Hey all - need help sourcing out "water crystals"....

[CanuckSARTech]

Hey everybody,

So, I have a few of the Cigar Oasis XL Plus machines for my cabinet and coolerdors and whatnot. Well, we all know how much of a PITA those florist's foam inserts are within the water reservoir. And, aside from those being a pain, I just recently got a new CO unit at the start of December, and I noticed that when I did my distilled water refill last weekend, that the florist foam actually had brown and beige mold spores growing on it.

A full fledged colony.

No, there's no active mold anywhere in my stock. And yes, it was just distilled water. The reservoir and unit were brand new, just taken out of the plastic, and in use for little more than a month and a half at most.

So, I'm planning to hack out the florist foam out of these water reservoirs, and get rid of those useless sponges. Basically, I plan on filling those reservoirs with those super-absorbant polymer crystals, like the crystals that are used in the Madelaine crystal humidifiers, or the Xikar crystal jars, or the Drymistat tubes. (I have RH Beads elsewhere in the humis, I just want crystals for this, for their higher moisture content and evaporative rate, so beads aren't ideal/needed for this).

Where can I get healthy volumes of these crystals, without paying through the nose for additional stuff I don't need/want?

I don't want to buy a bunch of Drymistat tubes, and then dump in the crystals and throw out the tubes, nor do I want to buy a bunch of the Xikar jars, and ditto. The extra/smaller packaging that these come in, that's really what you're getting charged for. I just want a decent volume of the crystals, enough to adequately fill two of these reservoirs.

I've looked through different retailers, and nothing found. Anyone have any thoughts/leads?

[carnivalhobo]

Heartfelt Beads

I have 2lbs in my cabinet and a small cylinder in my desktop, work great.

EDIT: Just saw you didnt want beads. Reading comp fail...

[brazoseagle]

The first thing I did was rip out the foam of my CO's. !!!! Get it soaking wet and use an exacto knife. Then use your fingers.

I filled my basins up a third of the way with heartfelt 65% Humidity Beads. I never even have to worry about them. Seriously, it's a set and forget, and works extremely efficiently.

[KarlJ]

I don't know if you'll find those in bulk. If that's the route your going than you may have to go with a brand like Xikar?

Also, and I could be wrong, but I believe your supposed to use a propylene glycol calibrated to the RH that you want to maintain.

I bought a Xikar "gel" type humidifier for a 50 count desk top. The tobacconist told me that I had to use propylene glycol (pg solution) formulated to maintain the desired PH.

Was I misguided? I don't know?? I used it for a short time and bought a cabinet. Now the 50 count is a dry box and I use heartfelt beads with distilled water in the cabinet.

Best of luck on the search

-Karl

[CanuckSARTech]

EDIT: Just saw you didnt want beads. Reading comp fail...

LOL. Thanks though.

[CanuckSARTech]

Thanks Brazos and MrJ.

No, I know about beads, and distilled water, and PG solution, and all that sort of jazz.

I have three times the amount of beads (RH Beads from cigarmony.com, 65% RH) that I really need in each of my containers. So, I don't want/intend to put beads in this reservoir. Beads are passive. I want my active system to pump out more and mass amounts of moisture when called for. So, the superabsorbant polymer gels/crystals generally work to 70%. So, I want to refill the CO reservoir with those, and will be using with distilled water (no need to use PG, no need to go antimicrobial due to the crystals, and don't need the PG in the solution to assist with percentage leveling, that's what the beads will be for).

Just need to find these crystals in bulk amounts. Right now, the best I've seen is 4 oz jars of the stuff from Xikar. I figure I'll need about 12-16 oz per reservoir, so I really don't want to waste/buy that many jars when I just need the crystals.

[tempbond]

Keith, message sent

[JSPEC]

Hey Canuck, I did the same thing with my Hydra and Oasis XL humidifiers. I went to a Plant World on Eglinton in the Etobicoke area (Close to my place). You can buy a variety of colours but they are all the same and are unscented. I think I paid like 3 bucks per bag or something like that. Maybe even try a Home Depot flower department and ask for the Gel florist beads they should know but a Plant world or something like it is your best bet bud. Happy hunting.

[JSPEC]

Gel florist Gel crystals sorry haha...my mistake wit the beads.

[PigFish]

Keith, this is a topic I know a little something about. There is simply not anything more "water rich" than water in its liquid form. Why not just use it that way?

I don't know anything about CO units as I don't have one. But unless there is some problem with them being water tight why not use water in its liquid form?

This is one of my own "hydration units." These things are really simple.

Pull a vacuum over a wick, such as this for a room humidifier, and allow it you vaporize the water in the wick.

This particular box is used for hydration of my bead products. Yesterday... this box had 300ml of water in it!!! Now the water is gone and my box of beads is registering 60 RH at 70 Deg F. Just plug it in and the fan does the rest.

How does this help you? Take a good lock at the damn thing and produce a similar arrangement on the inside of your own Oasis device. What to talk it through? Send me some picture of what I am gonna' tell you to drill into and a good time to call. -Ray

[BrotherBear]

Did it look like this?

As previously mentioned, you can find what you are looking for at most florists.

[Kapsimalis]

1327542367[/url]' post='281048']

LOL. Thanks though.

Hey I just did this about 2 months ago. I got my crystals from tampahumidor

[Dbone]

Keith, this is a topic I know a little something about. There is simply not anything more "water rich" than water in its liquid form. Why not just use it that way?

