Hovabator Genesis 1588 - 4 degree difference!

[JuliannaM06]

I want to incubate chicken eggs this week, I bought two different thermometers because I want to make sure my readings are as accurate as possible, and increase my hatch rate %. I have had the incubator for 4 years and only used a handful of times, good hatches except for one last year. I’m doing a test run before placing eggs, and the two thermometers are reading 104.2° (°F) and the incubator itself is set to 100° and claims it’s at 100.2°. That’s a big difference for little chicks! This incubator wasn’t cheap and I thought it would be pretty accurate for what I paid! Do I believe the temperature the thermometers are telling me from here on out, and do I bring the incubator down to 96° to level it out? Thank you for any input!

(Just to add, the incubator humidity is low only because I haven’t put water in yet)

 

[Ridgerunner]

That 1588 control center is a lot different from my old one. But that is not important. Does it still have a fan that is working? If it has a working fan the temperature should be the same anywhere inside. If it doesn't you will get different temperature readings based on height inside.

Have you calibrated any of those thermometers? It is fairly common for any thermometer to read a few degrees off. It doesn't matter if it is the cheapest possible incubator or the most expensive, or any thermometer you order or pickup at the hardware store. To calibrate mine I use an old-fashioned medical thermometer that is calibrated pretty close to incubation temperature.

I remember looking at the thermometers at the hardware store one day. These were the type that you hang outside to get the temperature so not that accurate to start with. There was a ten degree difference in the readings on those thermometers from the highest reading to the lowest. They were the same make and model on the same shelf. Until they are calibrated I don't trust any of them.

 

[mcdze]

ive never seen a built-in temp sensor thats accurate and only use it as a reference point to adjust up or down to .. theyre usually adjustable if you dig into the manual far enough but i dont care too much about that, what i 'do' care about on some models though are the 'heuristic' adjustments if i got the term right - in other words theres sometimes an adjustment that controls how much, or how long, it will bump heat up or cool it off if theres a large deviation ... but ALL of this is relative to monitoring the 'real' temp at egg level ... ive found the best way to handle it is to buy multiple small digital units on ebay, 5 for instance ... usually theyre pretty derned accurate .. first compare them at room temp etc, they should all read the same, or choose 3 that are and put all 3 in the bator .. go off of those for temp, or average them if temp varies side to side or front to back in the bator ..finally err on the side of caution and LOWER .. a 96 -100 spread betwixt them over a night day cycle is ok .. a 100-104 is not ok, youll roast some ..