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Finishing up my closet Humi...what do you guys think?

C

cvalentino3

New Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2009
Messages
24
hey all,

i am new here and wanted to share with everyone my closet humidor. I have been running around this site for about a year now, grabbing inspiration from others, especially Atucks walk in humidor, and seeings i dont have the room for such a set up, i decided to use a small closet.

I don't have pictures throughout so i will explain where im at to this point:

spackled, caulked, filled, and painted the walls with kiltz was pretty much where i started.
I ran a switched outlet up top for the light and a constant outlet at the bottom for my humidifier
I than covered the entire closet in 5mil vapor guard
For the door i cut down a solid 36" door to fit, not the nicest looking door, but i plan on having something better made down the road
I covered all the walls is Luan plywood, built a subfloor to protect the hardwood floor from warping.
Filled in all the gaps with silicone
modified shoe shelves to hold the boxes
Installed weather stripping around the to door to seal it 95%
all hardware is brass, used galvanized nails and screws
just installed La Crosse wireless digital weather station to act as my Hygrometer, and Thermometer
..and now im just waiting on the Humidifier to get her up and running....i purchased a Cigar Oasis II XL with AUX fans to circulate air

check out the pics and let me know what you think.






Digital Hygrometer/Thermometer Sensor


Wireless Display


Im open to Criticism , as this is my first humidor build, hope you guys like it
 
Looks good. You'd be able to hold more cigars in there if you make the shelves flat though.
 
Cool idea. I think the wire shelves are likely a good idea as they'll allow airflow but I agree with SkyStorm - mount them flat so you can stack boxes on them and I'd suggest adding at least one or two more.

Even though that's a small closet it is a pretty large humidor so you are going to need a serious humidification system. A few pounds of beads and the small devices that came with your desktop won't cut it :) I use and recommend the Avallo Accumonitor system, several guys here have one, but there are a number of other solid choices too.

In addition I'd suggest some sort of air circulation system. Again, it is a large humidor and I'm guessing you'll need to move all that humidified air around to maintain constant levels throughout. It wouldn't have to be too fancy: I used a quiet computer fan on a simple plug-in timer in each of my old Vinotemps. They ran for 5 minutes every hour and worked great. A couple of those at various heights would work like a charm.

Nice job and good luck. Can't wait to see shots when it's full!

- Tim

P.S. By the way - welcome to CP! When you have a moment, go post an introduction HERE.
 
thanks for the suggestions!
I was considering going flat with the shelves because i realised how many more cigars i could hold, but i kind of like the idea of the angle shelves. I added one more shelf up top on a 45 degree angle, im thinking about changing the bottom shelf to a flat one to at least give me one that allows me to stack.

I have seen the avallo, and i liked it however, i think the cigar oasis II xl would be perfect right? It has auxillary fan hook ups to run up the humidor to allow air circulation , plus it runs off the humidor so it would eliminate a gradient effect...what do you think?
 
there is a 200 dollar difference between the avallo set up and the oasis II XL, the oasis humidifies 80 cu ft which is a little more the 2x the amount of coverage i need.
 
cvalentino3 said:
there is a 200 dollar difference between the avallo set up and the oasis II XL, the oasis humidifies 80 cu ft which is a little more the 2x the amount of coverage i need.
Click to expand...


There is a quality difference as well between the two. I have the Oasis myself and I can tell you it isn't the greatest setup. I am only using it right now until I upgrade to a vinotemp or coolerdor hehe. Spend the money, get peace of mind, protect your investment. :thumbs:
 
CRQuarto said:
cvalentino3 said:
there is a 200 dollar difference between the avallo set up and the oasis II XL, the oasis humidifies 80 cu ft which is a little more the 2x the amount of coverage i need.
Click to expand...


There is a quality difference as well between the two. I have the Oasis myself and I can tell you it isn't the greatest setup. I am only using it right now until I upgrade to a vinotemp or coolerdor hehe. Spend the money, get peace of mind, protect your investment. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I agree. I ran an Oasis in my cabinent and found it lacking. I can assure you it won't humidify a whole closet.

Great looking set up though!
 
mjolnir01 said:
CRQuarto said:
cvalentino3 said:
there is a 200 dollar difference between the avallo set up and the oasis II XL, the oasis humidifies 80 cu ft which is a little more the 2x the amount of coverage i need.
Click to expand...


There is a quality difference as well between the two. I have the Oasis myself and I can tell you it isn't the greatest setup. I am only using it right now until I upgrade to a vinotemp or coolerdor hehe. Spend the money, get peace of mind, protect your investment. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I agree. I ran an Oasis in my cabinent and found it lacking. I can assure you it won't humidify a whole closet.

Great looking set up though!
Click to expand...

Thats ashame because the unit seems ideal. Small profile, i need to humidify 36 cu ft and it pushes out to 80...in the case of the avallo system, i would need the 4 canister setup...my question is can i place all 4 canisters on the floor the closet with good results?

is the moist-n-aire an option?
 
cvalentino3 said:
Thats ashame because the unit seems ideal. Small profile, i need to humidify 36 cu ft and it pushes out to 80...in the case of the avallo system, i would need the 4 canister setup...my question is can i place all 4 canisters on the floor the closet with good results?

is the moist-n-aire an option?
Click to expand...


