Help with Variance in Humidity in Wineador

[HoyoFan]

So I tried@backbone's method and indeed my 62% beads were showing around 65 in a ziplock bag with a hygrometer. So I dried them out with a hair dryer and put them back.

A few days later, and the top shelf humidity had dropped to 62% and the bottom is at 69.

I can live with this, however the issue I don't understand is that my top drawer fluctuates between 62 and 65 throughout the day. I'm wondering if this has to do with my fan speed and delay setting.

Does anyone have a proven methodology of fan placement and bead placement? In terms of top/bottom?

[Jimmy_jack]

Do you spray the litter like beads to charge them?

[iannai169]

I'm also having the same problem. What type of fan are you guys using?

 

[trike]

On 9/4/2016 at 10:42 AM, Blazer said:

I'm using kitty litter. I have a huge tray on the bottom of the cooler and a small tray in the middle and top drawers.

I currently use an Active humidification system (CO) and am trying to experiment with KL.  I read that it's best to use approximately 2x the amount of KL vs. HFB, given the same volume.

What is the volume of air you are attempting to regulate (cubic inches)?  How many ounces of KL did you employ?  What RH are you attempting to reach?  What was KL RH out of the bag?  Did you moisten your KL to get to desired RH?    How much DW did you add to reach your desired RH?

[Blazer]

1 hour ago, trike said:

I currently use an Active humidification system (CO) and am trying to experiment with KL.  I read that it's best to use approximately 2x the amount of KL vs. HFB, given the same volume.

What is the volume of air you are attempting to regulate (cubic inches)?  How many ounces of KL did you employ?  What RH are you attempting to reach?  What was KL RH out of the bag?  Did you moisten your KL to get to desired RH?    How much DW did you add to reach your desired RH?

 

I've never heard that a 2:1 KL over HF beads was required.

Whatever the size of the NewAir 281E is?

 A lot. A large tray that covers the entire bottom of the cooler and small trays in the middle and top.

63-65.

No idea.

Yes.

No Idea.

Note that when I got my RH stabilized at 64-65 the cooler was not plugged in and that the drastic increase and top to bottom disparity in RH only occurred upon plugging it in and reaching a temp of 65* with an ambient temp of 77%

 

[Blazer]

 

On September 17, 2016 at 0:56 PM, iannai169 said:

I'm also having the same problem. What type of fan are you guys using?

 

This is the fan I am using.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00080G0BK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[scap99]

On 9/3/2016 at 6:21 PM, MahDooRow said:

Heavy air/higher humidity settling at the bottom of wineadors seems to be a common problem, my wineador included.  

I know I'm late to the party on this, but humid air rises.

 

Think of steam rising from a pot of hot water, or when it is cold out and your breath is visible.

 

Water vapor molecules are lighter than air.  Otherwise we'd never see a cloud in the sky.

[MahDooRow]

13 minutes ago, scap99 said:

I know I'm late to the party on this, but humid air rises.

 

Think of steam rising from a pot of hot water, or when it is cold out and your breath is visible.

 

Water vapor molecules are lighter than air.  Otherwise we'd never see a cloud in the sky.

Correct you are.  I tried to query the Pig about this issue.  He provided a very long response that never addressed my question.  Anyway, while humidity definitely rises in the real world it seems to commonly settle at the bottom of wineadors (as experienced by several forum members).  Although I don't really think it's "settling".  I assume the humid air is getting raped due to less than adequate circulation.  

I've since solved my own specific problem by rearranging the shelves and drawers, providing more room around the boxes and between shelves, and am also using a small Xikar fan that runs intermittently to at least move a little air around.  My humidity levels are now pretty even at the bottom and the top of the wineador.      

[PigFish]

1 hour ago, MahDooRow said:

Correct you are.  I tried to query the Pig about this issue.  He provided a very long response that never addressed my question.  Anyway, while humidity definitely rises in the real world it seems to commonly settle at the bottom of wineadors (as experienced by several forum members).  Although I don't really think it's "settling".  I assume the humid air is getting raped due to less than adequate circulation.  

I've since solved my own specific problem by rearranging the shelves and drawers, providing more room around the boxes and between shelves, and am also using a small Xikar fan that runs intermittently to at least move a little air around.  My humidity levels are now pretty even at the bottom and the top of the wineador.      

