# DIY Bar fridge incubator - How to get heatcord, thermostat probes etc into fridge



## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

I am planning on upgrading from a styro box to a bar fridge incubator. I have bought a 120l bar fridge, and I have the heat cord, thermometer and a PP thermostat. There are heaps of threads on here about the general idea, but I had a question about how exactly to physically introduce the various leads into the inside of the fridge.

There seems to be three options to me:

1. Pass all leads through the door, and use a child-lock type device to keep door sealed

2. Drill a hole through the side of the body, pass leads through then plug it up

3. Pass leads in through vent that is normally connected to compressor

I do not want to do number 1. 

Number 3 doesn't involve drilling a surplus hole, but to be perfectly honest I have never taken a fridge apart before. Other threads refer to 'disconnecting/removing the compressor/innards'.... exactly how involved is this, and how is it done? 

Or do people just go in straight through the side?

I would appreciate you guys' advice


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## Bonustokin (Sep 27, 2011)

Ive drilled 2 individual holes in the side of the fridge for both the heat cord and the thermostat probe to go into. Works fine for me mate.


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

Bonustokin said:


> Ive drilled 2 individual holes in the side of the fridge for both the heat cord and the thermostat probe to go into. Works fine for me mate.



Thanks!


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## pythonmum (Sep 27, 2011)

I just close the door on my leads and don't have any trouble. Maybe that is because it is a bigger and rather dodgy old fridge, but it seals around the cords.


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

pythonmum said:


> I just close the door on my leads and don't have any trouble. Maybe that is because it is a bigger and rather dodgy old fridge, but it seals around the cords.



Thanks pythonmum! Mummabear does the same thing, only uses a childlock to keep the door closed. Unf with my little bar fridge the door definitely wouldnt stay closed on its own. And I just prefer not to have to mess around with anything to open and close the door... tho it would be make sure the door does come open some how.. decisions decisions!


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## Red-Ink (Sep 27, 2011)

I use a wine fridge so I was lucky enough that it had a hole at the bottom for condensation run-off and I passed the cord through there (just ahd to bore it a bit bigger). Another alternative mate which I have seen people do if you don't want to put holes in the fridge is to cut little slits on the door seals themselves and pass the cords through there (hinge side). Just make sure there's enough slack to account for the door swing. I did that for my thermo probe on mine and works fine. The booldy thing still works as a wine cooler when I'm not cooking eggs.


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

Smithers just suggested the same thing actually RI  I will actually go look at it and see how it might work. Just in my head tho, the cord I think is gonna be the most trouble is the thermostat probe, they are just so much bulkier than heatcord or thermometer probes. We will see tho!


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## Red-Ink (Sep 27, 2011)

killimike said:


> Smithers just suggested the same thing actually RI  I will actually go look at it and see how it might work. Just in my head tho, the cord I think is gonna be the most trouble is the thermostat probe, they are just so much bulkier than heatcord or thermometer probes. We will see tho!



LOL yeah Brett got that from me hehe... Should'nt be too much of a bother mate as once it's in you can just tape the probe to a rack or the side wall, it won't move to much then. It's not like you'll be swing the door full open anyway so movement of the cords is'nt an issue.


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

Red-Ink said:


> LOL yeah Brett got that from me hehe...



After I posted that I thought, "should i have mentioned that?"


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## Smithers (Sep 27, 2011)

I like to recycle


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## Red-Ink (Sep 27, 2011)

I'll take some pics of the inc cords tonight to show you if you want?


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

Smithers said:


> I like to recycle



 Only this was more like growing by sharing.....



Red-Ink said:


> I'll take some pics of the inc cords tonight to show you if you want?



That would be great, thanks man!


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## Robo1 (Sep 27, 2011)

There should be a hole down the bottom to allow condensation to drain out (As suggested by Red-Ink). This is what I used in a similar sized bar fridge to get the heat cord in, no need for extra holes. There should be no need to remove the compressor (mine still operates as a fridge if need be).


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

I will definitely look for this condensation drain! Too tempting to go muck about w it right now, but I have that much data to code today...


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## SamNabz (Sep 27, 2011)

Mike, just drill through the sides or back and then seal the hole(s) with expanda foam.


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

SamNabz said:


> Mike, just drill through the sides or back and then seal the hole(s) with expanda foam.



Too many options!  But yeah, I will have a look at the through the door seal thing, and drain but I am liking the drill through the side method most ATM.


