Box Brooder Parts Needed

[Pheasant Hollow Farm]

Chuck,........and if that don't work, give me a call. I am just on the other side of da river. Northern ingenuity can fix it for ya. We northern transplants to West Virginia can fix anything.

Steve
Pheasant Hollow Farm

[Reeves]

I wonder if the inventor had this much trouble ?

 

[CharlieHorse]

ROFLOL! 

  I've been workin' on d'is POS all day!.......rewiring, adding lights, indicator lamps, cleaning, new thermostat, and etc..  There's not much too this thing, but it sure is a pain in the you know what! This thing must have been made in Japan, because I can't get my fingers in there where the wires are at!  I've had it laying around for several years, never messed with it after I found the heating element broken until now.
  I've been smacking myself around all day for not fixing it sooner with the GQF incubator heating element as alot of you have mentioned. Since I just recently acquired a GQF cabinet "hatcher", I've been able to see more of how things are done and what they are made of. Well, as I mentioned, I just couldn't replace the element, I got myself into "remanufacturing" the whole mess!  :, while I'm waiting for an element to arrive.
   The 100 watt bulb would work, but I don't care to use bulbs for heat as some of you may have noticed from my postings in "Arctic Brooder" (heated with baseboard). I like the option of dimming or turning off (at night) the lights and to easier control or eliminate cannibalism/pecking. Also, I'm wanting to keep this thing as original as possible.......it's a personal problem , I know!
   Wilder,     Thanks a million, that put the icing on the cake!   I will buy you an element!   Plus, 5 Lucky Strikes!  After messing with this thing all day, I've realized that I've got all kinds of variables for lengths.  I do believe it will work, I'm going to find out regardless.
    Pheasant Hollow,  Reeves won't part with any of the pipe, he thinks it's worth something.  :oops:
     Reeves, the inventor of this thing, I believe invented the Toyota too, they didn't have to work on the piece of junk!!  

      I'm trying to get this thing going because I all of a sudden have this need to hatch overlapping sets of eggs since I acquired that Cabinet Incubator/hatcher . I'll need seperate brooders.

    I had already told my wife before i even dug this thing out, that I would probably be better off just buying a new one that you can see in and gain access all the way around with the fancy feeders and waters on the outside and be done with it, but no, I couldn't just fix the element, I had to redesign the darn thing too.    :roll:

   .........Got eggs to Candle.......

Thanks to everyone for everything, the cogs are turning now!

[WHITNEYPLU]

So how did the egg candeling go? ALso how is the box coming along dont just keep us up in the air over here lol

[CharlieHorse]

So how did the egg candeling go? ALso how is the box coming along dont just keep us up in the air over here lol

Didn't get any candling done, got too late, had to get to sleep because I had to work today. So I won't be able to mess with it again until tomorrow. 

I ran into a snag with the brooder wiring and needed to rethink the whole mess. I had installed an additional light socket towards the front of the brooder and installed one of those small indicator bulbs too.  I had it all rewired and went to give it a test run, one bulb worked and the other one wouldn't (both wired into the same place), so I thought that I had a bad bulb (7watts), traded bulbs......that wasn't the problem.  Plus the indicator lamp was slightly glowing right from the start, so I knew that I was missing something here, something was back feeding. So I cranked wafer stat until it made contact and it blew one of the bulbs out!  :eek:  Keep in mind that the element (ordered) isn't installed yet, the wires for it are just sticking out until I get the element. So anyway with no bulbs, no element and the stat in the open position (off), that darn indicator bulb still glows a little!!!!!!!!!  Basically nothing to "backfeed" :. I think that I have it figured out, I think that the controls on these incubators and such break the neutral wire and not the hot?  In other words, the element has 110volts to it whenever the machine is plugged in and the thermostat makes and breaks the neutral?   I got tired and give up on it last night, plus my buddy Anheuser Busch wasn't helping make things any clearer!  8)

[Reeves]

Well, at least if you start a fire with your in-ability to wire stuff right, you got that handled.

 

[CharlieHorse]

Well, at least if you start a fire with your in-ability to wire stuff right, you got that handled.

 

I knew thats exactly what would be going through your mind, before I even posted!

Yeh, and I was an electrician for about 20 years(12 years ago) too!   LOL!  Don't use it.....you loose it!

If it gets too bad, I'll take it out back and use my SKS on it, after I smash it with the loader!     I'll show it!! 

