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Vinotemp Thermoelectric Humidor

CyGar

Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K.
Joined
Apr 28, 2010
Messages
121
Does anyone have a Vinotemp Thermoelectric Humidor? I'm sure its similar to those who are actually using Vinotemp fridges. My wife got this for me as a Christmas present and its a real mother to keep humidified. I've used dry-mistat sticks and recently purchased a diamond crown humidifier but, still no luck keeping the RH stable. I just ordered some ConservaGel beads, sorry Viper I'm a newbie here. I hope this will bring the RH level up and keep it stabilized. Its a 100 stick size and here are the specs.

Dimensions: 16 1/8"W x 20 1/8"D x 10 3/4"H
 
Is it the small one, comes with a pull out drawer that is shellaced or something, and has a RH meter glued to the front glass (likely not straight either)?

If it is, I have one, and really haven't been having much trouble. Does the seal around the door appear to be tight? I have heartfelt 65% beads in mine and it seems to be fine. I would say the more beads the better though. Theres no condensation that builds up or anything like that, so you will likely have to charge the beads once in awhile, but it should hold fairly stable...at least mine does.

I did however make my own tray to replace the one they gave me out of real spanish cedar. I don't know what they actually used in the one that it comes with, but it didn't seem right. Plus I made an adjustable divider as well. I also added a box of sticks underneath and a empty box to just take up some space. All of that probably helps to stabilize it abit.
 
I have the VT 28 bottle thermoelectric wine cooler.
It's the best investment I've made for my cigars.
Using 1.25 lbs. beads in 2 trays, one on top, the
other on the bottom. Also have a 1 oz. tube in each
drawer.

No experience with the smaller thermoelectric humidor.

'Extra beads' are better than 'not enough' beads.
Start with 4 oz. of beads in two 2oz. tubes, or four
1oz. tubes. If it still doesn't hold rh, add more beads.

Chemyst :cool:
 
Yep that's the one. I removed that analog meter which I don't think really works and replaced it with a digital. I got my 65% ConservaGel beads yesterday and put them in. I'm at 72% right now and just waiting for it to stabilize. I like your idea about making your own tray, do you have any pics or plan of the drawer? What are you using to store the beads in?
 
How did you sucessfully remove that meter without damaging or marring the glass? I would like to remove mine as well, or at least try to make it straight, but I couldn't think of a way to do it safely.

As for the tray, I went to local woodworking place here, called woodcraft, I think. They have an online site. I bought some planks of 1/4 in spanish cedar, and with my dads help, just copyed the design of the current tray except for the divider which I wanted to make adjustable. I will warn you that the bottom of the current tray isn't 1/4 inch, its actually 1/8 inch I think but definitely not 1/4. So I lost a tiny amount of depth in my tray.

As for the beads, I took what I had left of the pound I bought for my desktop humi, and put them in there in a homemade nylon bag...ie nylons like your wife might wear and just cut it to size. Since just about everything I had moved into the new vino, I took out the two square foam humidifiers that I had converted to beads and used velcro to attach them to the sides of the walls in the vino. I also have an alluminum hearftfelt tray still in the desktop humi I am thinking of mounting either to the top of the vino with velcro if there is room or to the back or sides or something. Theres also a thread i saw here about someone using a old .22 cal rifle cartridge container was a bead tray as well, which seems cool. The nice part about my velcro is that if I ever want to put things back in the desktop, I can easily do so. If I have to change the location for box or something..again just as easy.
 
I was just able to twist the old hygrometer out of the mount. Whatever is was used to mount it is still on the glass. I am even able to put it back on if I want. I'm using the nylon bag that came with the beads but, I'm really not happy with having a nylon bag sitting in the humi like that. I saw that thread with the .22 cal cartridge holder as well, it did look cool. You know after I asked you about how you made the tray, I thought to myself, how stupid just copy what is there. Thanks for letting me know about the measurment though. I currently have a 1/2 lb of beads, how many are you using? Sorry for all the questions but, this is the first place I've been able to find someone that has this particular humi.
 
You'll find the answer here to almost any question you may have about this hobby. Why don't you go post an introduction in the proper forum and stick around? You'll be happy you did.
 
You'll find the answer here to almost any question you may have about this hobby. Why don't you go post an introduction in the proper forum and stick around? You'll be happy you did.

I should have done the intro before but, just posted one.
 
I'll have to try twisting it...didn't think of that but maybe I can put it back in so its at least straight lol.

I'm using a little less than a 1/2 lb. IIRC, I bought a half pound for my desktop and I have everything but the one aluminum tray one in there now. I bought the beads to replace all of the ones I had before. Maybe it was 1 lb now that i think about it...i think i still have the bag so i will have to check it out another time and get back to ya.
 
Yeah, I originally twisted it to straighten it out. I'm using 1/2lb but, I think I said that already.. If you think of it let me know if you have 1/2 or 1lb.
 
Cool! I guess they got wind that so many people were using them to store cigars.

Beads should help out your RH situation. I had the crystals in mine but it never would stabalize. Rather than spend big $$ on something that does the same thing, I went down to the PetSmart and bought something like 5lbs of kitty litter crystals (UNscented!!!) and put them into some NEW dress socks and stuck them in the Vino. Didnt take long for things to smooth out and its been worry free for months on end.

And yes, someone is gonna come along and complain that you should line the pockets of members here by buying their products. Me? Im not going to overpay for something "just because".
 
