The Downside to Thermo Electric Wine Fridges?

[ZinZan]

I've just bought my 28 bottle from a friend met in FOH. Cheers Harmesh!!! He's been giving pointers on how to season it.

Started using 2 pounds of Heartfelt, it wasn't holding the RH. Now i'm using a combination of Heartfelt and Kitty litter. Its been nearly a month seasoning, i think i just about got it and managed to get 70% rh. Hopefully it stays stable, gonna see for couple of weeks see how it goes. Damn man, i nearly gave up.

[Dimmers]

I started with a thermo fridge but with summer in Perth I couldn't get it down below 75f and that was with the thing running all the time.

This is my summer fear - big downside of thermo's is that they can only run within a certain range of ambient room temp. I dont have anything to hand but I believe its around 12C (ie so if 33C in the room, the lowest the thermo will go is 21C).

[Croz71]

This is my summer fear - big downside of thermo's is that they can only run within a certain range of ambient room temp. I dont have anything to hand but I believe its around 12C (ie so if 33C in the room, the lowest the thermo will go is 21C).

Yeah mate that pretty much sums it up. In Perth we get days over 42C so my thermo had no chance

[assassin]

Had mine for about 5 months--28 bottle size no issues so far using 3lb heartfelt beads holding 65% at top and 69% at lower level runs on a timer for half an hour a day and a small pc fan at the bottom to move the air around also for half hour per day. Have not had to recharge the beads yet.

only down side is the cost of filling it!

[jedipastor]

I think the only downsides I am aware of are cost (if you don't need the refrigeration aspect, they are too expensive compared to simple coolers or heavy-duty plastic bins, which is what I use). Other than that, I know some guys who have had condensation issues when the weather is particularly hot. There are threads on other forums (like BOTL.org) that discuss remedies for this.

[Diamondog]

Prez I don't think you detailed the problem other than something is not right??

[dB69]

I have two 28 bottle thermo electric winecoolers and there is a problem when they are too full, that is about 30+ boxes in one fridge. The key is how to create correct air circulation inside the fridge. However, the situation would probably be the same in every kind of humidor, not only the thermo electric one.

Moisture seems to stay in the middle-front of the fridge and other locations are too dry. I have a fan in the upper corner which blows air from top to bottom in the front of the fridge. At the moment those fans are on for an hour and off for an hour which seems to be the best solution (but not perfect) so far. Letting fans to be on all the time makes the moisture problem worse (misplaced fans perhaps?) and having no fans makes the temperature vary too much inside the fridge. It also helps when re-organizing boxes every now and then, moving boxes from moist areas to dryer areas and vice a versa. I am currently planning to add more fans into my fridges to get the air circulation stronger, it could make the whole thing easier. Yes-yes, buying a third winecooler would be THE solution, but I'm not going to do that. Worth mentioning is also that I'm having two pounds of 65% HF-beads in each winecooler and those beads are on the rear of the humidor - that's what I have noticed to be the best location for them.

RGDS,

TetrisPlayer

[beamer]

Downside?

I have no more money left for my other hobbies now that I've just about filled the darn thing with your stock, Rob!

Other than that, no downsides.

[El Presidente]

Prez I don't think you detailed the problem other than something is not right??

I was just fishing for a downside

The ones we have been using here $ for $ are the best cigar storage devices I have come across. Granted they have not worked through a full Brisbane summer as of yet.

For an under $300 setup (which is the same $ as a decent 50-75 cigar desktop) you have temp and humidity control (beads) for 15 boxes of cigars (28 bottle unit).

[Orion21]

I have a 16 bottle Haier unit that is brilliant. I put 1 lb of heartfelt beads at the back on the bottom to cover the drain plug, wiped down the inside to get rid of the plastic smell and it has been working perfectly since. This unit has a passive fan that runs from time to time even when not actively cooling, but it's towards the top of the unit, so I placed a very small battery operated fan Riaz told me about at the bottom of the unit to make sure the boxes down there get airflow.

All in it has cost me $120 for the unit, $35 for the beads and $1 for a gallon of distilled water. I have owned the unit 4 months and have recharged the beads twice. Currently it is almost maxed with 15 boxes My unit reads 63% Rh and 63F.

