Low RH in my Cooledor?

[ML237]

Hi Ya'll

So I set up my cooledor in expectation of some future box purchases as well as to unload all the clutter of tupperware that was aiding and abating my humidor.

So after I performed the necessary set up of lining it with some cedar and adding almost 2/3 lbs of 65% beads to my 62qt cooler I checked the RH and it was around 58%. Afterwards I introduced some boxes to it and my remote hygrometer produced a reading of 48% for the last 24 hours. WTF? :angry2:

Now at fist I thought it was the dip due to the fact that it was open for a while when I was arranging it, then I rechecked my beads and rehumidified them. Nothing changed. Perhaps more time is needed for it to stabilize after being open?

What to due at this point besides doubting the seal of this Coleman or the efficiency of the beads both of which have more then proven reliability record.

I am drawing a blank, any ideas? ???

 

[bfreebern]

Give it some time to stabilize. The new boxes you added are having to adjust to the humidity and will bring the % down until it's all regulated. Just be patient.

 

[alexgtp]

ML...

Its those FAUXHIBAS..you have in there. They are sucking all the humidity from the beads.. :0 .


Seriously..like brandon give it a cple days to stabilize. Than recheck your beads add more water if necessary. And let it stablize again.

 

[Swissy]

Agreed... when I put mine together, the RH was rock steady from the start, empty - then I added boxes and it dropped. The boxes need to time to absorb the RH and equalize. You will see a decent drop when you open the door, but it should come right back up fairly quickly if everything has been 'seasoned' in it long enough.

give it time... if it still is not coming up, I would verify the seal is good... but coolers typically are pretty good as far as the seal goes. I can see a slow drop, but not a problem getting above 58%

 

[rob300c]

How long did you let it season before adding your smokes?

-Rob

 

[ML237]

Give it some time to stabilize. The new boxes you added are having to adjust to the humidity and will bring the % down until it's all regulated. Just be patient.

[snapback]285877[/snapback]​

That's what I thought ... patience my young grasshopper Thanks Brandon.

ML...

Its those FAUXHIBAS..you have in there. They are sucking all the humidity from the beads.. :0 .


Seriously..like brandon give it a cple days to stabilize. Than recheck your beads add more water if necessary. And let it stablize again.

[snapback]285879[/snapback]​

I only wish that it was FauxCohibas that were to blame, but I sent all those to you for your discerning taste buds to enjoy! :sign: I guess more patience is needed. Cheers Alex.

Agreed... when I put mine together, the RH was rock steady from the start, empty - then I added boxes and it dropped. The boxes need to time to absorb the RH and equalize. You will see a decent drop when you open the door, but it should come right back up fairly quickly if everything has been 'seasoned' in it long enough.

give it time... if it still is not coming up, I would verify the seal is good... but coolers typically are pretty good as far as the seal goes. I can see a slow drop, but not a problem getting above 58%

[snapback]285880[/snapback]​

Thanks Jim. I probably need to re season the beads a couple of times as these boxes sure do seem to suck the humidity like a vacuum cleaner.

How long did you let it season before adding your smokes?

-Rob

[snapback]285906[/snapback]​

Rob I left the beads in the cooledor for a few days with just a few cedar sheets. I just re seasoned them once as the RH was holding a steady 58%. Since introducing the boxes the beads have gone white and the RH feel & kept steady at 48%. Today I again re seasoned the beads and I'm waiting for for the results.

 

[NullSmurf]

You should try living in Colorado. The air around here could suck moisture from baby powder.

 

[gandolf565]

I would examine the seal on your cooler closely. Try putting a bright light inside and closing the lid, then turn the lights out in the room you are in. If you see light through the seal it isn't sealing air either.

My cooler leaked like a sieve, I bought some self adhesive weather stripping from Lowes or Home Depot and ran it around the sealing surface and it worked very well. Total cost about $5.00

 

[viper139]

I will also throw out the first question I always ask...have you checked the calibration of your hygrometer? You cannot have a good idea of what is going on if you don't know the accuracy of the meter you are using.

 

[ML237]

I would examine the seal on your cooler closely. Try putting a bright light inside and closing the lid, then turn the lights out in the room you are in. If you see light through the seal it isn't sealing air either.

My cooler leaked like a sieve, I bought some self adhesive weather stripping from Lowes or Home Depot and ran it around the sealing surface and it worked very well. Total cost about $5.00

[snapback]286073[/snapback]​

Thanks Gandolf will try that out next as this might be the only other thing I haven't tried yet.

 

[ML237]

I will also throw out the first question I always ask...have you checked the calibration of your hygrometer? You cannot have a good idea of what is going on if you don't know the accuracy of the meter you are using.

[snapback]286091[/snapback]​

Viper I already took those precautions and tested out the digital hygrometer parallel with the one in my humidor. It worked just fine while in humidor so I doubt that it's the hygrometer accuracy issue. Thanks.

 

[chewbacco]

ML237,

I experienced a similar high and then a low (a week or so).

Your cigars (and anything else in your coolidor) will soak-up humidity.

Until an equilibrium point is met (when the cigars and wood products absorb what they want), the environment in your coolidor will stabilize.

Patience...

 

[Rod]

You can also put some distilled water in a small cup or shot glass and leave it in your humidor for a few days. That will give it a kick start, and your environment should stabilize a bit faster that way.

 

[BkCloud114]

You also have to remember that "beads" are a Passive type of humidification device. They slowly add humidity into your humidor to bring up the RH. If you add a new box into the humidor the RH will drop. Depending on how dry the box is. With the beads the RH will slowly rise, this could take a couple of days. If you are nervous and want to bring the RH up more quickly you could always add a small sponge which is soaked with Distilled water. This will also help to re-humidify your beads. I don't like to add a shot glass because I have a cooler and I am afraid someone might bump into it.

