Modding wineador for use in hot climate

[yo1dog]

For 3/4 of the year the interior of my house in Austin, TX is ~75-80F and ~65-70% humidity. Aspiring for a set-and-forget solution to achieve the ubiquitous 65/65, I naively purchased a cheap thermoelectric 6 bottle wine fridge, set my Cigar Oasis to 65%, and threw it in. I also threw in 3 Govee Bluetooth hygrometers to log data (also recently calibrated).

While it can hold a pretty stable 64-65%/65F, there is a pool of water from the condensation off the cooler (I plugged the drain hole). My assumption is this is due to the Cigar Oasis running near constantly; presumably to counteract the dehumidification caused by the condensation from the cooler's (presumably) near constant cooling cycles to maintain the 10-15F temperature delta. So the Cigar Oasis is continuously pumping tons of moisture into the air which quickly condensates on the cooler. I have since learned that it is for exactly this reason that wineadors are actually not recommended for climates such as mine.

The Cigar Oasis turns on when readings drop to 64%, runs for ~15 minutes to get back up to 65%, turns off, in ~3 minutes the humidity has dropped back down to 64%, repeat.

From what I have learned from @PigFish's work, the humidification from the Cigar Oasis actively countering the dehumidification from the cooler is exactly what we want. The problem is where the cooler is dumping the condensation: onto the floor instead of ideally into the humidifier's reservoir. Doing so would require modifying the Cigar Oasis which I want to avoid if possible. Instead:

I wonder if I can just drain the condensation into a tray of HF beads or kitty litter in front of the interior circulation fan to hold and evaporate the liquid. Or would the beads just become over saturated and result in standing water in the tray? It's just the rate of condensation on the cooler vs the rate of evaporation by the beads, right? And more beads = more surface area = higher evaporation rate (to an extant) right?

Of course, I can just throw the cigars and a few boveda in Tupperware and put that in the wineador, bypassing all humidity concerns in the wineador and making this completely moot. I did a (short) 3 day test doing exactly that and it was rock solid steady at 65/65. A fine solution indeed, but the tinkerer in me has to at least attempt to make the Tupperware-free, set-and-forget dream a reality... without going too crazy.

[Lamboinee]

What happens if you put bovedas in the humidor while running the cooling unit? Does it dry out the bovedas super fast? Something else? 

Rather than re route the condensation into the tray, can you collect the condensation in some other manner and/or at a better location such that it interrupts the path to floor? Or maybe additional air circulation would help prevent the droplets? Just thoughts as I go through some of my own humidor mod issues. I will check out @PigFish as you referenced.

 

Best of luck!