Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted in the thread below but to no avail. I know alot of you swear by these and I have talked to Casey and several other people. I like the incubator and by no means is this a strike against Casey....good guy. Just still having problems getting a good solid temp gradient from top to bottom. Can those of you that have these tell me how, where you have your probe......what thermostat you are using, tub placement, what temps you are being able to keep from level to level...etc....... any info will help because mine just seems to be all over the place.

Thanks

Casey will tell you the best place the probe should go is in front of his fan. Thats where I had the probe this entire season and the incubator performed flawlessly.

the solution is adding another fan or upgrading the existing one

I hang the probe about 6 inches in front of the fan...haven't measured temps. since I first started using them, don't remember variance. Are you having some kind of trouble with hatch rates?
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Dale....dgoins222@yahoo.com
www.LibertyReptiles.com

I place the probe in front of the fan about 6-inches back too, but I also place the acrylic stand taht came with the helix under the probe so the air from the fan hits it and pushed upwards. My temps have always been consistent.

As of now, no, but I guess I'm a little compulsive with things that I don't think are working the way they should and look at it in the worst way.

I'll be honest, I think the placement of the fan by the manufacturer is the real issue. I have never used nor seen one of these incubators in person but from the ones I have built and used for years I know that a fan does very little good at the bottom of an incubator.
Lets think this through together;
We all know that hot air rises,so without a fan at all, the hottest part of the incubator would be at the top, and the temps would decrease the lower in the incubator you get.
We also know that the purpose of a fan is to circulate enough air so that there is virtually no "thermal layering" in the incubator. SO keeping this in mind, do you not think that the fan would prove a lot more useful at the top of the incubator, blowing the hot air down and around, or at the bottom of the incubator, blowing air up?
Also, let us consider the temperatures and probe location in an incubator. Again, if you take the temps in front of a blowing fan they are going to be cooler than the air that is not moving as quickly, yes? So the temps at the bottom of the incubator in FRONT of the fan will be greatly cooler than the air above it, right?
So if you set your probe at, say 89 degrees in front of the fan at the bottom of the incubator, there is an excellent chance that, with a weaker fan, and teh cooler moving air, that the upper bins in this incubator can vary as much as 5 degrees. This is bad, agreed?
Solution: Use a fan that blows at least 15-20 CFM for optimal air movement which will eliminate thermal gradients, and place it, as well as the probe, (though not IN FRONT of the fan) at the top of the incubator with the fan blowing down.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

does moving air actually differ in temp from still air?

remember WE feel the air as cooler due to evaporation from our skin....the probe doesn't sweat....

....???????????

I have no idea on these 'bators...but fan top blowing down and good enough air circulation would be my choice....

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1(normal,mojave,3 spider mojaves)
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"does moving air actually differ in temp from still air?"
Yes, absolutely 100% yes. Sweating or not, I would much rather sit below a ceiling fan or on front of a floor model than not.
Think about it.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

"Yes, absolutely 100% yes. Sweating or not, I would much rather sit below a ceiling fan or on front of a floor model than not."

That is called wind chill, you feel it because the air causes the outer layer of your skin to "shed" heat, and you feel cooler.
The air is the same temperature whether it is moving or not, and moving air does not influence the thermostat probe any more than stagnant air.

Yes warm air rises, which is why the fan blows the "warmed" air out near the bottom of the incubator, then it rises and mixes with the rest of the air, which after a very short period of time is also "warm" air. Warm is relative to what it is compared to. Does 89.9 degree air rise in an incubator that is full of 89.9 degree air? Once the incubator is up and running, it uses about 15watt, or 10% of the heat tape to maintain a set point of 90, depending on the air temp. of the room it is in. The fan adds about 8watts of heat to the incubator, and the unresticted flow is approx 23cfm, other than that, a fan does not affect the temperature of the air at all, that is why probe placement in front of the moving air makes the most sense. IMO and in tests.

Thank you all for your responses. I am not a seasoned vet at this nor am I what I would call a newbie either. I have tried the different things such as covering the whole incubator with a blanket to try and even the temps, placing something in front of the fan to deflect the air flow, placing extra tubs on the racks to fill the incubator.

It just seems to me that with the probe dangling 6 inches in front of the fan, I will get around a 3-4 degree temp difference from top to bottom. Too much in my eyes. I know there will be a variance from level to level and also as the eggs mature, the inside temp of the tubs will vary.

Right now I have moved the probe to the middle rack, have a tub of newer eggs on the top rack, older eggs on the middle and empty tub on bottom. Helix set at 89 has the ambient on both levels at 88.3 (varies a little depending on time of day)but a degree difference inside the tubs with the newer eggs being warmer than the older.(swapped thermometers and still the same) This is working better than before when I would get a 2 degree difference on the same level from side to side and 3-4 degrees stepping down. Although to achieve this I still have to put a 'block" in front of the fan to deflect the air.

It should work for me this year but even now I couldn't "fill" the incubator and keep in specs for all bins. Just trying to find out what others are doing.

Thanks again.

I had to remove the shelves from mine to make room for my tubs, so there is no where for me to hang the probe. I have it taped in the middle of the wall opposite the fan. I always have something in front of the fan to deflect the air. I have temp gunned random spots at various levels in the incubator and I'm always within 1 degree of the thermostat setting.

What temp do you set your thermostat at?

I have it set at 89. I temp gunned the set up and the floor is 89.3, and the top is 89.9