Hey All,

Im having this issue lately with my Wine-A-Dor that I cant seem to figure out.

I originally used a large 18-20 bottle wine fridge to store my cigars. It worked well but it seemed that for right now my cigar collection was not growing that rapidly (I like to smoke em too :-) ) and it was a bit hard to control the RH. I figured it was because I had such a big space and not that much in there. I was never WAY off from my mark of 65% but I did vary a few % either way.

So I decided I was going to use my large wine fridge for its intended purpose for the time being, and bought a smaller 8 bottle Haier thermoelectric unit for humi duty. My thinking being the smaller area should be easier to control. I loaded it up with my cigars, and heartfelt beads from the other fridge. I forget the actual amount, but its two of those "socks" filled and a small dish against the back wall filled as well. At this point I did not add any more water because I wanted to see where the RH settled at. To my surprise it went right to 70% which is higher than it was in the other ( bigger) fridge. A week or so later it settled to a better 68ish. Remember these were 65% beads.

So that was back in May. It sits on top of my dresser since there is not a ton of free space in my apartment. This is good because every morning I get a chance to check out the Tempt/RH. So one day out of the blue my RH is SKY HIGH. Like almost 80 percent! Im losing my mind and trying to dry the beads any way I can. I tried the freezer, I tried dangling the bag infront of the window AC until they turned white again from clear. I tried the hair dryer trick, I tried it all. NOTHING would bring this RH down. A quick BTW, the drain hole IS plugged in the back. This is a thermoelec unit.

So when looking through posts online I came across lots of discussion about the Exquisicat cat litter. The unsented crystals that are supposed to be as good as beads. I said what the hell why not.

So off to PetCo I went. Found the litter, got onlne with all the people with their dogs and made my purchase. :-) Must of left a good impression with the cashier. She asked if I had a members card, I said no. She said would you like one? I said sorry no I dont have any pets as I left with my kitty litter. :-)

Anyway I got home to my amazon rain forest of a humidor and removed all the heartfelt beads. I put kitty litter on just the plate, stuck it in there and within like a hour my RH dropped from 78 down to 70. The next day I added the two sock things filled with the kitty litter and my RH dropped to 68 and then to 65. It stayed that way for a couple of weeks now, and then out of the blue a few days ago it started to creep back up. Im at 78 now.

Im confused as can be right now. Id say maybe my gauge is reading wrong except you can definitly see the effect of the high RH. The end of one of my Partagas are starting to split. Its the only one but I dont want to lose them all.

I did notice a strange pattern tho. Here in northern NJ we have had some VERY hot days and some very HIGH humidity for the last few weeks. This is where it boggles my mind. If I turn the AC on in the room, which it has been alot lately the RH INSIDE the humi actually goes UP?! If I go to work with the AC off and the windows open and come home to it being hot and nasty in there, by some miracle the RH inside the humi is back down to like..68ish. If I turn the AC on before I go to bed I wake up to 70+ %. The last week here has been nothing but rain and cooler temps. Now I am back up at 78% and holding no matter what.

What can I do guys? I think Im losing my mind more because I am thinking about it more. Anyone have a problem with the Haier units not sealing tight or something? But if it was not sealing tight, then wouldnt my temp be a problem too? Or better yet if it was not sealing tight wouldn't the RH in my humi go DOWN when I turned on the AC in the room? Afterall they do suck the moisture out of the air...right?

Any help would be appreciated guys. Maybe its something simple Im not seeing. Any thoughts to getting my RH down some?

Thanks everyone for reading. :-)

Joe

Most things read say RH is easier to control at lower temps. Well my fridge stays at a constant 65-67ish and my humidity is all over the charts. I dont even open the door at all and this happens.
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Joe,
I don't know if this helps, but here is my experience:
I recently purchased a Haier Thermo 12 bottle cooler. It has NO drain plug (yours may be older). I had two 8oz bags of Shilala beads in it (65%) and had a hard time keeping it that way. It sat around 59% most of the time and when the fan kicked on, it would jump to about 62% or higher. It seems to have settled now with a few more boxes in it.
Check the back of the unit where the fan is, make sure it is in fact sealed....also, I can't recommend the Shilala beads enough. It takes time but they eventually equalize...it's almost like every box in the cooler had to "season". I'm now steadily reading 62% to 66% and I'm ok with that. I don't mind dry-boxing my CC's in a 55% humi for a day before I smoke. Those beads are SPOT ON.
Another thing I noticed was temp differences, it seemed (at first anyway) that a slightly higher temp (69-71 degrees) would yield a higher RH. Try cooling more maybe??
Anyway, best of luck to you, brother. I know how frustrating this can be!
Hope this helps some. :-)
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