Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

I've recently set up an incubator in a converted drinks fridge. I used a heat mat on the bottom half linked up to a thermostat and installed a fan on the top for air circulation and it held a nice constant temp of 32C throughout.

When I added the tubs however there was a big temperature gradient between the top and bottom of the incubator. I'm presuming that the air isn't circulating properly because the tubs are getting in the way but I obviously need the tubs!! I've tried adding a 2nd fan at the top to see if this helped but it made no difference.

Has anyone come across this problem and how did they rectify it?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
Sam

I personally have four wine fridges set up somewhat similar to yours but use 3' of 11" heat tape running from top to bottom at the back.
There are a few things that you might change to make that work:
1. Smaller bins or fewer bins, air needs to be able to circulate and if there is no room for the air to move, you'll get the problem you currently have.
2. A stronger fan and/or a proper fan. Steel housing is better than crappy cheap plastic. Try for around 20CFM.
3. Heat source that utilizes more space in the incubator to better regualate the temps.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Try some of the tips Mykee stated, but also try placing your fans at opposite ends of the incubator blowing in opposite directions.

If you have one at the top right blowing down you will want the other one positioned on the bottom left blowing up. This will create a better current for the air to follow. If you place the fans along the edge of your incubator and your tubs are positioned in the middle of the incubator you should have enough room for air to circulate around the tubs.

Also, try Mykee's tip about using smaller egg boxes. Usually people tend to use larger boxes than is necessary because they are planning for bigger clutches. Try to keep more than one size of tub on hand. At least one size for smaller clutches (~1-6 eggs) and another size to handle the medium to large clutches (~7-12 eggs).

As long as you are filling the "empty" spaces in the incubator with some sort of extra thermal mass you should be fine using a combination of tub sizes. Generally, the easiest way to go about this is to fill used (and washed) water or soda bottles with water and place the bottle(s) in the empty spaces in the incubator.

Every incubator will take tweaking before you can iron out all of the kinks and the great part is, if you have a homemade incubator you will get a chance to tweak it a little more next year (always happens to me). I prefer my homemade incubators to those I've purchased simply because I can disassemble and monkey around with the parts without feeling like I have the potential to break a $300-$1000 piece of equipment.

Thanks for the tips.

I have removed the tubs from the top shelf and also put one of the fans on the bottom.

The tubs I currently have in there are only big enough for 5 egg clutches really. I've got tubs for bigger clutches which take up twice the space but I didn't put them in. I have 10 of the smaller tubs in now which is probably going to be the minimum amount I need as I've got around 20 females breeding (I'm hoping the clutches will be nicely spread out!!)

Thanks again for the advice, fingers crossed it's worked!

Thanks again for both of your suggestions.

I made the changes as mentioned in my previous post and the temps are much better. Still a litle hotter at the top but not much (31.5C bottom and middle, 32C top)