Avanti 28 Bottle Chiller Arrived/ Questions

[Professor Twain]

I have only had my Haier 30 bottle fridge for a few months. I followed recommendations from Chuck, I have about 2.5 lbs. of Heartfelt beads. Most are in sheer panty hose with the ends tied off (the sausage looking things) but I also have a large tube full. As you can see my fridge is pretty full, but it actually has a fair bit of room left on the bottom, and the front of the fridge.

I set the temperature to the maximum, 65 degrees, and don't turn the light on.

My house is air conditioned, around 70 degrees and 45 percent humidity.

I found that, once I put in a bunch of boxes and got the beads charged, I did not have any trouble maintaining humidity. Most of the time my hygrometer reads 63 to 65 percent. I have noticed that the humidity reading can swing a good deal, in the bottom section it varies from 65 to 72, in the top from 65 to 58, for brief periods. But since the hygrometer is out in the open, it is subject to fluctuation when the fridge turns off and on. I think that the humidy inside of the boxes, which is what I care about, probably varies much less. Ideally I would have remote sensors inside of boxes to test this but I have relied on the advice from Chuck and others that the minor variations outside of the boxes is nothing to worry about.

I also have two little fans, these are Oust fans (they sell them as room deodorizers)--they run off of a D cell battery, 5 minutes on, 15 off. This circulates the air a bit.

I only rarely have to put any water into the system. When I do I put a small cup of water on the bottom shelf and it seems to charge the system up fine.

To reduce the need to open the fridge up too often, I tend to take out cigars that I think I will want for the next several days whenever I go in, and try not to keep the door open longer than necessary.

Hope this is helpful, I am sure that some of the experts in the group will follow up with answers to any questions.

[VigorishSLC]

»

» 1. Is it more difficult to contain humidity in these units than in normal

» humidors, because of the air exchange involved in the cooling process?

» 2. Do you find it more difficult to maintain sufficient RH at the lower

» than normal room temperatures these units provide at their lowest

» settings?

» 3. What do you use in these types of units to provide humidity? I had

» read that some units went as high as 65%RH, but no such luck here.

» 4. Is there anything I’m missing or anything else I need to know in order

» to use one of these chillers successfully?

» My theory was that maintaining a consistent temperature would make

» maintaining a consistent humidity level far easier. That’s why I

» purchased this unit, rather than a larger humidor. Any help is much

» apprecitated.

I have had a 50 bottle Magic Chef for over 6 months and with a few modifications it has been running like a champ.

1. No. Because the units are airtight, the Rh stays quite stable. Your cooler uses thermoelectric cooling, which affects the Rh far less than a compressor unit. After the compressor kicks on my Rh drops about 10 points, but the levels in my boxes are rock solid at 65-66%.

2. Again, no. I installed an AC computer fan, which does an excellent jog of moving the air.

3. I use just under two pounds of beads and they work great. I did experiment with a Cigar Oasis but it was MUCH harder to get things just where I wanted them.

4. I highly recommend an external temperature controller. You can find them in brewing supply stores. A good one can be found at http://www.automatedaquariums.com/ranco.htm. I use the Johnson Controls A419, but I couldn't find a link for it. These are infinitely more accurate and customizable than the thermostat in your refrigerator.

Hope this helps, but feel free to drop me a line if you want more info. I normally would post pics but I am travelling this week.

[KB24]

» 4. I highly recommend an external temperature controller. You can find

» them in brewing supply stores. A good one can be found at

» http://www.automatedaquariums.com/ranco.htm. I use the Johnson Controls

» A419, but I couldn't find a link for it. These are infinitely more

» accurate and customizable than the thermostat in your refrigerator.

Does this Temp control allow you to set a desired temp inside the cooler and maintain that temp even though the actual cooler will not go that high normally? Mine wont go above 62 deg but if I had one of those could I set it for 65 deg and would it do that for me?

[n2advnture]

» 1. Is it more difficult to contain humidity in these units than in normal

» humidors, because of the air exchange involved in the cooling process?

» 2. Do you find it more difficult to maintain sufficient RH at the lower

» than normal room temperatures these units provide at their lowest

» settings?

» 3. What do you use in these types of units to provide humidity? I had

» read that some units went as high as 65%RH, but no such luck here.

» 4. Is there anything I’m missing or anything else I need to know in order

» to use one of these chillers successfully?

