shadiya
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Incubator problemsHow can I check if my incubator is working properly? Any ideas? It's a Brinsea Polyhatch, only been used once by me from new, lent to a friend who then lent it without asking to some random other person and then couldn't even remember who when I asked for it back! 
Anyway, when I finally did get it back, I gave it to a friend to hatch some eggs I got from LLP and had a very poor result and he said he thought it was the incubator. Now, he is quite an old hand at hatching things with incubators but he's also a bit prone to depression and I wasn't quite sure whether I believed him or whether he'd simply let things slide and not fessed up.
After a particularly annoying fox/wwoofer incident, I'm left with no birds and the horror that is buying eggs so would like to get some stuff on the go but what if the incubator is duff? I'd be really grateful for words of wisdom from the chicken obsessed amongst us or maybe I should just PM Chez direct?  
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shadiya
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Ps. I'm thinking ducks and maybe some bantams, make a change from chickens so if anybody has anything interesting.....
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Tavascarow
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There isn't much to go wrong on a polyhatch.
As long as the egg turner is working which is easy to check all I would do is double check the temp with two different thermometers.
It's easy to have one with an air bubble in the mercury column which can distort the temp by a good few degrees.
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chez
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I agree with Tav. I'd get a couple of different styles of thermometer and put in it, in different places - run it for a few days and check them against each other.
I think Brinsea will re-calibrate incubators for you if the thermostat is out. I have a vague memory of Pookie getting that done. Or talking about getting it done.
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Bodger
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You really really need to clean and disinfect the incubator out properly. Lots of people buy a new incubator and at first get excellent results but then find that they have problems with subsequent hatches. This can be down to a build up of nasties due to a lack of hygiene in the machine. There obviously aren't baddies at first when the machine is brand new.
My advice would be to go to town on it and clean the incubator thoroughly with one of the recommended cleaning solutions.
Get a digital thermometer and if the the temp stays at what you want, then there's no reason why you shouldn't be getting good hatches. I've got eggs coming in the post, I have the exact same model as you and it hasn't fluctuated since reaching the required temperature about three days ago.
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chez
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I clean deep-clean mine at the beginning of the season and then use antibacterial wipes to clean it out between hatches.
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shadiya
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What do you use to clean it? I've got some general purpose super dooper farm disinfectant, do you think that'll be alright? Will get a thermometer and see what happens. Only thing is, not sure I can run it here as only have a 300w inverter and just called Brinsea and they don't know! 
I must get one of those power consumption monitor thingys.
Chez, can I pick your brains about adoption sometime? Got an interview coming up next month....
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chez
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Yeah, farmyard will do I expect. Or milton. Seriously, though, the wipes are great - the floor-cleaner ones.
Re adoption, I've got some books. If you give me your address, I will post them to you.
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Nick
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1. We decontaminate stuff at work with hydrogen peroxide. wonder if that would work? Can be got from the chemist very cheaply, and decomposes to water.
2. Don't trust Chez to post books to you. She doesn't.
3. Ever.
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chez
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PM me your address again. I will do it tomorrow.
*grovels apologetically*
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Tavascarow
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Only thing is, not sure I can run it here as only have a 300w inverter and just called Brinsea and they don't know!
I must get one of those power consumption monitor thingys.
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