Incubator: How long without power?

[Mangles]

I have two clutches of eggs in my bar fridge incubator set at around 31 degrees, however in the wild storms in Brisbane last night we lost power around 5.30 pm.

I covered my incubator in blankets, with power due back on about 12pm. At around 2am the estimate was revised to 10am, and power came back on much later than this. By this time my temps dropped to under 27 degrees and was still falling, so I packed it all up and went to a friends house with power about 10 minutes away and cranked it up again.

My question is how long can eggs go at a lower temp and still be viable?

Next year I will be investing in a back up generator or an inverter system.

 

[whiteyluvsrum]

i think they will be fine, time will tell i spose.

 

[JasonL]

They will be fine..

 

[blackthorn]

I was a bit concerned about that last night too, we didn't lose power here thankfully.

A small generator might be a good idea, better to have a backup than nothing at all.

I hope your eggs are still good.

 

[solar 17]

back-up power

l did a post on here about 3 months ago about having a [ups] un interupted power supply] with an inverter and batteries and nearly everybody ridiculed me, for the sake of $500-600 well l can tell you now [with eggs cooking away] how much better l felt last night after losing power, how much easier l felt......but l still feel for those that have eggs and no back-up power.....l believe these sytems are cheap peace of mind.....cheers solar 17 [Baden] l live in Brizzy nortside...

 

[Eylandt]

solar 17, Im running a $70 UPS on my incubator and it works GREAT. Gives me about 4 hours back up time. Inogre the Anti-UPS crew lol

 

[Mudimans]

Had the same problem, I live in Caboolture and we lost power for around 9 hours, temps in the incubator went down to 27Degrees. Not happy Jan :x might have to invest in a generator

 

[solar 17]

back-up power

Mudimans...seriously look into the ups set-up....deadly silent 100% l can imagine what the nieghbours would about a cheap genny ticking away at 2.00 am....cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[The Devil]

l did a post on here about 3 months ago about having a [ups] un interupted power supply] with an inverter and batteries and nearly everybody ridiculed me, for the sake of $500-600 well l can tell you now [with eggs cooking away] how much better l felt last night after losing power, how much easier l felt......but l still feel for those that have eggs and no back-up power.....l believe these sytems are cheap peace of mind.....cheers solar 17 [Baden] l live in Brizzy nortside...

Gotta agree with this post, I have a system similar to solar 17.
I built it up after being without power for 30 hours 3 or 4 years ago. Yesterday afternoon I had to go out, the weather radar showed the storms coming in.

I made sure that the inverter was plugged in and the batteries charged, the thought of loosing power was not a worry.

With my batteries I calculated that I can run my incubator for 36 plus hours.

 

[Mangles]

l did a post on here about 3 months ago about having a [ups] un interupted power supply] with an inverter and batteries and nearly everybody ridiculed me, for the sake of $500-600 well l can tell you now [with eggs cooking away] how much better l felt last night after losing power, how much easier l felt......but l still feel for those that have eggs and no back-up power.....l believe these sytems are cheap peace of mind.....cheers solar 17 [Baden] l live in Brizzy nortside...

Baden,

I remember reading that post with great interest, but did not follow anything through.

Can you let me know what sort you have and where you bought if from.

Thanks,

 

[Mudimans]

Dido ^^^^^, I'n not real sure what it is, The other downside to a genny is you have to be there to start it

 

[solar 17]

back-up power

l purchased nearly all equipment on e-bay, you could set one up for as little as $200.00 realisticly or $1000 1200 would be a top of the range one [mine cost approx. $700-800 but lt has auto cut-in and auto cut-out...so lf l am not home and the power goes off lt cuts in and when the power comes back on lt switches back to mains power automatically...cheers solar [Baden]

 

[mungus]

Even a simple deep cycle battery with an inverter will run a 25w heat cord [ thats what i use in my incubator ] for hours................

 

[solar 17]

back-up power

Mudimans....Thats so true......also cheap piece of mind...cheers solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Lewy]

I have a huge generator(5.5kva) witch runs my hole house, Our littel inverter will also run our incubator and the batters in my 4wd will run the inverta all night easley, That's if i run out of fuel in the jenny

Lewy

 

[cris]

Another thing you can do is but some bricks(or similar) in there so when you lose power there is a larger thermal mass to hold the heat.

 

[wicca4life7]

dont know if this wil count for anything but i work for AGL and the power to south east queensland should be back on by 6pm tonight.

 

[Boney]

got this for $400 ran 6 incubators the other day when a branch brought down the lines and cut the power .. i live in town. so i was worried about the noise but more worried about the eggs . . but it is not as bad as a mower on idol . well worth the less worry i think .