Not too familiar with the moist-n-aire, but a lot of guys here use the Avallo from what I have read in my short time here. Putting it on the floor would be fine I think, as long as you have extra fans to circulate the air to the top to try to obtain as even a humidity as possible at the highest point. Two hygrometers would be ideal I would think for your closet setup, one for the lower section, one for the upper. If you are planning on storing a lot of cigars in there, spend the extra money. Think about it, you have ten boxes that is easily over a grand in sticks that could be ruined if you say, go on vacation and the cheaper Oasis unit craps out.
 
Tone-NY has a humidor that I think is similar in size to what you're building and he uses the Avallo 2 canister system with fine results. I got the 4 canister setup because I live in Minnesota in a 100 year old house with radiator heat that leaves the ambient humidity ranging from the upper single digits to the high teens in the dead of winter. I might have gotten by with the 2 canister set up but with thousands of dollars worth of cigars at stake I figured better safe than sorry ;)
 
I have a converted curio type cabinet humidor and it came with a moist-n-aire kind of a behemoth non computerized steel tank thing but it works very well and they are cheap as hell. It fluctuates a bit but I am going to add a couple pounds of beads soon to even that out. Plus it is super easy to maintain lift the lid pur ina half-gallon of distilled water and forget it, just need to rinse and wipe it out every 2nd filling....

Ohh and I bought a bunch of oust fans and they rund for liek 3-4 months on a D battery.....


SO there is the low budget method above
 
have seen the avallo, and i liked it however, i think the cigar oasis II xl would be perfect right? It has auxillary fan hook ups to run up the humidor to allow air circulation , plus it runs off the humidor so it would eliminate a gradient effect...what do you think
Click to expand...

For what it is worth, I went through the same debate when putting together the plans for my humidor and after consulting a few my local cigar shops and seeing the Avallo setup in person, the Avallo became a no brainer. Every response I got was that cigar oasis II xl just does not do a good job keeping consistent humidity through the whole cabinet, especially if the door is frequently opened.

I went with the Avallo based on the consistent comments between the avallo and II XL and I figured if I'm going through the effort and expense of building a custom humidor and it will eventtually store $$$$ of cigars, it doesn't make sense cheaping out on the most important aspect. It's like putting a 4 cylinder engine in a muscle car. Also, when I looked at it, a Cigar Oasis II Xl with the extra fans would have cost me somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 to $230, so for another $120, I can get a far superior Avallo system for my Humidor.
 
cvalentino3 said:
mjolnir01 said:
CRQuarto said:
cvalentino3 said:
there is a 200 dollar difference between the avallo set up and the oasis II XL, the oasis humidifies 80 cu ft which is a little more the 2x the amount of coverage i need.
Click to expand...


There is a quality difference as well between the two. I have the Oasis myself and I can tell you it isn't the greatest setup. I am only using it right now until I upgrade to a vinotemp or coolerdor hehe. Spend the money, get peace of mind, protect your investment. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

I agree. I ran an Oasis in my cabinent and found it lacking. I can assure you it won't humidify a whole closet.

Great looking set up though!
Click to expand...

Thats ashame because the unit seems ideal. Small profile, i need to humidify 36 cu ft and it pushes out to 80...in the case of the avallo system, i would need the 4 canister setup...my question is can i place all 4 canisters on the floor the closet with good results?

is the moist-n-aire an option?
Click to expand...

I briefly experimented with a Moist-n-Aire as well. It's worth doing a search on in CP, but suffice it to say that it's not a great option. It will put humidity out, but the controls are unreliable and it will not de-humidify at all. If you want to give it a try, PM me.
 
any idea how to get my temperature DOWN?? no humidifier yet...once i have one will it even out the temp...the closet is reading 75 degrees...i have the heat running, its winter and pretty cold out, closet is upstairs in my house, above the closet is an attic
 
Your closet is an inspiration! I'd suggest an exhaust fan or a vent that you can open and close at the top of the closet as needed. It wouldn't be difficult to hook a fan up to run off a thermostat.
 
cvalentino3 said:
any idea how to get my temperature DOWN?? no humidifier yet...once i have one will it even out the temp...the closet is reading 75 degrees...i have the heat running, its winter and pretty cold out, closet is upstairs in my house, above the closet is an attic
Click to expand...

They make a small humidified A/C unit for wine cellars . . . it runs about $500. I'm just going to have a small A/C duct off my house system run into mine, and close it during the heating season.

~Boar
 
Just last year I put together my own cabinet humidor

My humidor

I got the 4 canister Avallo humidification system model 20-40 which includes 4 fans, and get the optional fan timer. It kicks the fans on for about a minute every hour to move the air around..
I cannot comment on the Oasis unit, as I have never used one, but the Avallo keeps my rh right where I set it.

And now that I moved back to the world of forced air gas furnaces, re: no indoor humidity, I find that I have to refill the canisters more often, but the rh is right where I want it to be!

As others have said, spend the money on your humidification system, not the area to skimp.

YMMV


edited for spelling
 
i was thinking about tapping into my ducts but its winter we have the heat on now and its 76 degrees in the closet, so i need something independant...size is an issue..any good suggestions for something small?
 
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