# diy incubator



## mattclarke (Jun 13, 2008)

hi peeps . 
ive just bought a small 20l mini fridge from argos to get my meal worms and wax worms out the food fridge and have noticed that it heats as well as cools .

it says it heats/warms up to 65 degrees celcius and cools to 15 degrees celcius below ambient temp. it uses thermoelectric semi conductors ( what ever they are, can any one explain?)

looks very similar to the first luckyreptile herp nursery .

looks like it has a large 120mm computer fan at the back and thats all i can tell about its working equipment 

what im asking is if i drilled it and put it on a stat would it make a decent small incubator ? 

also what type of stat would i need if it is any good ? pulse proportional thermostat?

thanks guys : victory:


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## lycanlordsbitch (Jul 21, 2008)

pulse thermostats are the best for keeping the temp variance as low as possible, i can see it making a good incubator as it would insulate fairly well, after all an incubator is just an insulated box really, however i have never used a fan in any incubators and think it may be better not to as i think it may affect humidity levels, just checked and you should disconnect the fan as it will lower humidity.


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## Fly (May 27, 2008)

Unfortunately they use a thermoelectric heat pump (AKA Peltier) to provide heat/cold. As you pass electric through the chip, you get heat one end and cold the other, all the fan does is dissipate the heat created by cooling the fridge (although technically it is a cooler not a fridge). The downside is that they only work using the surround temperature as a benchmark for their own temperature. This means on a really warm day, it will not cool unless you reverse the polarity on the Peltier, putting the cold end of the flow inside the cooler. They do not contain a thermostat so you would need to use an external one. Dimming thermostats will not work very well with Peltier chips that have in line electronics and a fan like this one so you will get heavily fluctuating temperatures. Your best bet is to use the case, fit a heat mat and use a pulse proportional stat to control the temperature inside.


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## reptiles_galore (Aug 13, 2008)

Fly said:


> Unfortunately they use a thermoelectric heat pump (AKA Peltier) to provide heat/cold. As you pass electric through the chip, you get heat one end and cold the other, all the fan does is dissipate the heat created by cooling the fridge (although technically it is a cooler not a fridge). The downside is that they only work using the surround temperature as a benchmark for their own temperature. This means on a really warm day, it will not cool unless you reverse the polarity on the Peltier, putting the cold end of the flow inside the cooler. They do not contain a thermostat so you would need to use an external one. Dimming thermostats will not work very well with Peltier chips that have in line electronics and a fan like this one so you will get heavily fluctuating temperatures. Your best bet is to use the case, fit a heat mat and use a pulse proportional stat to control the temperature inside.


could not agree more

its your best bet


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## mattclarke (Jun 13, 2008)

isnt the peltier technology the same that the lucky reptile herp nurseries use though .and wasnt the mk one herp nursery just a mini beer fridge . this was pulled from peregrines lucky rptile catologue on their website:-

This stylish and easy to use incubator has a digital thermostat for
precise temperature control. As casing a mini cooler is used, which
has excellent insulating capabilities. For heating a peltier element
is used which can also be switched to Cooling. This enables you
to use the device for hibernating your reptiles, e.g European
tortoises or Collared Lizards. The temperature area depends on
the ambient air temperature and normally is 5° to 60°C. Between
these figures you can practically set any desired temperature.
If you currently have no need for an incubator, you can also use​the device for cooling your beer!

so if i have the same heating/cooling gubins inside my fridge can i not just stick it on a pulse mat and have a herp nursery ?


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