No need to freak out if the humidity drops a bit for a day.

 

[ML237]

You can also put some distilled water in a small cup or shot glass and leave it in your humidor for a few days. That will give it a kick start, and your environment should stabilize a bit faster that way.

[snapback]286144[/snapback]​

I should have probably considered that before as beads do take some time to get going. Thanks for the tip Rod.

You also have to remember that "beads" are a Passive type of humidification device. They slowly add humidity into your humidor to bring up the RH. If you add a new box into the humidor the RH will drop. Depending on how dry the box is. With the beads the RH will slowly rise, this could take a couple of days. If you are nervous and want to bring the RH up more quickly you could always add a small sponge which is soaked with Distilled water. This will also help to re-humidify your beads. I don't like to add a shot glass because I have a cooler and I am afraid someone might bump into it.

No need to freak out if the humidity drops a bit for a day.

[snapback]286145[/snapback]​

Good point Tommy I was just hesitant not to overhumidify the cigars initally. Now with not much changing I should probably consider adding a sponge today. I'll pass on the shot glass as my cooledor is standing upright & don't want the risk of spilling it all over the c'gars.

I really wouldn't panic this much if I did see the humidity rise a bit and not just standing there at 48%.

 

[Ginseng]

Milan,

By all means:

1. put a container of distilled or filtered water in the cooler

and

2. give it a few days to re-equilibrate

Every time I put a new cab in my Coleman, the humidity drops a bit. However, since I use PG/water, the drop is much shorter and less severe than with beads. The dish or cup of water you use will do the actual job of supplying the new wood with water. The beads merely retard perturbations from the initial humidity setting at which they were conditioned.

Also, You don't want an absolutely airtight seal on the coolerdor. The factory seal should be sufficient unless the lid is badly warped.

Wilkey

 

[ML237]

Milan,

By all means:

1. put a container of distilled or filtered water in the cooler

and

2. give it a few days to re-equilibrate

Every time I put a new cab in my Coleman, the humidity drops a bit. However, since I use PG/water, the drop is much shorter and less severe than with beads. The dish or cup of water you use will do the actual job of supplying the new wood with water. The beads merely retard perturbations from the initial humidity setting at which they were conditioned.

Also, You don't want an absolutely airtight seal on the coolerdor. The factory seal should be sufficient unless the lid is badly warped.

Wilkey

[snapback]286567[/snapback]​

I have put a nice little Tupperware container half filled with distilled water right next to my beads. After listening to previous advice provided by others I also re-sprayed my beads daily and saw the RH creep up by 2% to 49%.

I realized that it is probably not the seal issue but rather proper conditioning of the cooledor with all the boxes.

One question though just to make sure (and obviously idiot proof in my case).

Should I empty it first and get it ready (which I thought I did previously ??? ) or let it re-equilibrate with all the contents inside (which I am attempting to do now).

I think I should do just the latter.

Anyways always thankful for your insight Wilkey.

 

[BlindedByScience]

I will also throw out the first question I always ask...have you checked the calibration of your hygrometer? You cannot have a good idea of what is going on if you don't know the accuracy of the meter you are using.

[snapback]286091[/snapback]​

Viper I already took those precautions and tested out the digital hygrometer parallel with the one in my humidor. It worked just fine while in humidor so I doubt that it's the hygrometer accuracy issue. Thanks.

[snapback]286119[/snapback]​

Until you salt test your hygrometer, you are guessing. Only takes "overnight" and you'll know for sure.

My $00.02 - and, Good Luck - B.B.S.

 

[Ginseng]

Milan,

1. If the cooler had no cedar lining in it prior to adding your boxes, no conditioning is necessary.

2. If you put unconditioned cedar in it to line the cooler prior to adding boxes, I would stack them loosely, space them apart and conditon them for at least 2 days with beads and a dish of water.

3. If you use conditioned cedar, then little to no conditioning is required.

4. I would not load up the entire cooler with boxes all at once. Although if they come from a conditioned environment like another humidor, it should not be too much of an issue. Were these boxes from a humidified environement?

5. It is a good idea to do a salt test on the hygrometer. Use a jar and not a plastic bag. Make sure the salt is pasty in consistency but with some undissolved grains.

Wilkey

 

[ML237]

Alrighty things are definitely looking much better so I figured I would provide an update of the situation.

After taking in consideration all of the above expertly advice generously provided I decided to stop pussyfooting around & (re)do all the steps.

First of all what i noticed that I just might be to liberal with the addition of distilled water in re humidifying the beads and providing sufficient re humidifying to the whole environment. Immediately after adding some distilled water to the beads I saw limited improvement and the RH creep up couple of percentage points to 49% then 51% and 54%. Still my beads would turn dry out quite rapidly which was evident as they were whiter then the inside of my cooler.

Finally with the recent success I realized that I just might be underestimating the volume of the cooler as well as the boxes so I decided to kick it up a notch. Adding a small Tupperware container filled with distilled water next to majority of my beads was one part of the attack. I also added a quite wide container with a fresh washing sponge (previously washed) and loaded with distilled water in another location next to my other beads. It was about ON! :sign:

All of a sudden I saw dramatic improvement. The RH during that day shoot up to 56% and kept rising all the way to 28% over the next day or so. This time the tide of war has finally turned my way! Soon after over the next few days the RH steadily climbed and is now holding at IMO perfect 64% RH with temp between 68-69%. :thumbs: What can I say besides that I am more then delighted with the outcome as well as grateful for all the wise advice provided.

Now I can finally start building up on all the favorites that I have savored over this time and rest assured that little that I have is safe and sound for time to come.