I don't know anything about CO units as I don't have one. But unless there is some problem with them being water tight why not use water in its liquid form?

This is one of my own "hydration units." These things are really simple.

Pull a vacuum over a wick, such as this for a room humidifier, and allow it you vaporize the water in the wick.

This particular box is used for hydration of my bead products. Yesterday... this box had 300ml of water in it!!! Now the water is gone and my box of beads is registering 60 RH at 70 Deg F. Just plug it in and the fan does the rest.

How does this help you? Take a good lock at the damn thing and produce a similar arrangement on the inside of your own Oasis device. What to talk it through? Send me some picture of what I am gonna' tell you to drill into and a good time to call. -Ray

Piggy took the words out of my mouth. I was going to take a snap-shot of the humidification system in my Aristocrat, which works on the same idea. Water in the bottom, simple wick for the fan. I'm good for 3 to 4 months at a time. I wash it out maybe once or twice a year with a mild bleach / water mixture.

Hats off to your creation Piggy, simple and I bet very effective. Keith has the fan and container already, just need the wick. Good luck guys, you two will get it figured out for sure

Btw, WB Piggy

[PigFish]

Piggy took the words out of my mouth. I was going to take a snap-shot of the humidification system in my Aristocrat, which works on the same idea. Water in the bottom, simple wick for the fan. I'm good for 3 to 4 months at a time. I wash it out maybe once or twice a year with a mild bleach / water mixture.

Hats off to your creation Piggy, simple and I bet very effective. Keith has the fan and container already, just need the wick. Good luck guys, you two will get it figured out for sure

Btw, WB Piggy

...my intention exactly. Beads (beaded or chipped silica gel and other desiccant products) are primarily buffering agents and not a good supplier of water vapor over time. Using a desiccant to supply water (continuously), is frankly a misuse of them. I tend to think of desiccants as a conditioning product, less so a supply product.

Thanks mate... Just stopped in for a quick abuse of the population! To keep my hand in, so to speak! -

[CanuckSARTech]

Thanks guys.

BrotherBear, yeah, the brown mold, that's just like what it was. I haven't hacked out all the foam yet, so I'm not sure how covered it is completely. But that's the stuff.

And Ray - thanks a bunch for the info. I completely agree and get what you're saying, and yes, I agree that straight distilled water would work best in that sort of setup. But for me, with the setup of these Cigar Oasis machines, it wouldn't really.

I don't want to risk straight water being splashed around. These aren't sealed units, and it sits in a spot that when I go into my cabinet, or when I have one in the coolerdors, that I can easily move it around or knock it about. Not good - I'd spill it and get water everywhere.

So, the crystals would be a great medium for me. They're 80/90% water, just a jelly. Unlike beads, they evaporate and allow transfer better. I love my beads to keep the RH at 65%, and they are perfect for that, in their passive form. But, for the on-demand usage and needs of the CO machine, the higher transference of the gelantinous polymer crystals are what I think I need. Kinda just a non-spill, 80% water holding medium for the usage.

I'll follow some of the leads given, but I appreciate all the info and tips so far.

[Puros Y Vino]

Keith, there are 4oz jars of the stuff that can be had. They're from Xikar.

[CanuckSARTech]

Keith, there are 4oz jars of the stuff that can be had. They're from Xikar.

Yeah, those ones I know about. Those are actually the jars I was talking about earlier. A 4 oz jar, but for like $7 or $8. And, I'd likely need three of them per reservoir for those Cigar Oasis units. So, it's a bit of a cost-prohibitive waste.

I've followed up on some leads, and have found something that may work, and for about 1/2 the cost of a single one of those jars. I still have some digging to do with this, but it looks like I can get in the crystals alone, from a distributor that handles these for florists and pet shops and whatever, but that also distributes them for Xikar and whatnot (so, the same exact crystals, just different packaging). It's the packaging that costs ya!!!

So, I've got some stuff ordered in, a few different things to see what's best for my needs. I'll keep you guys updated, and will be sure to post pictures as well. Cheers.

[davidl]

Keith,

If you're looking for gel, have you tried looking at gardening supply sources?

[CanuckSARTech]

Keith,

If you're looking for gel, have you tried looking at gardening supply sources?

No, not tried going to stores. However, online links received and browsed, and potential solution found and on the way in the mail.

I'll update this once things are in hand and sorted out.

Thanks all. Cheers.

[Murri]

Keith, thanks for starting this thread.

Just checked my unit out of curiosity.

Wasn't bad but I could see some small bits of yellow discoloration inside it.

Looks like I should do this change also.

[BrotherBear]

I seem to remember once reading about adding copper (wire or even pennies) to the gel to act as a anti-fungal or something like that. Does anyone else remember reading this or am I mistaken?

[eber]

there is a product called deco-beads I remember seeing these while researching humidification a while back.

Hope this helps

[kiwiman911]

keith

I was looking at my Hydra and got the same thing brown stuff. I was thinking of getting beads but started looking at gel and could not find any good supply at a reasoable price let me know how this turns out

erik

[mk05]

Most silica is pretty much equal. Just go find basic cat litter silica with no odor control or colors and soak them in water and then dry until it holds at 65 or whatever to your hearts content.

For pricing reference, i purchased about 12 pounds of industrial silica some time ago for 5 bucks or so. I think cat litter dependig on brand is 8 a pound.

Nothing really beats active humidity.

[CanuckSARTech]

Silica is different - that's the beads, we're talking the gel here. A totally different beast.