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## Erebos (Sep 27, 2011)

I drilled a hole in the back of mine then just siliconed it up.






Cheers Brenton


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## JungleGuy (Sep 27, 2011)

I just recently made an incubater exactly like yours and I ran everything through the whole at the back which the gas lines ran through. I then ran the lines down the back and mounted them with wire clips screwed to the back which enables me to easily remove the heat cord if it ever stops etc. By doing this it prevented me making more holes in my fridge to seal and also means all cords etc will be located at the back out of the way. Hooked it all up the other day and tested temps and it sat at 30.5 varying by 0.3 degrees when i opened the door and with the hole not filled in the back (will fill in when all thermometers etc are set up). 

2 Quick questions (sorry to hijack thread)
does anyone remove the plugs from the thermostat and heat sord and wire them directly? would this be risky?
other thing is has anyone mounted their thermostat at the back of the fridge where the compressed gas and stuff were in the bottom and if so is it annoying to adjust or is it worth doing?
Cheers Tim


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## Red-Ink (Sep 27, 2011)

killimike said:


> Only this was more like growing by sharing.....
> 
> 
> That would be great, thanks man!



Here you go Mike... (and Smithers)

The condensation run off hole we were talking about, I bore it out a bit bigger to 10mm to fit the heat cord head.





The way the cord is fed through the inc, tape together with aluminium tape.





Thermometer and Thermostat probe placements, white is the thermo and the black on the side wall is the stat.





How the cords are fed through the door seals (small incision on the hinge side)

inside view





Outside view





Both cords on the side of the inc (perfect seal still achieved)





Hope that helps mate.


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## pythonmum (Sep 27, 2011)

Looks great Red Ink.
JungleGuy - I would not try to wire things up directly for two reasons. The first is that you are being too risky with the electronics. The second is that my incubator thermostat becomes a thermostat for my hatchlings after it has done its job in the incubator. My thermostats move around a fair bit.

I also put my temp probe in the egg container so I know exactly what is going on there. They can generate a bit of heat, especially later in incubation, so I monitor them directly.


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## Red-Ink (Sep 27, 2011)

pythonmum said:


> Looks great Red Ink.
> JungleGuy - I would not try to wire things up directly for two reasons. The first is that you are being too risky with the electronics. The second is that my incubator thermostat becomes a thermostat for my hatchlings after it has done its job in the incubator. My thermostats move around a fair bit.
> 
> I also put my temp probe in the egg container so I know exactly what is going on there. They can generate a bit of heat, especially later in incubation, so I monitor them directly.



Thanks Pythonmum... best thing about that inc is when it's not cooking eggs it performs double duties of keeping my beers cold so I can sit back and have a cold brew in summer as I sit back and watch the fruits of it's labour grow lol.


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## pythonmum (Sep 27, 2011)

Red-Ink said:


> Thanks Pythonmum... best thing about that inc is when it's not cooking eggs it performs double duties of keeping my beers cold so I can sit back and have a cold brew in summer as I sit back and watch the fruits of it's labour grow lol.


I don't have that joy with my incubator, as it is a large, broken down model I picked up during the curbside cleanup. It just takes up space in the garage during the down time. Perhaps I will have to install a bar fridge by the hatchlings so I can have a handy beverage after coaxing them all to eat.:lol:


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## Smithers (Sep 27, 2011)

Cheers Red-Ink


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## mad_at_arms (Sep 27, 2011)

Great thread. A lot of good input
I had access to a lot of returns of these small wine and bar fridges years ago where I worked. 
I'm kicking myself for not grabbing them when I could.


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## meatman (Sep 27, 2011)

Red-Ink said:


> Here you go Mike... (and Smithers)
> 
> The condensation run off hole we were talking about, I bore it out a bit bigger to 10mm to fit the heat cord head.
> 
> ...



Hi Redink. With this set up do you have the fridge running off a thermostat as well so it heats and cools or do you just use it with heatcord and 1 thermo.

Justin


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## Red-Ink (Sep 27, 2011)

Nah Justin, the fridge is off. I have the cord just running on a habistat pulse thermostat. It holds pretty stable temps even on the heat wave weeks. The highest varriance I got last summer was 0.8C and on regular days just 0.4C varriance on average. 

I also keep it away from the window and on the floor mind you....

Francis


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## killimike (Sep 27, 2011)

Thanks for those pics RI! That is extremely helpful... I will have to see what I can do w mine.

