eggs, if it seems to be drying them out then add a small container with water in the bottom. We also have a small computer fall at the top to keep air flowing. We check on the eggs about once a day and so have haven't had to add holes to the exterior to allow air flow, however on a small unit you might want to add one or two to be on the safe side. Hope this helps.

It's funny....I was just thinking about making one of these. It seems to be overkill, though, since I won't have but one....maybe 2 clutches this year. We'll see.

Sounds like you're on the right track. IMHO One piece of flexwatt would be enough...depending on length...and I'd DEFINITELY have a fan going. Keeping the air moving will definitely make the whole operation more efficient and prevent hot or cold spots.

PJCReptiles said:

1. The fridge dimensions are 19" x 19" x 33". Should I use 1 or 2 pieces of 11" FlexWatt as the heating element? Not sure exactly how much FlexWatt is needed to do the job efficiently (I am thinking atleast 2 pieces).

Click to expand...

I would use two. I think it's better to have more than enough and not run them at full power, thatn to have one piece which may have to be run hotter longer to maintain the temps.

2. As long as I check on the clutches regularly for humidity levels, will i need to put a bin of water in the bottom of the incubator on top of the FlexWatt to keep humidity levels high? Or, will just checking them regularly and spraying them as needed be sufficient?

Click to expand...

Just checking them should be fine. What containers are you incubating them in? I imagine that those will retain water pretty well (or they should be anyways!). Also, what I would do is keep a spray bottle full of water in the incubator and use that so that the water temp will be the same as the eggs.

3. Where the fridge is a smaller one, will/should I have to install a small (Computer) fan inside to circulate air flow or will just general maintenance of the bins (checking the bins regularly/weekly) be sufficient enough to allow proper heating and air circulation or will I have to worry about warm/cool spots in the incubator if I do not use one?

Click to expand...

Because it's smaller I wouldn't worry about it too much. There may be some warm/cool spots, but you can verify this by placing the probe in different spots in the fridge and comparing the temps. If it's something drastic then you might need to do something, but I imagine that it won't be necessary.

4. Do I have to install some kind of vent/s in the fridge to allow for fresh air exchange through the incubator or will just checking the bins regularly allow adequate exposer of oxygen to the eggs during the incubation cycle?

Click to expand...

If you're checking on them daily, or even every other day, then that should be fine.

Good luck with the incubator!

Thanks Everyone,
These are great replies and exactly what I was looking for. These were consice, informative and straight to the point. I appreciate the feedback. Now I will get this thing built and see what happens.
Jay

I built one using a mini fridge early this year, as always I went way overboard.
The only thing I have found that I can not figure out is that if the door is sealed the temps will rise up to high even with out the heat running.
So all I do is leave the door 1/8" open and its been holding temps great.
I started using shoe box tubs but they did not seal good enuf with the fan moving air it dried out the eggs. I went to my normal food storage containers and solved that.
Other that those small issues it is working great and eggs are hatching as I type!!

here is a link to it.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48120

TIM

That is a sweet incubator. All it needs now is a skull and crossbones to go with the flames. Thanks for the tips.
Jay

I feel a little bit late in getting to this thread . . . I'll see what I can add. I used to use 32 gallon rubbermaid tubs with water in the bottom, tank heaters etc. (I have some pics at my website if you're interested). I never had problems so much as was getting worried with how saturated everything was humidity wise. It wasn't really broke, but I decided to fix it and go a different route this year anyway. Here's the thread I had started on it: http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48965

I'll try to answer your questions based on my recent experiences with my cooler:

PJCReptiles said:

Hi Everyone,
1. The fridge dimensions are 19" x 19" x 33". Should I use 1 or 2 pieces of 11" FlexWatt as the heating element? Not sure exactly how much FlexWatt is needed to do the job efficiently (I am thinking atleast 2 pieces).

Click to expand...

I will probably add a second piece to my cooler after this breeding season as the top portion is about 1-2 degrees cooler than the bottom portion . . . that could be related to my 2" hole I drilled which I will refer to later . . .

2. As long as I check on the clutches regularly for humidity levels, will i need to put a bin of water in the bottom of the incubator on top of the FlexWatt to keep humidity levels high? Or, will just checking them regularly and spraying them as needed be sufficient?

Click to expand...

I would recommend doing your best to keeping the humidity higher within the egg containers as opposed to inside the fridge. Condensation is a pain in the butt, and is the main reason I chose to go a different route this season.

3. Where the fridge is a smaller one, will/should I have to install a small (Computer) fan inside to circulate air flow or will just general maintenance of the bins (checking the bins regularly/weekly) be sufficient enough to allow proper heating and air circulation or will I have to worry about warm/cool spots in the incubator if I do not use one?

Click to expand...

I would recommend a fan. I used a small submersible pump in my 32 gallon tubs to avoid hot spots in the water, and am using a fan in my cooler to hopefully do the same thing. It's about time to check on the eggs, so will see if I'm having humidity problems from it or not. :shrugs: I purposely avoid checking on the eggs too often as it just creates more stress for myself!!

Another tip that I picked up somewhere . . .can't remember where, but it was here somewhere . . . was adding bottles of water to help maintain the temperatures. I added several 1 liter bottles to my setup, and temps became a lot more stable and fluctuated a lot less. Not that the flucuations I was seeing were abnormal, out of range, or too much, but there was ups and downs . . . not nearly as bad as using my uninsulated 32 gallon tubs!

4. Do I have to install some kind of vent/s in the fridge to allow for fresh air exchange through the incubator or will just checking the bins regularly allow adequate exposer of oxygen to the eggs during the incubation cycle?

Click to expand...

I'm a spaz about having enough oxygen for everything, so I probably over-do it on the ventilation bit. I cut a 2" hole in the side (top) of my cooler to create a ventilation hole and 'plugged' it with a foam filter. I am planning to expanding foam the hole smaller after this season as I believe it is contributing to uneven heating from top to bottom.

Hope that gives you some different ways to go. :shrugs:
D80