Hello everyone!
I’m building an incubator for the first time out of a mini fridge. There isn’t a lot of room in there and I was wondering if I still need to put a fan in there to circulate the hot air? I tested it for a day and it got up to heat fast both outside of the container and in the container and stayed steady. I plan to put water bottles along the bottom to help keep the temps stable as well.
Thank you for your time and input!
That’s a LOT of heat tape for such a tiny incubator.
I would have gone for a 4 inches wide heat tape on each side not covering the top or the bottom, just the sides.
That seems like way too much heat tape. I’d go either smaller heat tape or maybe only cover the back(still might be too much.)
Personally, I’d still try to fit a small fan in if possible. Air circulation is always good.
Thank you! All the DIY tutorials I looked at suggested 12" heat tape, but I guess they were for larger incubators.
Thank you!
This is my incubator build, it’s been holding at a steady 88°F for several months and has a clutch of eggs in it right now. They’ve been going for 2 weeks and still look healthy so I assume the incubator is working well.
I was able to unplug the components for cooling the fridge, which allowed me to still use the built-in fan for air circulation.
I would agree that you are using too much heat tape and really don’t need that much to maintain the temperatures 
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Thank you for your assistance! I will post pictures when I add the right amount of heat tape and a fan.
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