I went back and forth deciding on beads or Equisicat and decided on the ConservaGel beads. I got 2 - 1/2lb bags with free nylon storage bags for $16. I guess I couldn't pass it up. I've heard good things so we will see how it goes.
 
I'll have to try twisting it...didn't think of that but maybe I can put it back in so its at least straight lol.

I'm using a little less than a 1/2 lb. IIRC, I bought a half pound for my desktop and I have everything but the one aluminum tray one in there now. I bought the beads to replace all of the ones I had before. Maybe it was 1 lb now that i think about it...i think i still have the bag so i will have to check it out another time and get back to ya.


Where you able to twist it off?
 
I don't have a vinotemp, I have an avanti 16, and I just started turning into a wineador ... Well I seasoned 5 cao cedar boxes and placed them on the racks, then I put 1/2lb of HF 70% beads (half on a glass tray at the bottom under the diverted drip, & half in two small trays up on the top rack), and a shot glass of dist water in the middle rack. When it's unplugged it's reading 73%-76* ... then I turn on the unit and have it set on the lowest possible setting (min-max, it's not digital) the rh drops s lot to about 59% and the temp reads 60*-61* which I think seams too cold for the lowest setting also!
But anyways, why does the rh drop soo much when the unit is running?
 
Totally forgot about this thread, cygar- I wasn't able to twist it off but I was able to straighten it out. There are like 3 small holes in the back of it and I stuck a eyeglass screwdriver in there and wiggled it a bit and after enough playing around with it I got it to straighten out.
60
As for rob - I beleive as the temperature falls the humidity will fall as well. This may be why at 60F you can only achieve 59% humidity. Some other things to consider are as follows. Is your seal tight on the wineador? Have you salt tested and calibrated your hydrogometer? Do you have sticks in there while you are doing all this? Are you constantly opening and closing the door to check on it? All of these things should be considered.

My suggestion would be this...first, find out how to get your wineador up to 65 or 66 F. You say its on the lowest setting, so this shouldn't be an issue. Next, remove any sticks and store them in a tupperdore maybe in a cool spot of your house, maybe get a boveda humidity bag for it or something, just to be on the safe side. Check the door seals to make sure you have a nice airtight seal. Take out your heartfelt beads, and your glass of distilled. Charge the beads up according to directions, and add them into the wineador. I wouldn't bother with the glass of distilled in there if the beads are already charged. Set the wineador to 66 F. After you have salt tested and calibrated your hydrogometer, put it in the wineador and give the whole thing a couple of days run time before you do anything like checking it.

At this point, if its not holding temp and or humidity near the desired level, you may need more beads or some empty cigar boxes to add as a humidity buffer. Boxes made of cedar are probably the best, you should be able to get some emptys for a few bucks at a local brick and mortar. You could also notch the temp up to 68F which may help a little as well. Once you have everything set and its working the way you want, I would then start adding your sticks from the tupperdore back in. Then watch it some more but don't get too carried away with opening and closing to check it everyday. Just remember, wet sticks will likely raise the humidity a bit (which the HF beads should help by taking some rh back out of the air) and dry sticks will lower the humidity a bit because they are soaking it up (which the HF beads should start to release more rh back into the air). If they are too dry however, the beads may not keep up so you may have to do a little recharging of them.

All in all, take your time, and slow down. Hope this helps.
 
I have one of these as well. I believe the max temp is 66. Has anyone tried using a Cigar Oasis in it?
 
Rick, I have not tried. The unit is small enough as it is to warrant just the beads. My door seals well, and I have some 65% beads in a nylon cut to size that fits right in the drip area in the back. The rest of my beads are in converted foam trays (the black square kind that come with a basic humidor) where I have removed the foam, inserted a small plastic mesh and then filled two of them with beads. These I have in the back about half way up held to the side walls with velcro. This way if I want to use them back in the desktop (which doesn't see much use nowadays) I can switch them back. The setup allows me some box storage underneath the drawer. If you put a cigar oasis in there you will lose some real estate in the back.
 
Rick, I have not tried. The unit is small enough as it is to warrant just the beads. My door seals well, and I have some 65% beads in a nylon cut to size that fits right in the drip area in the back. The rest of my beads are in converted foam trays (the black square kind that come with a basic humidor) where I have removed the foam, inserted a small plastic mesh and then filled two of them with beads. These I have in the back about half way up held to the side walls with velcro. This way if I want to use them back in the desktop (which doesn't see much use nowadays) I can switch them back. The setup allows me some box storage underneath the drawer. If you put a cigar oasis in there you will lose some real estate in the back.

That makes sense. I have a foam one that was in my desktop as well. I replaced it with a Cigar Oasis which I really like. As soon as I get home I am going to have to play with it some more. No seasoning required I guess.
 
Really not much to seasoning a vino. If you have this particular one and you intend to use the drawer that came with it, I would say little to none as far as seasoning goes. I only say this because that drawer (at least the one I received) is either not spanish cedar or its spanish cedar that's been varnished over. I made my own out of real spanish cedar. Since the real stuff can act to soak up some of that humidity, I suppose some seasoning may be helpful, but even then I think its minimal at best. I spent more time trying to rid the unit of the plasticy smell than anything else. Once I was happy with that, I inserted the charged beads, and I think I left a small dish of distilled in it for about a day or so. Removed the dish, humidity and temp still good....inserted sticks. All done. The door on mine seems to seal very well, so very rarely do I have to do anything with respect to the beads.

I do suggest ditching that drawer and making a real one however.
 
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