What do you want answered?

Most people have circulation issues. Almost all wine cooler humidor/maker/users have exacerbated problems based on design flaws in their humidors.

Snap me a picture of your humidor's back. Snap me a picture of it as it is used... and I will give you a high accuracy probability answer and it will be based on your humidor, specifically about your circulation and your design flaws!

That's the best I can do mate! Waiting on you now! -Piggy

Oh, I do have a backlog of these questions and people are already waiting on responses, so immediate response is not guaranteed. I have a few in the queue already!...

[MahDooRow]

1 minute ago, PigFish said:

What do you want answered?

Most people have circulation issues. Almost all wine cooler humidor/maker/users have exacerbated problems based on design flaws in their humidors.

Snap me a picture of your humidor's back. Snap me a picture of it as it is used... and I will give you a high accuracy probability answer and it will be based on your humidor, specifically about your circulation and your design flaws!

That's the best I can do mate! Waiting on you now! -Piggy

Oh, I do have a backlog of these questions and people are already waiting on responses, so immediate response is not guaranteed. I have a few in the queue already!...

Piggy:  Thanks for the kind offer, but I've got things pretty well worked out at this point.  I'm sure I'll pick up some add'l knowledge via your responses to questions already in the queue.  

[HoyoFan]

Correct you are.  I tried to query the Pig about this issue.  He provided a very long response that never addressed my question.  Anyway, while humidity definitely rises in the real world it seems to commonly settle at the bottom of wineadors (as experienced by several forum members).  Although I don't really think it's "settling".  I assume the humid air is getting raped due to less than adequate circulation.  

I've since solved my own specific problem by rearranging the shelves and drawers, providing more room around the boxes and between shelves, and am also using a small Xikar fan that runs intermittently to at least move a little air around.  My humidity levels are now pretty even at the bottom and the top of the wineador.      

Hey MahDooRow I'm curious, which Wineador do you have? Also, what setup actually worked for you?

[iannai169]

Thanks blazer! I just ordered the fan. I have a new aire cc-300. Holds about 400 smokes. I also read some other post about using more than the suggested amount of HF beads, so I ordered more beads. Right now I'm using the beads supplemented with bovedas up top and just beads on the bottom. Hopefully the fan will help even things out.

[HoyoFan]

I'm actually running the same fan in my NewAir CC-100 with .5lb of beads and getting 62% on top and 70% on bottom. Would love to lower the bottom to the 60s

[Blazer]

7 minutes ago, PadronFan said:

I'm actually running the same fan in my NewAir CC-100 with .5lb of beads and getting 62% on top and 70% on bottom. Would love to lower the bottom to the 60s

That's almost the exact spread I had in my 281E. The fan has evened out the top and the bottom, though still too high 68-70 top to bottom. Where do you have the fan placed in your cooler? 

[MahDooRow]

44 minutes ago, PadronFan said:

Hey MahDooRow I'm curious, which Wineador do you have? Also, what setup actually worked for you?

PadronFan:  I am running a NewAir 281-E with 2 drawers and 2 shelves.  What ultimately helped level out the humidity levels was the following:

1) I moved the drawers from the bottom to the top.

2) I reduced from 3 shelves to 2 shelves, placing 1 in the middle and 1 at the bottom.

3) I placed the Xikar fan on the front edge of the bottom shelf.

4) I also removed 1/2 lb. of 65% HCM beads, thus reducing the total amount of 65% HCM beads to 1/2 lb. 

5) I relocated the HCM beads from the bottom of the wineador to the middle shelf.

Add'l Note:  Once my humidity leveled off and stabilized at ~63% rH at the top and at the bottom of the wineador I completely removed the beads in an effort to further reduce the rH to 60%.  With no beads in the wineador my rH has been staying within a range of 60% to 62% for the past 3 weeks.  My temperatures have also been pretty stable between 67F and 69F.    

[HoyoFan]

Interesting. Ok cool thanks that helps.

Here's my current plan: I've got the fan lying flat on the bottom pointing up and .5lbs of beads next to it.

I've bought 1lb of 60% beads. And plan to put half of them on the top drawer and half on the bottom. My hope is that by having beads on both ends, I will be able to have more stability and then the fan will help circulate the air

[HoyoFan]

Hey guys, just an update. I put .5lb of 60% beads on the top shelf and the bottom. With the fan on intermittently the humidity was 64 on top and 69 on bottom.

