Building an Affordable Electronic Humidor.

[El Presidente]

The attached PDF is one of the mst remarkable pieces of work on Electronic Humidors that I have ever had the privellege to read.

To Pigfish (Ray)....my sincere thanks for putting this together. On behalf of all FOH members....."Bloody well done mate!"

I don't have the program here to comvert the PDF to an uploadable image format but if some one does....shoot it through to me.

Humidor_Project3_30_09HQP.pdf

[yossie]

This articles is like academic paper!

[JMH]

Really well done!

[sounddust]

Well bloody done Piggy. Although I will probably stick to my simple wine cooler/floral gel setup as I fear attempting any of the drilling or wiring bits will leave me dead.

[sliver54]

Very nice job... thanks for posting

[anacostiakat]

Very nice. I prefer the accumonitor.

[crasmith]

Very nice! Thanks for taking the time to share this with all!

[zuma]

Ray, many thanks indeed... bloody awesome!

[Hoops]

Great! Thanks very much for sharing this.

[PigFish]

Rob, I can probable convert this to html or post the individual pages but I could really screw up the forum looks in the process of tinkering and trying to get it right.

****... I thought you knew what you were doing over there!!! If you pair me up with a moderator capable of deleting threads I will see what I can do. -Ray

[Jesuscookies]

Does this have the dual setpoints for temp and humidity like the Habitat Monitor?

Very nice. I prefer the accumonitor.

Ray, thanks for posting a super informative how to!

[Bolismoker]

Great read. Thanks for sharing your work

[lostdata]

Very nice project. Thanks for sharing!

[El Presidente]

Rob, I can probable convert this to html or post the individual pages but I could really screw up the forum looks in the process of tinkering and trying to get it right.

****... I thought you knew what you were doing over there!!! If you pair me up with a moderator capable of deleting threads I will see what I can do. -Ray

Don't worry. I will extract it from the PDF and post it as a HTML sometime today

[CigarmanTim]

I've been looking for something like this. This is all I will ever need. Thank you very much for posting this.

[BonVivant]

Thank you, Ray. Unbelievable job!

I would never be able to do all of this, without screwing up a few vine cabinets.. Amazing concept, especially, after reading many times over and over, that it is totally impossible.

Does Bob Stabell's system work on the same principle? In other words, does Bob Stabell's units have a compressor?

Any thoughts?

[PigFish]

Bob's cooled units use a Peltier type thermoelectric cooler. -P

[OZCUBAN]

Thanks Piggy(Ray).

Will need to read through it a few times till it gels then i will look for a fridge.

My collection is growing and I am starting to get too much money invested to overlook the threat of a beetle outbreak especially in Perth (gets stinking in Summer)wasn't sure about which road to take (Thermoelectric or conventional).

your info is of great use thank you

Cheers

Oz Cuban(Steve)

[Colt45]

Nice work Piggy

The only "problem" I have with climate controlled cabinets is that I've yet to see one with the capability to reduce humidity if necessary.

That is, the humidifier shuts off when it reaches it's set point, but if humidity continues to increase, the unit can't actually reduce it.

[kyee]

The only "problem" I have with climate controlled cabinets is that I've yet to see one with the capability to reduce humidity if necessary.

That is, the humidifier shuts off when it reaches it's set point, but if humidity continues to increase, the unit can't actually reduce it.

I agree. in the summer months, the ambient RH rises in my area, and it the RH gets too high for my comfort. the only way I've found to safely bring it down is to use a product called DampRid. it's odorless, and works well to bring down the RH. Now, I have a HUGE cabinet designed from Staebell, so I have to use about 6 buckets of this stuff, spread out thru the cabinet, to bring down the RH. There's no way to dial in a set point for it to reduce RH to, so I just have to monitor it, and take the DampRid out when it's down to the level I want.

[PigFish]

Ahhh… Ross you bring up a good point, one I will address a little here.

This process starts by defining what a humidor is. We can agree that it is certainly a container that will hold and presumably protect your cigars. Further definition of a humidor gets a bit more ambiguous. The ambiguity exists as a result of the external influences on your humidor. Truly one size (type) does not fit all. Your home environment will dictate what elements your humidor will need to control.

My project controls two external influences that negatively impact MY cigars. 1) Heat. 2) Dry air. Other than that it acts as a protective cabinet that keeps my cigars from rolling all over the floor!

More specifically I am happy to address an issue brought up by Colt.