Just to test the thing out, and lacking time to set it up properly, I just layed out the heatcord on the fridge floor, attached to thermostat, with a thermometer to check temps. I simply closed the door on the leads, without slitting the seal or anything.

I set it at around 28-29, hard to tell exactly on those microclimates. Within an hour it was up at 28.8, and has slowly come down to 28.3 now. Hopefully it stabilises and doesn't drop too much more.

So I know the heatcord is big enough, at the very least. Will see how it goes overnight and take it from there.

Thanks heaps for your help guys, there has been some fantastic input on this thread!


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## congo_python (Sep 27, 2011)

Hey guys
Haven't read all the thread but you dont want to remove the compressor and the like if it is still charged with refrigerant as refrigerant is 100 times more harmful to the environment than carbon monoxide (carbon tax lol) and too top it off its charged too a very high pressure and if you dont know what your doing you could seriously harm yourself via burns and/or serious high pressure injury.

Just a heads up is all.

Cheers
Congo


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## andrew_p (Sep 27, 2011)

while this topic is hot i have a wine fridge im converting and im lucky enough to have a fan installed in the back of it as its a wine fridge its only small (18 bottles) and i was wondering if its a waste of time running a fan in a fridge so small
cheers


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## hissnbits (Sep 27, 2011)

I run a fan from a old computer to help circulate air, sorta like a fan forced oven and I find more stable temps. I check temps both top and bottom and have no more than 0.2 c variation, without the fan can be a few degrees. Using 12v fans and an old mobile phone charger as the power supply. If cant find an old computer (usually easy when hard rubish collections are coming up) then you can buy them new for under $20 from places like Jaycar. As a tip get the quieter fans if keeping the incubator in a bedroom!!


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## andrew_p (Sep 27, 2011)

The fridge i have has an impeller type fan in the back and when turned onn i had to put my hand near it to see if its on its that quiet..do you run the fan all the time? Or should i just use it for cooling.if it heats up to much.
Thanks


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## meatman (Sep 28, 2011)

Red-Ink said:


> Nah Justin, the fridge is off. I have the cord just running on a habistat pulse thermostat. It holds pretty stable temps even on the heat wave weeks. The highest varriance I got last summer was 0.8C and on regular days just 0.4C varriance on average.
> 
> I also keep it away from the window and on the floor mind you....
> 
> Francis



Thanks for that Francis. 

Im trying to figure out a way to use it as a heating/cooling version.
Its pretty warm up here at the moment and just using my fridge by itself sits on 35-40deg in the shade without heating.

Cheers Justin


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## Red-Ink (Sep 28, 2011)

meatman said:


> Thanks for that Francis.
> 
> Im trying to figure out a way to use it as a heating/cooling version.
> Its pretty warm up here at the moment and just using my fridge by itself sits on 35-40deg in the shade without heating.
> ...



You can get cooling thermostats from the herpshop... Cut a large hole on the inc and hook up an exhaust fan to it to blow out the hot air and keep it circulating. Being up there I don't think you'd have a problem in keeping them warm, but just in case do the heat cord as well and hook it up to a thermostats as well to kick in when/if it does get cold. That's the only thing I can think off mate.. Maybe instead of using a fridge as well just do a styrofoam inc or a melanime inc so you don't wreck a working fridge.


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## killimike (Sep 28, 2011)

Well, last night it got down to 28.1 degrees, from a high of 28.8. Tho that initial high could have been a bit of an overshoot by the thermostat. I will see what it does for one more day, but if it bounces back to around 28.5, that will give a daily variance of around 0.5 degrees, which I am happy with 

Well, it seems to sit around 28.2, doesn't seem to have varied from that in the last 12 hours, tho ambient temps are 3-4 degrees lower now than they were on Tuesday.


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## killimike (Oct 4, 2011)

I just wanted to thank everyone for all their helpful input again.

In the end, I decided to pass the cables through cuts in the door seal. Mine are not as neat as RI's, but the door seals ok 

The fridge is still holding around 28.3, which is fine.

For once I am not on the back foot, this incubator is set up and running, and I don't even have any eggs on the ground!  Tho the female pilb has been doing some extreme landscaping in her tub the last few days, so fingers crossed!


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## Red-Ink (Oct 4, 2011)

Always a good feeling knowing the inc is all done and ready for the eggs mate


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