Since then I've turned the fan off and have been sitting at 61 top and 70 bottom. I'm ok with this but would really love to get the bottom into the mid 60s. Any advice?

[Philc2001]

Long ago I replaced my shelves with closet wire rack. Then I made long tubes from window screening and filled them with humi beads. I attached the tubes to all the shelves in the wineador along the sides and back of each shelf.

I also collected wood cabinets (exposed grain) and use them for all my cigars. I keep them closed. Then when I need to raise the RH I put a little bit of water in a small Tupperware container with floral gel on the back ledge where the drip hole is. No fans (took them out after 2 years). No Boveda. I did add a glass cigar tube with floral gel at the bottom and the top last year. This works better than the Tupperware.

RH is very stable, but then I don't run the fridge. However over the summer my RH did climb up to 69% from new stock, and summer humidity.

Over the past 2 weeks or so I brought my RH down from 69% to 62%, and I'm keeping it there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[PigFish]

I have one word of warning for many of you. Take the advice for what it is worth.

As most of you don't use a fully controlled system, some of this advice, passed hand to hand here, is past from one humidor and one set of conditions to another. In many cases, the solutions will work within a narrow range of conditions established by the one who as done the work. This is not a guarantee that it will work outside of his conditions.

One problem here is that these systems that many of you have built are all dependent on the ambient to run in a certain narrow range of conditions. You have tuned and experimented and possibly found a set that works of you. This does not mean that it is going to continue to work, or work for others.

I am certainly not suggesting that you should not help each other, but don't get stumped if an advised solution does not work for all parties. Furthermore, even you guys who think you have this licked, should remain vigilant. Because as you system becomes saturated and dried at different levels, as you ambient changes, you 'may' develop the same or inverse problems.

This is just a simple warning to be cautious... Don't get complacent. Best of luck on your projects! -Piggy

[HoyoFan]

I have one word of warning for many of you. Take the advice for what it is worth.

As most of you don't use a fully controlled system, some of this advice, passed hand to hand here, is past from one humidor and one set of conditions to another. In many cases, the solutions will work within a narrow range of conditions established by the one who as done the work. This is not a guarantee that it will work outside of his conditions.

One problem here is that these systems that many of you have built are all dependent on the ambient to run in a certain narrow range of conditions. You have tuned and experimented and possibly found a set that works of you. This does not mean that it is going to continue to work, or work for others.

I am certainly not suggesting that you should not help each other, but don't get stumped if an advised solution does not work for all parties. Furthermore, even you guys who think you have this licked, should remain vigilant. Because as you system becomes saturated and dried at different levels, as you ambient changes, you 'may' develop the same or inverse problems.

This is just a simple warning to be cautious... Don't get complacent. Best of luck on your projects! -Piggy

Thanks Piggy, I know you've got a lot of experience with this stuff. What would you recommend in my situation?

[HoyoFan]

I have one word of warning for many of you. Take the advice for what it is worth.

As most of you don't use a fully controlled system, some of this advice, passed hand to hand here, is past from one humidor and one set of conditions to another. In many cases, the solutions will work within a narrow range of conditions established by the one who as done the work. This is not a guarantee that it will work outside of his conditions.

One problem here is that these systems that many of you have built are all dependent on the ambient to run in a certain narrow range of conditions. You have tuned and experimented and possibly found a set that works of you. This does not mean that it is going to continue to work, or work for others.

I am certainly not suggesting that you should not help each other, but don't get stumped if an advised solution does not work for all parties. Furthermore, even you guys who think you have this licked, should remain vigilant. Because as you system becomes saturated and dried at different levels, as you ambient changes, you 'may' develop the same or inverse problems.

This is just a simple warning to be cautious... Don't get complacent. Best of luck on your projects! -Piggy

Thanks Piggy, I know you've got a lot of experience with this stuff. What would you recommend in my situation?

[PigFish]

Do you run this cooler?

[HoyoFan]

Do you run this cooler?

I do but I have a feeling you're about to recommend that I stop

[PigFish]

Get to this as soon as I can... -P

[HoyoFan]

Get to this as soon as I can... -P

Thanks man I appreciate it. In the mean time, I've raised the temp in my humi to try and keep the compressor/fan from going off too often