Nearly a tragedy!

[Fosgate]

On my way home today I was on the phone trying to convince a friend of mine that does disaster cleanup and restoration to go have a cigar by saying I may have a water/fire loss to come look at. Code for drinking and smoking. Little did I know when I got home I started putting together a gift box for a friend and started discovered condensation dripping from the rear of my wineador dripped down and got a few cigars wet. It looked way worse and could have been far worse.  I was able to save all but shown. 5 more are questionable but I think the label is only damaged. 

 

Cover your children's eyes. 

 

[Ford2112]

That is just terrible. What caused this? And yeah looks like you caught that before a major catastrophe.

[El Presidente]

I hate water damage.  So sorry to hear this!

[Islandboy]

Ouch!

Early on, I had a small refrigerated wineador. Luckily I discovered the small puddle of condensation in the bottom long before it was able to do any damage. I unplugged it immediately and said never again. I’m sure there’s a way to control condensation, but I’m not at that level of technical know-how.

[Habana Mike]

Yikes. Time for some damage control on the remaining as they're serious candidates for mold.

Had this happen once to just a single box of cigars. None in the shape some yours were!

Wrapped them all in paper towels. Put them in a dry box for weeks until they firmed up.

Most all were eventually smokeable with no discernible impact to burn and taste though some bands were stained.

Good luck and sorry for your loss.

[riderpride]

Happened to me once too - power went out sometime over a long weekend, but nowhere near that level.

Is it thermoelectric or compressor? Damage to the cooler?

Glad you caught it!

[Nevrknow]

My condolences. 😔

[Huckleberry]

That was hard to take on an empty stomach   I hate seeing that happen to the smokes and to you!  I don't even want to imagine how badly it could have gone.

[PigFish]

My coolers not only hydrate, but dehydrate. This lead once to a humidifier that become overly full, shorted out the humidifier fan and started to fill the bottom of my humidor with water. Only thing that got wet was a box of BBFs. 

In my case, it was pure operator error. I don't get condensation in the humidor by design, but if you don't empty the closed system when it is humid weather, well, you can get a pool of water!

What clued me off was that I noticed the box was always looking to dehydrate. I opened the door and water ran out...! Not the fault of the humidor, all mine!!!

 

Sorry about the loss of the cigars. That does suck!

Active controlled humidors require some vigilance. -the Pig

[Fosgate]

I'm thinking it happened during one of those hot 108f days we had. Even though I have it at 68f in my office and the wineador set at 64f. I'm thinking I must have been working with the window blinds open with the sun beading in the morning hours and just heated it up in there like a magnifying glass causing them to try and cool themselves. It's a compressor. 

[Pharmacovigilant]

It could’ve been a lot worse.  Fortunately you’re a good guy as you were putting together a gift box for a friend.  Otherwise you wouldn’t have discovered this and it would still be happening at this moment.

[Skypilot]

That almost made a grown man cry. I have a new air and while I never had that type of water damage I started sprouting some mold in the drawers, I assume from unit being over-filled forcing all the air from the fan into the single drawers.  I unplugged the unit and have never had an issue or looked back.  My issue was different than yours but lots of stories out there about water pooling in wineadors. Best of luck on the rest of the sticks. 

[jonnyfromiranny]

Does anyone know why this happened and how to prevent? Is it just bad luck? Or because the winador was overfilled? Or unknown?

[soutso]

My first post in a long time,  @PigFish

This is precisely why I love you!

[Bri Fi]

happened to me in 2019. Ray told me to unplug the unit and I did. Haven’t turned it back on since and no issues. I thought I needed the temp control but my sticks have been fine. Sometimes my house gets in the mid 70s in the summer and thought I’d be battling mold with high temps but the humidity hasn’t been an issue. Hope this helps and good luck. Luckily you stopped it before it got to total disaster 

[Ford2112]

I unplugged mine from the get go. Luckily I got it cheap or I would just use coolers,but I like to look at my sticks.

[OrangePaw]

1 hour ago, Ford2112 said:

I unplugged mine from the get go. Luckily I got it cheap or I would just use coolers,but I like to look at my sticks.

When you unplug a wineador do you use the big boveda packs to provide humidity?

[Juliano88]

My heart just skipped a beat or two. 

[B44]

Who else unpacked their cabinet this morning? 😅

Scary stuff bud. Do you mind sharing what cooler / setup you were running?

[Ford2112]

1 hour ago, OrangePaw said:

When you unplug a wineador do you use the big boveda packs to provide humidity?

