Of plywood,heat....

[kwame]

Hi friends
i am to bother you guys with another problem.I want to build a home made wooden forced air incubator for my chicken and geese eggs but i fear that the temperature will fluctuate.I want to use 3/4'' thick tropical plywood lined with aluminium 0.6mm sheet/foil in the inside.The incubators is 4.5FT*2FT*3FT (a little bigger than a table top fridge).
Has anyone used a forced air wooden incubator and what were the results specifically,was the temperature stable?

 

[SABorn]

I have no idea to your question, but a thought came to mind reading your post.

Could you use an old fridge with the guts removed and the heater added, they would be well insulated, and cost almost nothing for a dead one.

 

[Boncuk]

Hi kwame,

it takes a little bit more than an incubator case of the dimensions you have on mind.

Incubators require constant temperature, constant moisture (to be increased shortly before hatching), an egg turner and fresh air (to avoid rotting of eggs).

Even using foam heat insulation the temperature will vary with ambient temperature. That can be compensated by using heated air (heater in the downstream air flow).

Air must be distributed at low speed to avoid wind (or storm) within the incubator.

If you are interested I might provide a suggestion for an incubator controller which I made on the basis of an ATMEL mircrocontroller.

Boncuk

 

[jpanhalt]

We used to make small incubators for 35°C from plywood, usually only 3/8 to 1/2 thick. I am not sure of the purpose for the aluminum foil lining. I suspect it is to "even out the temperature," which I don't think will be necessary with forced air, nor do I think the aluminum foil will effectively improve heat distribution. I would suggest adding about 1 to 2 inches of building insulation to the inside or outside of the box. Foil-faced insulation will work nicely inside the box.

As for heating, we often just used an incandescent light bulb. In one case where we used a heating element, we put the element outside the box in its own little box and circulated air from that heater into the incubator.

Is humidity control an issue? If so, you will find an open pan of water in the bottom of the incubator will give you nice humidity.

John

 

[kwame]

Hi John
I have used a discarded fridge thrice to hatch but the hatch did not go above 25%.That is why i want to build a custom made one that suits my taste.So i know all the basics about hatching eggs like filling a plate full of water to provide humidity ,ventilation ,turning eggs odd number of times, etc.
John, the object of using the aluminium sheet is twofold: firstly ,i want to seal the tiny holes at the surface of the plywood which can breed germs and secondly,prevent the warmth from escaping via those tiny holes therein and ensure energy efficiency.
John you said that you were able to main a temperature of 35 degrees within a 3/8 t0 1/2 inch plywood without any form of insulation.How did you achieve that feat?
Then it very likely that i can attain a temperature of 37.5 if i should use a 3/4'' plywwod.
I am i have three controllers with me, Boncun,,i would like to see the controller you are making reference to.

 

[jpanhalt]

John you said that you were able to main a temperature of 35 degrees within a 3/8 t0 1/2 inch plywood without any form of insulation.How did you achieve that feat?

I wasn't clear. We used plywood for structural durability only and wanted to keep it light, which is why we used 3/8 or 1/2" material. We added 1" faced polyurethane foam (R-19 ???) to the inside. It adds negligible weight and is a far better insulator than plywood.

John