Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For those who remember or care I posted some info on building a custom incubator a while back in response to a post. I just thought I would post a couple pictures of the finished product as well as the original post. From the tests I have run it holds temp great. I kept it in my garage for a week and it only varied .4 degrees from the 89 degree setting even when the temp outside dropped to 40 degrees. Inside my basement it has only varied .2 degrees. There is also only around a .2 to .4 degree temperature variation from top to bottom depending on where you put the thermostat probe. The best results have been from putting the thermostat probe on the bottom shelf (shelves not shown). Just thought I would share.

George

That is awsome man! Don't be suprized if here in a few months you get a bunch of emails from me asking questions about how to build one like that! Very nice!
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Ben

Thanks much, and not a problem if you have any questions let me know.

George

I did think of a couple of questions. Where are the fans? I assume they are at the top and pointing down? Or do you have them at the bottom? All I know is that in my little hovabator (with modified 14" deep bottom) I had like a 5-8 degree difference in temp from top to bottom. If I didn't have all my eggs and the thermometer all right at the same level then things would get messed up. It souds like you have it pretty well figured out, that is AWSOME!

Also, how much did it end up costing you, and where did you get the electronic components that you have on it. Are they things that I could get at Home Depot, etc.? Or do you have to order them?

Thanks,
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Ben

The fans are located on the bottom, one is in the front on the right hand side pointing toward the back and the other is back left pointing to front. You can see the front right fan in one of the pictures I posted. They are blowing directly onto the heating element to dissipate the heat faster. They are also positioned in a manner that is going to create a circular action which should help circulate air and heat evenly. In the first incubator I built I had two fans on the top and two on the bottom, but it didn't appear the top fans helped much.

The cost of the matierials was right around $400. Most of the electronics were ordered. The heat coil and insulators are from Lyon Electric - www.lyonelectric.com. The fans are from Jameco - www.jameco.com. The thermostat is a Herpstat which I sell, I just had the manufacturer send me one that was not in an enclosure so I could mount the circuit board directly to the face plate. They also sent me the normal mylar sticker used on their thermostat cases to put on the front of the face plate to hide the holes cut for screen and buttons. The rest of the electronics: switches, wire, transformer, and thermometer were purchased at Radio Shack. The face plate was made from 1/8 inch plexiglass with the back painted black.

Hope this helps,
George

super job,you did your homework and it looks great.i also am going to build a incubator,haven't come up with my final plan yet.seeing that you have such a little variance in top and bottom temps do you think the fans are necessary? i was also wondering about humditiy,will that be controlled by the tubs themselfs? i was thinking of heating mine with a aquarium heater and having a water pan in the bottom,any thoughts?

Thanks, this is actually the second one I have built. This one is for a friend. I have been using the first one for the last four or five years with great success. The only real differences I made in this one is a digital thermostat and some cosmetic changes.

As for the temperature variance, they are only so close because of the fans. I didn't do specific testing with this incubator but did with my first one and there was a much bigger difference without. A definite must in one this large.

The humidity will be controlled by the egg boxes themselves. Personally I wouldn't use an aquarium heater for a few different reasons.
One: There is a minimum depth and amount of water they can be used in, which would use more space then necessary.
Two: Reliability, I have seen these things explode if water drops too low or if cold water is added.
Three: Most of all it has to heat the water before radiating into the incubator so you are going to see much more variance of temps.
There are more but I think that covers the basics. It may work in a small incubator but still think heat tape or a heating element would work much better. It is so much easier to control humidity in a small enclosure than trying to control it throughout the whole incubator.

George

thanks for the tips,revision # 692 coming up.have fun!

I need one of those soon. How about an e-mail possibly slightly smaller as well. That looks great.