1.) The thermoelectric is the best choice for a chiller as the compressor models tend to higher great swings in RH lows when it kicks on. All models will have low RH swings when the cooling unit kicks on though.

2.) Because of the cooling units turning on/off, it is more difficult to get a steady reading 100% of the time.

3.) RH Beads are your best bet for leveling RH throughout. Divide a pound or two and put them on different levels throughout. You may also just get rid of the Cigar Oasis all together. I am using RH Beads only and have no problems at all.

4.) I would recommend putting the unit on a timer (7 day 94 event digital timer at Home Depot for about 15 bucks) on for 10 mins every 1/2 hour (maybe more in the summer). This will help keep it cool and hopefully reduce the number of RH swings.

You can also try a Johnson controller (Williams Brewing for $54.16 delivered) http://www.williamsbrewing.com/CONTROLLER_P762C100.cfm

Others have used them with success but I never needed one.

Also, adding boxes in the wine chiller will greatly help in stabilizing the RH swings vs. keeping smokes in plastic bags/containers.

Hope this helps

~Mark

[VigorishSLC]

» Does this Temp control allow you to set a desired temp inside the cooler

» and maintain that temp even though the actual cooler will not go that high

» normally? Mine wont go above 62 deg but if I had one of those could I set

» it for 65 deg and would it do that for me?

Yes, that's exactly what it does. You can also set its range, say 65 degrees with a spread of two degrees. This has the same effect as putting the whole thing on a timer IMO. Mine is set at 67 plus or minus one and it comes on about once an hour in the winter and once every 20 minutes in the summer.

Incidentally, I don't recommend the one n2adventure references above. I started with that one, but it is electromechanical (not as precise). The A419 is a digital controller and is much preferable. Just my two cents.

[PorscheC4S]

Thanks for the suggestions fellas. After several hours with the unit switched off, it's holding a steady RH and Temp. with the Cigar Oasis turning on every ten minutes or so, rather than every minute. As I'm in Massachusetts, I could possibly get by with the unit turned off until Spring hits.

The idea of the beads interests me. Are Heartfelt beads the same product as the beads found through the Cigarmony link? I only ask this because the Cigarmony website lists Heartfelt as an authorized dealer and provides a link, but I couldn't find any mention of Cigarmony beads when I use the link to the Heartfelt page.

The external thermostat (Johnson was mentioned) is also very interesting. How does one use these in conjunction with the wine chiller? Does it have to be "hard wired" into the chiller, or is there some other way that it overrides the chillers own thermostat? Thanks again.

[VigorishSLC]

» Thanks for the suggestions fellas. After several hours with the unit

» switched off, it's holding a steady RH and Temp. with the Cigar Oasis

» turning on every ten minutes or so, rather than every minute. As I'm in

» Massachusetts, I could possibly get by with the unit turned off until

» Spring hits.

»

» The idea of the beads interests me. Are Heartfelt beads the same product

» as the beads found through the Cigarmony link? I only ask this because

» the Cigarmony website lists Heartfelt as an authorized dealer and provides

» a link, but I couldn't find any mention of Cigarmony beads when I use the

» link to the Heartfelt page.

»

» The external thermostat (Johnson was mentioned) is also very interesting.

» How does one use these in conjunction with the wine chiller? Does it have

» to be "hard wired" into the chiller, or is there some other way that it

» overrides the chillers own thermostat? Thanks again.

Heartfelt is the go to guy for the beads. He offers outstanding service. You can also use Exquisicat crystals (silica cat litter), many people do and have excellent results. It is much cheaper, but guys go either way on this one.

As far as the temp controller goes, you plug the chiller into the controller and the controller into the wall. Set your fridge's thermostat on it's lowest setting before doing this. I drilled out the drain plug on my fridge a little, then ran the temp probe into the fridge that way. Now the Johnson controller will override the thermostat on your fridge. If you have more questions, feel free to bother me.

[Trevor2118]

As an aside, if you need to add heat, my investigations have found that a heat mat (as used by reptile collectors) also connected to a heat thermostat (prob in fridge) will add heat. The mats come in various sizes & wattages, and the thermostats works in the opposite mode to the cooling ones. Hope this helps.

[andymiami]

This picture is from a few months ago...

I've got the same unit and I echo the Heartfelt beads method. I have been using mine in two different cedar boxes (from some fine Saint Jacques cigars :-D ).

