Constancy in Incubators

[Logan & Allana]

ok thanks guys, The fridge is quite a large one and I'm using a Microclimate DL1 600W dimming thermostat in it. The 240v fan I got in it is right at the bottom and even when turned off isn't changing the temps at all. I really think the temperature in the house is what's effecting it as when we hit night say midnight it drops to anywhere from 28deg - 29 and then at the hotter time of the day it's getting up to around 33deg. The fridge is kept under my house which is the coolest place in the whole house. I also am using this polystyrene box incubator for my dragon eggs and it isn't coping well at all, with every deg the house changes it changes.

There's not much difference inside the fridge as I have a thermometer on each shelf as well as a digital one on the outside with a probe inside and they are all around the same (even the one closest to the fan). I just dont' know how I'm going to stop the outside temperature effecting the incubator as this weather is just mad and all over the place (I'm not even game to leave the house in case it goes way above what I want).

The only other thing would be to buy a air conditioner for under the house and run it 24/7 which would be a killer for the electricity bill. So I wondered what people did to incubate eggs without air cons?

[Kyro]

I think the only way you can get around the problem wihout buying an a/c would be to try insulating the fridge even more than it is.I'm not too sure what you could use though, maybe some one can suggest something

[Moreliaman]

Originally Posted by The Devil

I think your problem is that you are using a 240 volt fan, a friend of mine did this and couldn't figure out why the temp went up past 38C.
It would appear that the bearing on a 240 volt fan give off a lot of heat.

Change the fan to a 12 volt and use a transformer, mobile phone chargers work well.

I had the same problems with fluctuating temps when i set up my first fridge incubator, the 240v fan is too much, as soon as it was swapped with 1 CPU fan the temps stayed pretty constant, also any internal lighting can screw things up !. The 240v fan also created too much air flow & tended to lower the humidity to dangerous levels, even now with a 12v fan i allways put a cup of water in the incubator.

But your warm climate doesnt help matters as you already know.......looks like youll have to find a more temperature stable room.

[The Devil]

Logan & Allana's Reptile Enclosures,
I think you are going to have a real problem when the hot weather arrives.
I live in Brisbane, use a large fridge for a incubator and it's only a few time each summer that I have to run the a/con in that room.

A suggestion for hot day, drape wet towels over the outside of the fridge, keep them wet and that works just like the old canvas waterbag on the bull bar of a car.

[Logan & Allana]

Originally Posted by The Devil

Logan & Allana's Reptile Enclosures,
I think you are going to have a real problem when the hot weather arrives.
I live in Brisbane, use a large fridge for a incubator and it's only a few time each summer that I have to run the a/con in that room.

A suggestion for hot day, drape wet towels over the outside of the fridge, keep them wet and that works just like the old canvas waterbag on the bull bar of a car.

Ok thanks for that. Yes the fridge is extreamly large, I'm not sure exactly what it is in L but it's huge (not a bar fridge or anything like that). I turned the fan off today to see what would happen and the fridge actually dropped right down to 27deg so I"m guessing that was possibly the problem. Is it really necessary to have the fan going (I know it's to help circulate the heat) but is it necessary or it can go without?. The fridge is in the coolest part of the house I have, I just went out tonight and brought a portable air con (not sure how good that's going to be but will soon find out). And yes like you said this is only the start, waiting for them almost 40deg days might be a killer, I'll definetly give the towel trick a go if I need to. Hopefully all it was, was the fan. I was going to get the 12v but read of a few people using the 240v with no problems, and thought big fridge will need bigger fan (dum me). Ah hopefully it goes ok now, I'll go and get another fan, I seen one in a computer shop, 12v with a switch to adjust the speed, should of got that in the first place. I had to end up taking the beardie eggs out of the little box incubator as it was just all over the place, so hopefully this fridge works, because I know beardie eggs are tolerant, but how much I dunno