[wildergamebirds]

I've heard that term, before.  Just a hint, if the short, and fire haven't kicked the breaker, unplug the appliance before administering the processed Bud Light to the fire.

  I saw an Irish Setter do that to an electric fence when I was a kid.  Needless to say, he ran all the way to the truck, and didn't want to come out from under it.

[WHITNEYPLU]

Lets just put a hot plate uncder set to low and be done with it. When they start to get golden brown you know they are ready to be come out. It will cut down on brooding time and no need for any wiring.

[CharlieHorse]

 

See, everyone keeps coming up with these common sense "easy fixes".  And I'm just not wired that way, I have to turn this into a chore and get crazy with it.  LOL!  Now that I mentioned it, this brooder isn't wired correctly either is it?...not now anyway!  :

No worries.....I'll get it going, if I can just keep my Buddies :eek: away I'll have this thing self cleaning the droppings tray before I am through!  Keep messin' around and I might have been able to buy a 5 tier battery brooder setup. Maybe, Donald Trump may be interested in buying it?  

Oh yeh, Wilder, I'll have to have an address in order to send you that element?

All help is appreciated, Thanks!

[CharlieHorse]

The electrical problem that I was having with this brooder, turns out wasn't of my doing or because of my "inability to rewire" as someone once stated elsewhere.   The new wafer thermostat that I installed was/is defective. It continuously allows current to flow through the switch when it is in the off position. I ended up putting the entire 'stat assembly that was in it, back in, just had to replace adjustment screw and wafer.  Both 'stat check out fine with ohm meter, so I don't know why the new one is screwy.  Now I'm just waiting for the heating element to arrive and then we'll see how it goes.

Here's a couple pics of the mess:

(Click to enlarge):

[CharlieHorse]

I've still got this baby in case things don't work out :

[wildergamebirds]

Oh yeh, Wilder, I'll have to have an address in order to send you that element?

All help is appreciated, Thanks!

  It's not ruined, I was just kidding.  It was new, waiting for a project.  In the planned application, it will be used much like yours.  Down one side, looped around an insulator, and back to the other end.  I will need 36"-38" total length, so it will still be under tension.

  If you put the broken ends together, and crimp a common wire splice on the ends, it should function.  Maybe for 2 minutes, maybe for 2 years, but will allow you to test your brooder for other problems while you await delivery of element.

  I will take the luckys, if they are in an unopened pack from '41 through '59.

[CharlieHorse]

Oh yeh, Wilder, I'll have to have an address in order to send you that element?

All help is appreciated, Thanks!

  It's not ruined, I was just kidding.  It was new, waiting for a project.  In the planned application, it will be used much like yours.  Down one side, looped around an insulator, and back to the other end.  I will need 36"-38" total length, so it will still be under tension.

  If you put the broken ends together, and crimp a common wire splice on the ends, it should function.  Maybe for 2 minutes, maybe for 2 years, but will allow you to test your brooder for other problems while you await delivery of element.

  I will take the luckys, if they are in an unopened pack from '41 through '59.

I sure do appreciate it.  I thought about doing just that (hooking element back together), but it looks as if it was very "droopy", as it is very old. I would have been worried about it failing all the time and I'd have a bunch of dead birds.  I'll let ya know how it goes, I'm still waiting on the element. 

[wildergamebirds]

Oh yeh, Wilder, I'll have to have an address in order to send you that element?

All help is appreciated, Thanks!

  It's not ruined, I was just kidding.  It was new, waiting for a project.  In the planned application, it will be used much like yours.  Down one side, looped around an insulator, and back to the other end.  I will need 36"-38" total length, so it will still be under tension.

  If you put the broken ends together, and crimp a common wire splice on the ends, it should function.  Maybe for 2 minutes, maybe for 2 years, but will allow you to test your brooder for other problems while you await delivery of element.

  I will take the luckys, if they are in an unopened pack from '41 through '59.

I sure do appreciate it.  I thought about doing just that (hooking element back together), but it looks as if it was very "droopy", as it is very old. I would have been worried about it failing all the time and I'd have a bunch of dead birds.  I'll let ya know how it goes, I'm still waiting on the element. 

  I meant just to test it, with thermometer, and eyeballing it.  You know, watching the smoke, and sparks.  You'll probably have the new one today, anyway.