Humidity Issues in a New Cooler

[micahzeff]

I bought a new 35 bottle cooler. I put three lbs. of 65 RH beads in the humidor, 1 lb. more than is required according to Heartfelt's calculator. I plugged in the cooler and set the thermometer for 64 degrees, the warmest setting, and waited before adding any boxes to see what the humidity range would be. The humidity hovered at 70 - 73 % RH for two days. I then saw that when the compressor turned on, the humidity dropped to 35 % RH, before climbing back up to the 70 - 73 % range.

Has anyone experienced such dramatic swings in humidity inside their cooler. Do you think filling the cooler up with boxes or more beads could help minimize such dramatic swings in humidity?

Thanks for your help

[Colt45]

We've a number of members who use wine fridges and there are a few great threads on the topic. Check the Humidor Tutorial forum, and also do a search

for haier, as there are a few good ones scattered in the Discussion forum. My one suggestion would be to not dampen your beads (I don't know if you have).

Good luck, and I know members will chime in.

[rckymtn22]

The problem is the compressor, that type of cooler is not good at keeping a constant RH, a thermoelectric type is much better. do some research on here or online there is plenty of info that will explain it better than me.

[OZCUBAN]

I bought a new 35 bottle cooler. I put three lbs. of 65 RH beads in the humidor, 1 lb. more than is required according to Heartfelt's calculator. I plugged in the cooler and set the thermometer for 64 degrees, the warmest setting, and waited before adding any boxes to see what the humidity range would be. The humidity hovered at 70 - 73 % RH for two days. I then saw that when the compressor turned on, the humidity dropped to 35 % RH, before climbing back up to the 70 - 73 % range.

Has anyone experienced such dramatic swings in humidity inside their cooler. Do you think filling the cooler up with boxes or more beads could help minimize such dramatic swings in humidity?

Thanks for your help

Hi Mate don't know if this is of any help to you i have a 28 bottle vintec cooler 3 pounds of 65% beads in summer when i switch it on to combat heat it does fluctuate rapidly but at the same time it recovers as rapid here is a link to the thread where there are PDF'S to down load and compare with your own LINK

Cheers OZ

[Professor Twain]

I made a lengthy post about this some time ago, I studied the temperature and humidity variations that occurred when my fridge turned on... I had remote digital hygrometers so I tested them both out in the fridge, and within boxes and cabs inside of the fridge. The quick summary is that the amount of swing in humidity WITHIN boxes and cabs is very small, and when the fridge is full of boxes of cigars the swing is much less than what you are finding. I found that the bigger issue is that the humidity is much higher at the bottom of the fridge than the top, so you need fans and/or a strategy of rotating boxes so they don't either dry out or get too moist.

[OZCUBAN]

I made a lengthy post about this some time ago, I studied the temperature and humidity variations that occurred when my fridge turned on... I had remote digital hygrometers so I tested them both out in the fridge, and within boxes and cabs inside of the fridge. The quick summary is that the amount of swing in humidity WITHIN boxes and cabs is very small, and when the fridge is full of boxes of cigars the swing is much less than what you are finding. I found that the bigger issue is that the humidity is much higher at the bottom of the fridge than the top, so you need fans and/or a strategy of rotating boxes so they don't either dry out or get too moist.

Well said Professor Twain

I think the variation in the boxes is minimum also and like you mentioned if you rotate boxes everything should in theory be equalized

Cheers OZ

[MoneyPit]

I've got a bit of HVAC knowledge and the previous posts are right on. If your unit has a compressor, then the evaporator coil will remove humidity from the air when the compressor is running. It looks like Prof. Twain has provided you some good information and it sounds like you're using more beads than necessary. Good luck!

[micahzeff]

A big thank you to everyone for your replies. I have noticed smaller swings in humidity variation since filling the humidor. I will rotate the boxes on a regular basis as per your advice. Thanks again.