Adding a fan to my cooler

It's been bugging me that the air near the bottom of my cooler doesn't move as much as the air near the top. I get worried that the ammonia smells will accumulate in the sticks near the bottom (the ones that I want to let sit for a year or so).

So fortunately, I remembered that I had changed out the fans on my computer when I tried to make it run more quiet. Take an old computer fan, an old AC/DC converter for a lost cell phone, and the power switch out of a really old printer and I have a decent fan for my cooler. The fan is 12 volts but really blows way to fast, so it doesn't matter much that the output from the converter is only 5 volts (probably still blows to fast).

Now my only question is where is the best place to put the fan. Should I mount it in the lid of the cooler, where it is most likely to keep out of the way? Mount it at the very bottom, where I'm worried about strong smells accumulating? Or should I just put it in loose and move it around as I move boxes around?

Any opinions?

I'd put it near the bottom, blowing up. That'll force the bad air to circulate.

I wouldn't bother with a fan at all.

Just open the cooler every now and then.

Constant moving air will be more of a problem. As CC said, just open the humi and allow some air to exchange if all you're worried about is the amonia smell.

If this is a big humidor and you're trying to move the air to keep a leveler humidity across the whole humidor I suggest you plug your fan contraption into a 24hr timer. You can find them anywhere. I use one thats similar to THIS ONE!

I have mine set to come on for 10 minutes every 6 hours. This is in a large cabinet size humidor and its only to help maintain a more even humidity from top to bottom. Do not have the fan blowing directly on your cigars.

I guess I open the cooler at least every couple of weeks. It's not that big (~60 qt cooler), I just worry that the air at the bottom doesn't circulate so it may accumulate smells. Almost everything in the cooler is in boxes.

Your cooler should have a spout on the side. I keep mine open all the time. during the winter when the air is dryer, I put the cap on loose.

I have not had any problems of smells. One thing I do do is keep all the cigars in boxes not loose in the cooler. I get empties from my local shop just for that reason.

I'm tempted to try one on it's side to see how that would work. The fan idea sounds great with a timer. I wonder if I could hook all the fans to 1 timer?

A remote control unit would be great. Anyone hear of such a thing?

edited to say, I'm anal, I rotate my boxes at least once a month. Not sure if there is any merit to it but I enjoy it.

A remote control unit would be great. Anyone hear of such a thing?
Sure got one for my t.v.

The fan idea sounds great with a timer. I wonder if I could hook all the fans to 1 timer?
You sure can. just wire all the fans you want togeather then plug them into the timer.

You really don't need a remote for the fans.. just set up the timer. Alot better way to go imo

monkey
i would not use the fan...also i wouldnt move the boxes around any more than i had to...the idea of aging cigars is to leave them undisturbed for a few years.

the humidity in a 60 liter cooler does not change much from top to bottom...specially if you open the cooler as often as you do.

oh and if you live in more southern climes there is the issue of the fan motor adding heat to your smokes...

derrek

I'm not worried about humidity, just the smell sticking around my aging cigars at the bottom of the cooler. It sounds like this is not a problem either.

that sounds pretty cool dude.


my advice would be to have the fan on the bottom, but face down, to suck in air, and blow it towards the wall.

blow...ahahhahahaa.

but i wouldn't keep it on like 24-7 tho.
but it's a clever idea. if my humidor had the space, i could do that.

but then again, for a humidor, i'm worried about ruining the wood with the excess air blowing on the wood.

I just did the whole fan project thing in both my 150 & 100 qt's. Have noticed that my humidity stays more stable than before. I keep them on for 10 minutes every 12 hours and have noticed that it only raises the temp 1/2 to 1 degree and that usually dissipates over an hour. I have connected the fans to the top shelf in both coolers so they are blowing down and placed ¼ lb of beads on each shelf (4 including the bottom/side of the cooler} to maintain a 66% humidity from top to bottom, I had a hydrometer on each shelf for a month straight to check the progress. I should probably note that my coolers are set up standing on there side.