The one thing I did notice BIG TIME was the fact that if you use your cooler to cool (in the Summer months), you will need to make sure to NOT block the fan in the upper center of the unit. I did and got some condensate pooling in the bottom of my cooler as well as making one of my cedar trays wet in the corner and junking a NICE SCDLH. So, learn from my stupidity and keep that thing clear. I also removed a rack or two to make sure there was more room and so I didn't have to balance anything on the wavy wine racks.

[PorscheC4S]

Thanks Vigorish, I've ordered an A419 and it sounds quite simple to use. Trevor, that heating mat sounds interesting. Hope you have better luck with your next wine chiller. Andy, thanks for the advice regarding the fan. If this external thermostat works out, I may run the unit year round in order to maintain a near constant temp.

[PorscheC4S]

My Avanti 28 bottle thermoelectric wine chiller arrived today and I’ve been busy trying to get it functioning for my purposes as a very stable humidor. First, I set the empty unit to MAX (51 deg.F to 53 deg. F/11 C to 12 C) for about an hour to make sure it worked. The Hygro/Therm. I put in read 56 deg F and 45 RH . Then I set the thermostat to MIN (57-62 F/ 14-17 C) for another hour or so and the reading rose to 60 deg F and 56 RH). Although I had hoped the units humidity level would be higher, I wasn’t too surprised and added my Cigar Oasis XL plus. The RH rose to 65 in a few minutes. Now I was eager to try the whole picture. I put in 8 boxes of habanos (3 cabs and 5 dress). The temp inside the unit had risen to 71 deg F because I unplugged it to move it to it’s final destination and opened it in order to load with cigar boxes.

So far so good. While the temp. remained around 70 F, the RH held at rock steady at 65%, but I noticed the Cigar Oasis (which I filled with distilled water yesterday) was turning on every minute or so, for about ten seconds. In my humidor, I seldom hear it switch on. This made me wonder about the units exchange of inside and outside air. Although the door seal was very tight, the humidity was not lasting very long and the C.O. was working overtime to maintain it.

Then, when the unit had gotten the temp down to about 65 F, the RH was down to 60% and the C.O. was on constantly. I surmised that the temp was just too low and switched the wine chiller off completely. When the temp. got back to the high 60s I was back to the C.O. turning on every minute or so, for about ten seconds in order to maintain 65% RH ( I’m using two digital and two analog hygrometers in the unit, just to make sure).

My questions are for those who use wine cooler/chillers to store their cigars (Tampa, Prof. Twain and any others with experience or general knowledge of this type of set up).

1. Is it more difficult to contain humidity in these units than in normal humidors, because of the air exchange involved in the cooling process?

2. Do you find it more difficult to maintain sufficient RH at the lower than normal room temperatures these units provide at their lowest settings?

3. What do you use in these types of units to provide humidity? I had read that some units went as high as 65%RH, but no such luck here.

4. Is there anything I’m missing or anything else I need to know in order to use one of these chillers successfully?

My theory was that maintaining a consistent temperature would make maintaining a consistent humidity level far easier. That’s why I purchased this unit, rather than a larger humidor. Any help is much apprecitated.

[KB24]

» 1. Is it more difficult to contain humidity in these units than in normal

» humidors, because of the air exchange involved in the cooling process?

» 2. Do you find it more difficult to maintain sufficient RH at the lower

» than normal room temperatures these units provide at their lowest

» settings?

» 3. What do you use in these types of units to provide humidity? I had

» read that some units went as high as 65%RH, but no such luck here.

» 4. Is there anything I’m missing or anything else I need to know in order

» to use one of these chillers successfully?

» My theory was that maintaining a consistent temperature would make

» maintaining a consistent humidity level far easier. That’s why I

» purchased this unit, rather than a larger humidor. Any help is much

» apprecitated.

I have the temp on mine set for as high as it will go and I keep the light on for those added degrees. It varies depending on the weather in the apartment between 58-61. I keep the Rh up by keeping my tubes of humidity fully charged (filled with water), keeping a couple cups of distilled water, and some sponges soaked in distilled water. I have found the more cigars inside the easier it is to maintain temp and RH. When the temp cools down here in Southern Cali I will turn off the unit and take the sponges and cups out and it should end up close to 65/65. The thing is that when the unit is on and staying cool inside it just eats up the humidity so you really have to overload with humidity to get it to level out where it should be. My plan is to get rid of the cups of water and the sponges and replace them with more beads from Heartfelt industries. I hope this helps. Any other questions please feel free to ask.