Wineador "Floor"

[jwr0201]

Necessity sure is the mother of invention. Have to admit I was saying Mother F*****! when I figured this one out. Damn near lost a box of PSP/HQ Monte No 4's. Seems that since I plugged the drain hole in the wineador, there has been condensation gathering in the bottom, forming a very small pool of water. Until recently, I have left the drain open and then decided to follow advice of several BOTL's and cover with duct tape. Not realizing there would be water gathering, one of my boxes of Monte's became wet in one corner. Fortunately, I check the hoard weekly and found this issue. To say I was pissed is a supreme understatement. And to make matters worse, I had no one but myself to blame. Fast forward, the Montes are all carefully dried and are OK. I realized I needed to keep these boxes off the floor of the chiller and came up with using coroplast, a plastic corrugated board that is about .25" thick. This stuff looks like white cardboard, is waterproof and odor free. Used a single thickness with smaller squares cut for 'feet' and affixed with duct tape. Works perfectly! I plan to experiment with this substrate along with styrene to see if simple, durable shelves can be used to hold the weight of boxes.

Problem solved. Dumbass 1 / water 0!

[UnofficialGhost]

I lost a box of Behike 54 and a couple older coffins of the Fuente Toast Across America's to the same thing. Was a sad f'ing day.

Now I just moved boxes up and keep a Tupperware on the bottom for singles.

[billh1]

I lost half a box of Punch Punch.

[Ken Gargett]

i had a dodgy humidor stuff up on me and cost me a box of cohiba DC LE's from 03, the mixed Cohiba specials (30 different smokes) and another box. i was insured from accidental damage, which every expert insisted covered exactly this situation. the scum at CGU rejected the claim and fought me for over a year from memory. ended up before the ombudsman (best invention in history) who found 100% for me. even then, CGU tried to avoid paying - when i chased them, they said that they had not paid me as they needed to be sure i was happy with the decision. i asked if they would pay me more than 100%. apparently not.

i threatened to go back to the ombudsman and got paid extremely quickly.

[Orator]

My drain hole is plugged and I had condensation my first few weeks, as well. I doubled the recommended amount of beads and have two 65% Boveda bags in each drawer. I haven't had a drop of condensation since upping the beads (4 years now). To be safe, I keep one bag of beads right in front of that indent where the hole use to be.

Additionally, the wineador is at capacity, I am sure that helps as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gr8eman]

Until recently, I have left the drain open and then decided to follow advice of several BOTL's and cover with duct tape. Not realizing there would be water gathering, one of my boxes of Monte's became wet in one corner. Fortunately, I check the hoard weekly and found this issue. To say I was pissed is a supreme understatement.

So you run the compressor for cooling? When I built my ex-wine refrigerator/humidor, I read somewhere you should use a humidifier and not store cigars in any refrigerator. I plugged all the holes, lined it with cedar and wired in a humidifier and it works perfect.

[PigFish]

... anytime you guys have a pool of water anywhere in your humidor, your humidor is not working properly!

Any free water in a sealed humidor must be contained and controlled. If it is not, you will have both wet and dry spots, or wet and wetter spots in your humidor.

If you cannot control the condensate in your wine coolers, you should really build a false floor for the bottom cigars to sit on. If this remains the case, regardless of the false floor, you will, over time begin to get mold on cigars that are not rotated out of the wet area. It may not happen today, tomorrow or the next day. Rest assured, it will happen!

Best of luck on your projects.

-Piggy

[perkinke]

My drain hole is plugged and I had condensation my first few weeks, as well. I doubled the recommended amount of beads and have two 65% Boveda bags in each drawer. I haven't had a drop of condensation since upping the beads (4 years now). To be safe, I keep one bag of beads right in front of that indent where the hole use to be.

Additionally, the wineador is at capacity, I am sure that helps as well.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same here, have beads and hovers and it works perfectly.

[UnofficialGhost]

... anytime you guys have a pool of water anywhere in your humidor, your humidor is not working properly!

Any free water in a sealed humidor must be contained and controlled. If it is not, you will have both wet and dry spots, or wet and wetter spots in your humidor.

If you cannot control the condensate in your wine coolers, you should really build a false floor for the bottom cigars to sit on. If this remains the case, regardless of the false floor, you will, over time begin to get mold on cigars that are not rotated out of the wet area. It may not happen today, tomorrow or the next day. Rest assured, it will happen!

Best of luck on your projects.

-Piggy

Piggy - would you have any suggestions to combat the collection of condensation?

I have a NewAir 18-Bottle Thermoelectric converted with 3 drawers and 1 shelf. Currently have 24 ounces of HCM beads (almost double the recommended 12.6 ounce "minimum" for space) set to maintain 65 RH with additional Boveda packs (RH dipped during winter).

Drain hole has been plugged. From all appearances the condensation collections in the reservoir on top of the plugged drain, then overflows down the back wall to the bottom of the unit.

