# Wine fridge incubator



## Tyrant pets (Nov 22, 2021)

Hey everyone,
I'm making an incubator out of a wine fridge and its all going good but have a concern about the fan inside the fridge.

The fan is pulling air out and regulating the temp and humidity but when it comes to oxygen for the eggs would this be taking out too much? Has anyone else made an incubator like this?
here's some pics.


Its holding 29 degrees and 98 humidity inside egg box.


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## dragonlover1 (Nov 23, 2021)

disconnect the built in exhaust fan and replace it with a PC fan to circulate air inside the incubator


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## Herpetology (Nov 23, 2021)

Agree with DL1

https://www.amazon.com.au/GutReise-Universal-Multifunction-Switching-Selectable/dp/B08YJV97JZ/ use this to connect a pc fan to a wall outlet, basic knowledge of stripping wire will be needed… 






IP55 80mm 12V DC Ball Bearing Fan | Jaycar Electronics


FAN 12VDC 80MM BALL/B IP55




www.jaycar.com.au


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## Tyrant pets (Nov 24, 2021)

dragonlover1 said:


> disconnect the built in exhaust fan and replace it with a PC fan to circulate air inside the incubator


Roger that so just to be clear place the fan inside the fridge say below the egg box in picture and then happy days? Is the reason behind this that the current fan in fridge(as built) which is pulling air out is taking out too much oxygen?

I will follow up with picture of the change ill make soon.

Heres the changes.

Ive just removed rear fan and moved internal fan to the rack.

Testing it now to make sure the egg box doesnt form too much humidity.



Any thoughts?


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## Herpetology (Nov 24, 2021)

The idea of the fan inside is to circulate heat, it’s not only more energy efficient, it provides an even heat from top to bottom, you will still need to open the fridge and tub once a week to exchange the air

as for placement, nailing it or screwing it into the top would be better


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## dragonlover1 (Nov 24, 2021)

this is my setup; a 12V PC fan powered by an old phone charger, so no high voltage to muck around with. It's cable tied to a shelf to move the air around so same heat all round as Herpetology said.
Is that holes I can see in the lid of the tub ? You don't want holes as the substrate will dry out. I don't want to preach to the converted but to avoid repeated posts, eggs breathe out carbon dioxide and breathe in oxygen , same as us. So we lift the lid for a couple of minutes weekly to exchange the bad air with good.


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## Tyrant pets (Nov 24, 2021)

yes it a hole I am testing it to make sure condensation doesn't build too much otherwise tub is airtight also I'm not going to use substrate setup. ill be using the no medium technique with water at bottom and having the eggs sit on a platform above the water.


pic of egg box 24hr into test. Inside is measuring 98% humidity and 31°c


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## Python (Nov 25, 2021)

Clever! Thanks for sharing.


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## E.Shell (Nov 28, 2021)

My 5 month old ReptiPro 6000 failed in the middle of a clutch and I am converting an Emerson FT966T wine chiller to be an incubator right now.

Are you SURE the internal fan is actually pulling air out? Pulling cool air out of a fridge would be an impossible way to operate and a VERY unusual setup.

As with most of these chillers, there are two fans, one outside to cool the external heat sink, the other fan is inside to circulate and draw internal air across the cool side of the internal heat exchanger. The internal fan is only a circulator and the only way the internal fan would vent to the outside is if the thermoelectric heat exchanger has been completely removed, creating an opening behind the fan.

With my conversion, I removed the rear cover and disconnected the wires from the control board to the heat exchanger to disable the chiller portion, and disconnected the external fan so only the inside fan runs.

Because I left the control board operational, I have the internal fan running as long as it calls for cooling (always), plus I have both the temperature readout and internal light working from the control board.

The unit is airtight and initial testing with only an 8 watt heat mat brought my internal temp up to 89F~32C, even with the internal fan running.


ETA: Added pic


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