I have a Newair 28 bottle wineador with Spanish cedar drawers and shelves in it. I have 1 1/2 lbs of heartfelt beads in it and numerous 65% Boveda packs scattered throughout. My ambient RH is around 60% in my place and the temps fluctuate anywhere from 62 to 68 degrees. I try to regulate temps as best I can. My RH will go from 65 to 68 but mostly sits 66/67. I can live with that as I am still filling this up with cigars who's RH is probably in the upper 60s. I trust this unit will settle down over time as I fill it,and my overflow and long term aging will be done in a weatherproof BPA free container or 10 ! 🥴 This is a work in progress for me as I am learning every day. I have a Rubbermaid Brilliance with 62% Bovedas in it for smoking ,but that seems to be overkill. Sorry to hijack

[Monterey]

Feeling really good about my decision to vacuum seal all my boxes!  Added bonus of water protection.  The house could flood, and my cigars would just float to the top safe and sound

Sorry for your loss

[Fosgate]

21 hours ago, B44 said:

Who else unpacked their cabinet this morning? 😅

Scary stuff bud. Do you mind sharing what cooler / setup you were running?

My older one I have had zero problems with. I ordered bought a NewAir AW-281E 28 bottle thermoelectric on Amazon, Forest at Wineadors.com built the shelving and built a cedar tray to hold the fan unit I bought off of amazon. I also toss in a large aquarium filter stuffed with unscented crystal kitty litter to soak up any water that may drip down the back wall. That is on a timer to go off 15 minutes a day 3 times a day. The Second one is a NewAir NWC050SS00 Compressor  50 Bottle fridge that I left the shelves in, sealed it up and stacked boxes in. I throw in 3-4 320g 65rh Boveda bags and each with several others set aside re-charging that I cycle out.  Has a Boveda Butler in them. (just checked the batteries and both were dead). Guess I just got lazy at checking on them. Probably should have tossed a bag in the bottom of the new one and thrown in a $2 audible water alarm sensor. 

 

 

[B44]

40 minutes ago, Fosgate said:

My older one I have had zero problems with. I ordered bought a NewAir AW-281E 28 bottle thermoelectric on Amazon, Forest at Wineadors.com built the shelving and built a cedar tray to hold the fan unit I bought off of amazon. I also toss in a large aquarium filter stuffed with unscented crystal kitty litter to soak up any water that may drip down the back wall. That is on a timer to go off 15 minutes a day 3 times a day. The Second one is a NewAir NWC050SS00 Compressor  50 Bottle fridge that I left the shelves in, sealed it up and stacked boxes in. I throw in 3-4 320g 65rh Boveda bags and each with several others set aside re-charging that I cycle out.  Has a Boveda Butler in them. (just checked the batteries and both were dead). Guess I just got lazy at checking on them. Probably should have tossed a bag in the bottom of the new one and thrown in a $2 audible water alarm sensor. 

 

 

Beautiful collection and setup. Which was the unit that experienced the pooling? Are they both thermo? I have a couple whynter 251’s that are overflowing, just waiting on a cabinet, but posts like these make me anxious for that day to arrive sooner rather than later. 

[Fosgate]

So I just got done, pulling everything out, going through each box thoroughly and wiped everything down with a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar to kill any active mold and the spores. I found a couple boxes of Lucitania's that I missed before (How I missed them I don't know)and chucked a couple more that I thought would be ok before. Only 2 Luci's got whacked, I cut the foot off one to smoke later and the heel off another. The one with just the wire shelves in it had mold all over the condenser. The other with the drawers and the fans I noticed after I pulled everything out had also been leaking but the fans and kitty litter kept everything dry. Regardless. I pulled everything there as well and wiped everything down. Luckily the prize Bovedia I got from a member made it intact since I left him in the bag he was sent to me by a generous member from here. I cut power to both units. Going to run them unregulated temps. I usually keep the house at 68 in the summer anyway. The 5 RASS I pulled yesterday that were in question I was really nervous about pulling the label off without pulling wrapper with it but they all came off fine. I was able to save another that the box paper had stuck to by gently rubbing with the microfiber cloth that I had dipped in the water/vinegar solution. Also gently wiped down any cigar within 3-4 of a cigar that I pulled in concern of mold or just ruined. 

I guess life teaches you lessons, some more expensive than others. This could have been far worse. 

 

[SCgarman]

Ditch the wine cooler. Go for a wooden cabinet humidor similar to an Aristocrat with either the largest Boveda's or an active system like a Cigar Oasis. You live in South Dakota so I would imagine the hottest days up there don't last long. Since you set your A/C at 68, really no point for a climate controlled humidor environment. Florida climate totally different story.  Cigars have become far too expensive for disasters like you posted here.