While a raised floor would be a great work around, I'd be more interested in a permanent and sustainable fix. Any advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: Temp stays around 62

[jwr0201]

Piggy - would you have any suggestions to combat the collection of condensation?

I have a NewAir 18-Bottle Thermoelectric converted with 3 drawers and 1 shelf. Currently have 24 ounces of HCM beads (almost double the recommended 12.6 ounce "minimum" for space) set to maintain 65 RH with additional Boveda packs (RH dipped during winter).

Drain hole has been plugged. From all appearances the condensation collections in the reservoir on top of the plugged drain, then overflows down the back wall to the bottom of the unit.

While a raised floor would be a great work around, I'd be more interested in a permanent and sustainable fix. Any advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: Temp stays around 62

My set-up is the same, except that I have a 20 bottle wineador with peltier unit (not a refrigerator or compressor unit. I currently have 1.5# of beads, also more than double what is needed. So - how to aviod the condensation?

[bone]

I had condensation issues early on before I put in a fan blowing up from the bottom of the rear cooling plate of the wineador....that and double the beads and have never had a problem for the subsequent years....all holes.are.plugged as well...

[busdriver]

I plugged the hole in my first wineador and have regretted it ever since and will not plug my new one. The amount of condesation is highly dependent on how hard the fridge is working and how humid it is outside of the fridge. Here in southern louisiana those wineadors are working thier butts off in summer to keep my sticks cool and the beads and bovedas are working to dry the environment out from the air leakge since it is so humid here.

I keep my wineadors in the upper 60s to minimize how hard they have to work. I also use 65 beads in the back on the floor to catch the condensate and 65 bovedas throughout. The bottom shelf stays a consistent 70 rh at 66 F and the top at 68 rh at 68 rh. In the summer the condesate does need to be mopped up every week or so (thanks to my hole plugging). Also watch out for the lower shelves getting wet from the back edge as they can catch condensate.

I love my wineadors but wouldnt call them exactly "set and forget". Good luck BOTLs, luckily we have the rest of our lives to figure these things out!

[alloy]

In my wineador, I took an old empty box of P2's, took the top off and filled it with kitty litter. Drain is plugged, I have four 65%rh bead pucks and no problems with condensation or pooling. Boxes sit off the floor. Works for me.

[LLumley]

Great info! Looking to purchase a winedor in the next couple of weeks.

[PigFish]

Piggy - would you have any suggestions to combat the collection of condensation?

I have a NewAir 18-Bottle Thermoelectric converted with 3 drawers and 1 shelf. Currently have 24 ounces of HCM beads (almost double the recommended 12.6 ounce "minimum" for space) set to maintain 65 RH with additional Boveda packs (RH dipped during winter).

Drain hole has been plugged. From all appearances the condensation collections in the reservoir on top of the plugged drain, then overflows down the back wall to the bottom of the unit.

While a raised floor would be a great work around, I'd be more interested in a permanent and sustainable fix. Any advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: Temp stays around 62

... I knew that there was this question looming for me somewhere but lost the thread. Let me try and make some time for this in the next couple of days.

Cheers! -Piggy

[PigFish]

My single largest enquiry regarding humidors (besides what settings I favor) is likely “why does my cooler not work?” Now this means a lot of things to different people. However, it mainly refers to why their conditions are not stable, consistent or controllable.

Many, many people start with these smaller TE coolers. Probably because there is all kinds of data on the net with how easy they are to make, and subsequently make work. This is a fallacy (MHO).

Most of these designs fail, from my perspective and often those of the owner/makers, due to bad design and engineering.

I have run out of easy (non-offensive) ways to say, “Your project is lacking the proper engineering and construction, and you will never get the control I get and perhaps never get the control you want either.” Ultimately, it is about the control that you want and has very little to do with me or my opinion.

We all settle. Some demand more, and others less. BUT, if you ask ME why it does not work, it will be held to my standard of performance and thusly, engineering. I cannot tailor my opinion to an audience. All I can do is be pleasant about it!!!

How would I solve this problem? I would isolate the cooler!

Now comes the caveats.

I am presenting you an idea. I don’t build these small TE coolers! All ideas must be tested a proven. This is just an idea, incomplete, not tested (on your cooler system) and IT IS UNPROVEN….!

This means it may not work!!!

With that said, here is where I would start. Furthermore, I would likely disable the TE fan, duct in an air supply of my own, and use some logic to control its function.

This is a mount and a cover. The larger hole at the bottom is connected to fitting for collection of the condensate. I would put this back in an active humidifier. You need a controller to run it (the active humidifier) if you do. How that humidifier is made and works depends on what kind of control you have over your cooler in toto.

You could make, buy, get… all this junk (aforementioned) and find that the combination of engineering (suggested) and parts, might not work at all in your cooler!!! Of course, it may just work beautifully, assuming that you diligent in your testing and corrective work.

Best of luck on your projects mates!

-Piggy

[DONSVO]

I would flip out of my Aristocrat ever did anything like that. I never knew that the Wineadors had this issue.