Hovabator Temp issues

Hi! I got an older Hovabator with the turbofan that I am having issues with. I can't seem to get the temp to go to 99.5 degrees (37.5 C). I have the eggs in a turner. The hatch I did previously went fine temp wise. So I don't think the thermometer is faulty. The eggs were put in on the 12th, and the temp has remained at a constant 35 degrees celcius, ambient room temp is stable.....any suggestions? Will it hurt being out a couple degrees consistently, even though its stable? I origninally thought my incubator might be too full and the air around the thermometer wasn't circulating properly, but I did some candling and got rid of a few clear eggs.....and no change. Adjusting the temp control on the top does nothing as well.......Any suggestions/comments???

Might want to change your wafer, if that doesn't work then order a new heating element. Also check your switch manually to see if it is actually turning on the heat element. I recommend, and have been advised to change wafers every season just so this doesn't happen.

I hatch in a HOva with a computer fan hanging from the top. This is not the best way to hatch.

A few suggestions...are you using just one thermom? Don't. Get three or 4 and stick them in different places. In my bator, even with the little fan, it is hot where the fan is blowing and cooler where the fan is NOT blowing. I shuffle eggs to get them to spend equal amounts of time in hotter or cooler areas. Obviously, I have no turner, I AM the turner!

Wafers can be working, but be warped. Or the screw that holds them in place against the switch might be mis-threaded, all of this can affect your temp. The idea that a quarter turn of the temp dial equals a certain number of degrees is pure hogwash. I find that turning my temp up or down is a wild shot in the dark as to where the temps are going to go. And after I do crank that little knob, it often takes a day of temp watching to determine where the temps are going to settle at.

One note about replacing wafers. I have found 2 styles of wafer and only ONE works in my bator! There is a wafer that has a threaded hole in one side, and opposite side is a flat spot OR threaded hole in one side and a little knob sticking out the other side. One of these will fit into your bator and one will not! Look at whats in there now and only replace it with a wafer that looks EXACTLY the same! I tried sticking a knobbed wafer where a flat wafer used to be, no such luck! There was not enough room in the switch assembly. Luckily I had more than one back-up wafer in more than one style.

My bator also works best in room with even, constant, low heat. For me, spare bedroom with baseborad set on low. Otherwise, it can't cope with the normal daily cycles of house temp change. Even if they are just small changes.

Thank you for all the help, I will be checking out the wafer. Will I still have a good hatch (albeit maybe a day late) if the temperature were to remain at 35 degrees instead of 37.5??

That is almost an impossible question to answer, sorry. You will find with incubators that you can do everything 'by the book' have the whole thing go perfectly and then total disater, no chicks make it out. You can have a perfect bator situation and bad genetics with your eggs and unfortunatley, most of us have no way of knowing what it is that makes things go wrong. Was it the bator? Was it the eggs? Was it something you haven't even thought of?

Other times the temp will be up and down, the power will go out for a day, the turner will malfunction or if you are the turner, you'll forget. You'll be convinced that no chick could have survived your bungling and surpise, they all hatch anyway! So...hatching is gambling. The ONLY way to stack the odds in your favour is to let a hen do the job.

You have not said if your temp reading is taken at the top of the eggs or bottom of the eggs. This makes a difference. If the temp is 35 at the bottom, you can figure it will be warmer at the top of the egg (heat rises) and if the eggs get turned regularly, my opinion is that you might be okay. In other words, the average temp, with turning, works out to eggs being exposed to 'close' to the rihgt temp. But if that is the temp at the TOP of the egg, it will be even cooler at the bottom and I would NOT be happy about that at all in my bator. SO the acceptability of your current temp hinges on whether that is a TOP egg temp or BOTTOM egg temp. Are you totally confused now?

I have had great success with Hovabators of all kinds. Do a search for past posts and you will be able to read some of my advice. If you PM your phone number to me I will call you and we can chat all you like.

I managed to get the wafer working properly now....I will be ordering a new one for sure!!.....the thermometer is on the floor of the incubator, just like the instructions for hovabators say, so then the temp was probably okay then. The temp reading from the bottom (floor) is now back to 99.5 degrees F, as per the instruction booklet That should be good now right?

I really hope they still hatch okay...I had to take the lid off and do some fiddling to make it work before putting it back on :S I guess I'll be finding out on the 2nd!!

Thanks for all the help! You guys are awesome!