unplugged or plugged in?

[jcorona]

For those who have wineadors, te or compressor, do you turn it off in the winter as ambient temps drop? say the temp in your house drops to 50 F, is your wineador keeping a stable temp? it has no way of adding heat to keep your wineador at 65. What do you do?

[PigFish]

I don't (unplug) but I have been labeled a fear monger, unnecessarily scaring those that don't control temperature in their cigar storage to suicide and otherwise giving them complexes which are harmful to a life of bliss. Are you depressed? Feeling suicidal? If so, I cannot answer your question!!!  (read with humor)

-Piggy

[LLC]

Always unplugged as the house is heated and air conditioned so that room is always around 70f.

[jcorona]

7 hours ago, LLC said:

Always unplugged as the house is heated and air conditioned so that room is always around 70f.

I've been debating with myself about buying a wine cooler. But if I'm going to unplug it, what's the point in buying one?

[Fugu]

You let your house drop to 50 F in winter?! Wow, you live in Jerusalem not in Scotland, don't you?

I learned the Scots do that and still feel cosy and warm... those bloody hardy Celts. 

3 hours ago, jcorona said:

But if I'm going to unplug it, what's the point in buying one?

Looks perhaps? You are right of course, no point in buying one if never plugged in. Coolerdor would do it.

[LLC]

I've been debating with myself about buying a wine cooler. But if I'm going to unplug it, what's the point in buying one?

Totally agree, in my case I upgrade my wine fridge to a larger size wine fridge and then turned my old one into a humidor.

[PigFish]

I challenge anyone to ask why, before doing anything with their cigars. So, I have to ask you, why do you want to put your cigars in an active cooler in the first place? There will be many a reason, and everyone will have their own spin. Each reason will be a personal choice. There is no right answer, except your answer based on your opinion.

 

If one were to ask me, the answer would be stability of environment. The logic is simple and it is based on percent moisture content. Percent moisture content is a product (not as in multiple of) both rH and temperature. Therefore a consistent percent moisture content is reliant on both a stable temperature and rH level, or the ability to track your cigars isosteric characteristics and independently adjust one factor while allowing the other to ‘wander.’ The second solution is far easier to discuss than to maintain in the real world. Stability in PMC then will come in any practical form, from only one process then, and that is keeping both rH and temperature constant.

 

With that said, and with that being the stated desire (mine at least) heating the appliance (when cold) as opposed to cooling it when hot are the only answers. Small heaters are not impossible to find and I combine one with a fan in order to encourage circulation and avoid creating a ‘hot spot’ in my humidor. I use a very slow acting low power unit, one that stays relatively cool as long as airflow over it is adequate. And yes, I do use a heater and heat my controlled humidors.

 

If I have to step back a moment an look at a controlled humidor, I have to ask myself; what is control and what is the goal of control? If control is the defiance of nature, the intent being stability, then you either have the ability to control your ambient, outside your humidor, and create a stable ambient, or you are forced to control your interior humidor space. If stability is not important to you or if neither of those approaches works for you, just let your cigars ebb and flow with the conditions of the ambient. This too is a viable solution if you believe it is!

 

This is a prototype ducted heater. I make them a little differently today but they look pretty much the same.

 

 

Cheers! the Pig

[Fairlight]

Ray may I ask what exactly are you using as a heating element? Technology wise I mean.

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[PigFish]

Mate, currently I use Stego heaters. They are made in Germany, robust, resistive units that take all kinds of country's line voltage standards (as I ship them around, you know).

Since it is 5 am here and I am zombie'd at this point I am too lazy to dig you out a part number. After this post I am going back to bed! They range from 3 watts, to 300 watts and you have to get one to match your energy loss and your humidor size. There is one put into that box (above). They run from $15 to hundreds of dollars depending on output and configuration. They don't sell anything that I use 'out of the box.' The problem is that most of them are convection heating appliances. You stand them upright and they move air via convection heating. I don't want that! I force air onto them so that the heat that they output is barely noticeable to your hand. This, mass airflow approach allows for slow even heating and avoids making a hot spot in your humidor. The heater itself never really gets hot. Airflow is king to precision humidor design that is well balanced.

You cannot easily ruin a humidor by heating it! Not unless you give it hot spots. Heating is far better approach than cooling, as it does not 'cause' condensation. Keeping cigars in a cool ambient, with active heat is a really easy winning idea to humidor design. Most people just don't have the cool ambient.

When it rolls into winter here on Isla Pigfish, all my systems do is dehydrate and heat! Maybe we get a hot day and the cooler cycles a few times in the day for to cool, but not very often.

If you want I can show you some data logs of the difference in heat cycles, cooling cycles and dehydrate cycles. If you are interested!

Cheers, and good luck on your projects! -R

[Fairlight]

A ptc heater? How interesting I never thought about it. I might get one for my freezador. I can wire it to ac and install a case a fan and a controller/relay if that's what needed. Which exact model are you using? I see they also do resistance heaters.

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