I picked up some heartfelt bead tubes for my humidor and I cant seem to get them to keep the humidity up. According the the heartfelt website, I am using about 3 times the required amount of beads (65% RH) and my humidor is still not holding it's humidity. I looked at the beads and a majority of them are clear, so i know the water is there. I never really had a problem holding humidity level in this before the beads, and they seemed to have worked for a little while, and now it just keeps falling off a little every day. Any suggestions?
[Reply]

If everything you describe is accurate, you likely have either: a bad seal on your humidor (less likely if the beads are clear) or a bad hygrometer. Depending on your area of the world, the local weather may be adversely effecting your humidity as well. The beads have definitely not stopped working, other factors are just making it appear as such. :-)
[Reply]

When's the last time you checked the calibration on your hygrometer? Replaced the batteries?

When I had a desktop, the only time I had trouble holding the RH with Heartfelt beads was during the winter, with the forced air heat was on. Ambient RH was in the high 30 / low 40% range and the beads had a hard time keeping up. Not their fault, it was an inexpensive humidor. Point being....what's the ambient RH in the room where you are keeping the humidor?

Another way to check for a good seal is to put the whole humidor, cigar, and beads included in a big ziplock bag, or even a cooler. If you use a bag, I'd use two and double bag the humi. Leave it for a day or two, check the RH then.

Also, if you are opening it up every hour or so to check, you're preventing things from working properly. Leave it alone for a day and see what you have then.

Lastly, don't worry too much. This is a pretty simple thing to maintain so once you figure out what is going on, it should be very easy to fix.
[Reply]

The humidor and hydrometer are only a few months old. I have checked all sides of the humidor with the dollar bill check and it appears to have a very solid seal. the hydrometer actually has its reading on the outside of the humidor as that was how it was built, so i don't think the cause is opening it up frequently. I added even more distilled water to the beads to see if that helps out at all. I'm hoping it does. Also, i put an extra humidifier in there to try to help get the humidity back up.

I don't really have a way to test outside humidity as the hydrometer is part of the humidor and if i take it out there will be a gaping hole in the box. I know this isn't a really good indication, but for what its worth, its been pretty humid feeling up here in central New York. in the couple of minutes i had the box open, I noticed the humidity reading dropped from around 60% to 50%,

Thanks for the help so far. I'll keep you updated on my progress.
[Reply]

Wait, are you using an analogue hydro? That would be your problem right there if so.
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]

If you want to really know what the RH is then pick up a good digital hygrometer. Analog hygrometers are not very accurate. I am partial to the HygroSet digital hygrometers, but there are many good brands. Once you have your hygrometer and you have calibrated/salt tested it, then you will know what is happening in your humidor.

The other side of the coin, is that if your cigars are smoking well, don't worry about the RH so much.

(BTW, it's hygrometer with a "G", not hydrometer with a "D" - a Hygrometer measures RH, a Hydrometer measures the density of liquids)
[Reply]

I just found this out last week but the humidity level is shown when you look up your zip or city on weather.com
[Reply]

hahaha, i'm such an idiot. I should have known that being a chemical engineer.... lol
See what happens when you don't practice for 6 years....
[Reply]

aha... 43% humidity outside
[Reply]

This has been my practice, but I have everything in a cooler. I have a small cooler, and 2 bags of hcm beads (1 4oz bag and 1 8oz bag). My cigars Smoke fine, so I don't even use a hygro. :-)
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]