A sealed unit humidor like mine does not have a means to diffuse water vapor. This is both a good and a bad thing. As described above it takes a considerable time “vent” excess humidity from my humidor. That is one of the things that I don’t like about it but I am happy to engage in some theory that provides at least some potential solutions.

My sealed environment humidor preserves water vapor by recycling it. This is a must. As water is stripped from the air by the cooling system (an inevitability linked to dew point and condensation) it must by replaced in the system to keep the humidity where I want it. First you want this water removed from an area not controlled by your system to an area that is controlled by your system (the humidifier) as rapidly as possible. My system does this rather well. Then you need a means to put back only the amount necessary to bring the system to your desired RH.

There are some practicalities to using wood for humidors. Wood is a permeable material. Now if your system does not have a means to counteract your outside environment then wood is not a good material, hence the use of a humidifier. Once your internal environment becomes “saturated” (at equilibrium at the humidity that you desire) a permeable humidor will allow the exterior environment to add to or subtract from your internal environment. By indicating that climate controlled humidors are the only humidors subject to these influences is incorrect. Indicating that it is more apparent in controlled humidors may be true due to a number of factors. Two I will speculate on. 1) Controlled humidors are sealed better than other humidors not allowing the migration of water vapor. 2) These systems have more accurate controls/gauges to measure humidity, leading people to believe that only these humidors have these problems.

Rather than trying to solve the worlds problems I will address only those which may affect my humidor. Here are some solutions that I will likely build into the next one of these that I make. I could go on and on about how these work but I don’t want to spend the whole day typing. If more questions arise perhaps I will get into a bit more detail as to why these solutions might help.

There are three items that I think will aid any controlled humidor with a problem with excess moisture in a dry environment.

1) Installation of vent. Assuming that your outside environment is typically at an RH below your desired RH a vent will allow a constant flow of water vapor to escape to your outside environment like a wood humidor. You can make this more complex by using a unidirectional membrane that would allow the escape of water vapor without the intrusion of same. You could use a material like tyvec or gortex for example.

2) Take better control over your humidifier. Use a low voltage relay (normally closed) to limit the running of your humidifier to times when your cooler is not running. I am not going to go on and on about why this is a good idea, I just don’t have that kinda’ time today, but I will likely include this system in “new revisions” of my humidor.

3) Use a delay on the humidifier. This is an offshoot of idea number 2.

I will entertain questions on the above if you have any given the time.

I will add one thing here. My humidor does not really creep up in RH but it does have a problem shedding high RH at a time that you may want it reduced. It is so well sealed that reduction of RH on a whim is not an easy task. When I want a substantial setting reduction I remove the humidifier. I believe that two of the aforementioned solutions will give me better control and solve that problem as well. -Piggy

[anacostiakat]

Am I to understand that you are recycling the condensation from a peltier or peltier like device into your reservoirs? Which should be filled with distilled water and cleaned periodically.

If so I would not do that. My chilled unit dumps the condensation into a reservoir that I dispose of periodically. More so in the summer of course.

[Colt45]

Ahhh… Ross you bring up a good point, one I will address a little here.

Piggy, my specifying climate controlled humidors is rather pedestrian. It's simply to point out that these climate control systems, as they apply

to sealed humidors / cabinets are not completely active. They can maintain temp and add humidity, but are not capable of removing excess

moisture. I agree that this would probably require some kind of ventilation system. At that point I'd probably be more inclined to try and build

a small walk in, as some of the members here have done.

As you have pointed out, it all depends on what you are looking for or expect for your own personal application. Location and appearance

are surely important factors.

[PigFish]

Piggy, my specifying climate controlled humidors is rather pedestrian. It's simply to point out that these climate control systems, as they apply

to sealed humidors / cabinets are not completely active. They can maintain temp and add humidity, but are not capable of removing excess

moisture. I agree that this would probably require some kind of ventilation system. At that point I'd probably be more inclined to try and build

a small walk in, as some of the members here have done.

As you have pointed out, it all depends on what you are looking for or expect for your own personal application. Location and appearance

are surely important factors.

Absolutely correct again. To each his own. My system works great for me and I really tried to point out that it is not the "best" system for anyone other than me. My humidor is not perfect, like almost all aspects in my life it is a form of compromise; size, cost, efficiency, style, they are all a matter of give and take.

Thank you one and all for the complements and the criticisms. -Ray

[kanuna]

Thanks once more PigFish, I am already on the hunt for parts, my friend may the good Lord bless you for you talents.