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ThatGuy101 RepticTay Lex123 ThatGuy101 |
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ThatGuy101 View Profile |
Incubator HOW-TOs
basically you’ll need fridgerator or cooler, a drill, a circular hole saw bit, a straight saw (for cutting the PVC) some PVC tubing (i think i used 1.25"), 1/2" cold water foam pipe insulation, silicone, foil tape, emery cloth or aluminum oxide sanding paper, and your pre-wired flexwatt, a thermostat, flexwatt heat tape...and a nail or awl to scratch marks in the sheet metal for positioning. this is super easy, i just found a location in the cooler where it did not appear to have anything in the walls of the unit, ie. no coils no wires etc. Drill a hole, sand edges to smooth, insert pvc pipe, silicone exposed edges, let dry, adhere the flexwatt tape inside unit , insert wiring through pvc tube wrapped in pipe insulating foam, connect plugs and voila! any questions, please post them to the thread rather than PMing me. I am sure I will leave something out. thanks Duane the cooler
choose an area to make a hole , inspect unit to make sure nothing appears to be going through that area, no wires no coils, no tubing, etc. mark a spot of the hole, this is where all wires will pass through, you will insulate this after.
this just shows the drill, the bit used, and the hole. check what you have-make the hole size match a drill bit you have access too, i chose 1 1/4 because it is the smallest size that a plug end will fit through, and i needed to fit a plug from pre-wired flexwatt through the tube into a standard electrical type outlet on my thermostat (DBS1000-Helix, affixed to outside of unit) to be connected.
sand the edges to prevent accidentally cutting and bleeding all over the place
cut a section of PVC tubing to fit the thickness plus about 1/8th -.25" inches on both sides, to make sure it extends beyond the wall edges of the unit...
silicone can be used to seal the front and back edges, the area between the extended tube and the unit’s surfaces on the inside and outside (sorry no pics of me doing this part)
(inwards going outside, through the back) my images show the heat tape positioned into place and held to the interior surface by foil tape. this assumes you already have the heat tape made, you can find a PDF file on the internet called ’WIRING FLEXWATT’, if you need to know how this is done.. the wires have been gathered, a section of pipe insulation wrapped around them, and inserted through the PVC..
finished and connected, any friedgerator can be used, as it will provide the needed insulation, just have someone help you if you if you are not sure where to cut a hole on the fridge... Old/unused mini-fridges are great...
i am sure i am forgetting something, I wanted to post this soon, as i repsonded to a post about bad eggs/ drafty incubators and egg hatching problems...you’ll get very steady temps with this, I have been able to keep steady temps at 82 up until it gets about 95 outdoors, then you should have air conditioning or a basement type stable temped environment. good luck. Duane |
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| 06/19/09 06:27pm |
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RepticTay View Profile |
Message To: ThatGuy101 In reference to Message Id: 2025454 Incubator HOW-TOs
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| 06/20/09 02:26pm |
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Lex123 View Profile |
Message To: RepticTay In reference to Message Id: 2025874
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| 06/22/09 02:39pm |
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ThatGuy101 View Profile |
Message To: Lex123 In reference to Message Id: 2027045 Incubator HOW-TOs
sure i know people that use them, you need to watch them...they shouldn’t be anywhere where there are great temperature changes (keep away from drafts, windows with direct light, ) my building is not good for using that type of incubator, i needed something insulated. a few degree rise in my indoor temperatures caused problems with the hovabator my first year, after that I decided to switch. my first homemade type was actually a half size fridge with a solid door, this was my second one. many of the issues with them can be fixed by using a thermostat instead of the rheostat that they come with. it keeps a steady temperature only in the amount it delivers, it is not self-adjusting based on the temperature inside the incubator. so as the temperature outside the hovabator rises and lowers , so will the temperature INSIDE . temperature spikes of a few degrees over the course of a few days can cause problems in the hatchling’s development; at the least these include tail kinks or changes to the Temperature Determined Sex of the animal. -D |
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| 06/26/09 04:24am |
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