[OZCUBAN]

... I never heard of such a thing!!!! -LOL

Converting wine coolers is my gig. I am a storage (use slang term for prostitute here). I am not a fan of TE coolers and prefer the compressor variety but I say whatever works for you is what is important.

I am building some new systems based on programable logic controllers that I am hoping will be top in their class systems right now. I just bought me a pile of new parts and the next few weeks at Piggy Labs is gonna' be pretty interesting! I have had some controls breakthroughs that should allow me to control just about everything that pushes air and water vapor around in a humidor and not break the bank. I am all jacked up about it.

My new system will feature complete "healthy" cigar life cycle functionality. It will cool when hot, hydrate when dry, dehydrate when wet, and heat when too cool. I have been having an interesting time in development, but paper goes to reality really soon (hopefully). The data logger is the final arbiter! If she says it works... well, it works!!!

Cheers! -the Pig

As always Ray

Looking forward to hear of your findings should make for some very interesting reading

As far as the main thread goes I don't have a thermoelectric ,I have a 28 bottle VINTEC and 3 pound of beads ,at the moment I do to have it turned on as it is Winter here down under but it is pretty constant at about 68% 67% and at 55.f

One day I will try to automate it

Cheers OZ

[PigFish]

As always Ray

Looking forward to hear of your findings should make for some very interesting reading

As far as the main thread goes I don't have a thermoelectric ,I have a 28 bottle VINTEC and 3 pound of beads ,at the moment I do to have it turned on as it is Winter here down under but it is pretty constant at about 68% 67% and at 55.f

One day I will try to automate it

Cheers OZ

I like to share. Thanks mate.

I know I owe you an email, I am backed up a few Steve.

The first thing I think I am gonna' build is the ultimate ice chest coolerdor. Somehow I don't think that this will catch on as the controls themselves are often more than what people want to spend, but I am gonna' try the project anyway. While I am not a fan of coolers as humidors, I think I can make one that I can put the Piggy Labs endorsement on!

It will hold a slew of cigars while I dissemble an earlier project and convert it and test it.

I can hardly wait to get my test subjects...

Cheers. -Ray

[PigFish]

Piggy, your posts helped me so much with my build

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge. If you are ever in Perth Western Australia I would love to repay you with some drinks and cigars

... the honor would be all mine my friend, thanks for the invite. I find Ozbornes to be some of the nicest people that I have ever met.

Cheers! -Ray

[Bartolomeo]

Same set up for me. I haven't plugged mine in for 2 years.

Living in AZ, how do you keep the temp below 70* in warmer months when they are unplugged? Only way around that would be to freeze your cigars once you receive them is my guess so temperature wouldnt matter at that point.

Respectfully,

Bart

[Croz71]

... the honor would be all mine my friend, thanks for the invite. I find Ozbornes to be some of the nicest people that I have ever met.

Cheers! -Ray

Cheers Ray...That's why I love this forum, fantastic people sharing knowlage and helping other lovers of this great hobby

Thanks again mate...Allan

[AlanB]

Greetings from a newbie on this forum!

Here is my two cents on the Wineador thing.

I have the NewAir AW280E with some nice custom Spanish cedar shelves and drawers made Forrest Price in Idaho. To set it up I simply cleaned it out with water and baking soda and left the door open for it to air out for a week. When my shelves arrived I installed them along with two pounds of heartfelt beads. I also threw in a few boveda packs that I used to use in my desktop. The RH settled in at 70 within 2days and I filled it with my boxes, no singles for now.

The RH dipped to 68, I gave the beads a squirt and it settled right back in at 70. I couldn't be happier with the results, and the aroma when I open the door is amazing. Often, after a really shitty day I just open it and take a whiff and its an immediate attitude adjustment.

Observations thus far:

I keep my house at 65 in the winter ( heating oil is friggin expensive here) so the cooler is set at its highest of 66 and the cooling cycle does not come on, just the fan.

I have two hygrometers top and middle that are within 3% of each other but I attribute that to calibration not different RH zones within the cooler. I don't see how its possible having large variations within the cooler like some are stating.

I have to give the beads a light spraying about once a week.

I did not plug the drain hole, I feel its better to give any condensate formed a way out, rather than getting on boxes or singles

So far so good, we will see how it does over a New Jersey summer!