Shooter
Living life on the heavies.
Your anology is wrong!
I have used the KLH for years in a cabinet humidor and it is rock steady. Note I said cabinet humidor...... all the humidity one could need for any size humidor. Here is a document I had put together a few years ago. I have no idea what the kitty litter sells for today but I made 4 lbs of conditioned beads for under $10 several years back and am still using it today. Its not rocket science no matter how anal you are.... its controlled humidity.
"KLH" or Kitty Litter Humidification
Humidity Control with conditioned Silica Gel
One can make generic 'Climaxx Beads' at any desired control point above 40% Relative humidity (RH) by buffering/conditioning generic silica gel.
Buy a container of silica gel crystals/beads used in cat box liter like 'ExquisiCat Crystals' or 'Kitty Pearl'. (around $8-$10 for approx 4 pounds). Read the label and verify the contents are 100% silica gel crystals. Don't use the product with blue colored crystals mixed in. The beads will be white/clear/opaque. Smell the silica gel crystals/beads and make certain no fragrance is present; there should be no smell whatsoever. Reread this paragraph. It is important that what you buy is 100% silica gel crystals without any colored crystals/beads mixed in with it and absolutely no fragrance.
Silica gel will 'condition', that is, accept or reject water vapor to maintain an equilibrium RH. The easiest way to condition the beads is to place them in a humidor that is already stable at the humidification level you want to 'set' the beads to or a container that you can control the humidity level within. You will need an accurate hygrometer. Place your beads into the control environment you have chosen once you have the humidity within stable at the level you want to condition the beads to. You will stir the beads daily so that all the beads are being conditioned but do it quickly. You're trying to maintain the environment and a open door or lid allows that enviroment to change. The less changing of air the better. Keep in mind that the beads will be absorbing humidification from the environment and this will naturally drop the humidity reading from within this environment. Lets say your set point is 65% RH. Once you have the environment holding steady at this level you will introduce the beads. The humidity reading will drop. After a day or so, maybe sooner or maybe longer, the humidity will start to rise. As the beads continue to absorb the moisture within the environment the humidity reading will continue to rise. Replenish your humidification device as needed until the beads plateau at your desired % of humidity. This may take a few days or a week or two but the objective is to get the environment to stabilize at the desired % of humidity you want to 'set' the beads and then maintain it at that level for approx 2 weeks. Once these beads have been maintained at the desired level for two weeks you have 'set' the beads memory and you may now remove them and use them. They will maintain the same level as what you set the memory to.
As you use the beads when the humidity drops a few points you should lightly mist the beads with distilled water and it will once again regulate the humidity at the set point. I conditioned mine at 65% and find when my humidity levels drop to approx 63/62 its time to give them a misting and that takes the humidity right back to 65% (sometimes 66/67%). If you desire to reset the memory set point its as simply as maintaining the beads at the new 'Set' level you desire for two weeks. I would recommend reconditioning any beads left in an uncontrolled environment for longer than a week
I personally used an old humidor with a divider to keep the beads to one side and my humidifier to the other. The humidifier I used was a Cigar Oasis which really made things simple as all I had to do was first get the humidity in the humidor level to 65 (my desired set point) then add the beads and stir daily. Since the Cigar Oasis is automatic and I had already set it to maintain 65% all I had to do was make sure the oasis did not run out of distilled water. Once the beads finally reached 65% the Cigar Oasis maintained that for the two week period and I was done.
Do not get caught up in everything having to happen immediately. This is a slow process and you really can't screw it up. You can not take a short cut by adding water to the beads. You need to allow the beads to slowly absorb the humidity from within your controlled environment and it will take some time for them to rise to your desired set point. Do not get discouraged. If the humidity is low and rising towards your goal set point then everything is working as it should. Should the rising humidity stall for a day or two at a point lower than your memory set point goal I would recommend you check whatever device you are using for humidification as the beads may have absorbed it all and you will need to recharge the humidifier. You can use any container to condition the beads as long as you can create and maintain a humidified environment at the level you want to 'Set' the beads to.
Everything is right except you can add water to the beads..... not reccomended
The simplest method for conditioning silica gel is to place it in a room or environmental chamber set to the desired RH level. The best method of confirming that the silica gel is at the correct RH is by measuring the RH of a sample batch of gel. This is done by placing the sample gel in a sealed container or plastic bag with a hygrometer (use a large amount of gel relative to the surrounding air), and allow a day for the RH within the bag to stabilize with the gel mixture. Although an approximate RH value can be calculated based on weight, this method is not recommended because of its margin of error.
- • Methods of speeding up conditioning time:
[*]o Spread the gel as thin as possible.
[*]o Use a fan to circulate air around the gel.
[*]o Periodically mix the gel layers to improve uniformity.
- • For a single layer of bead, allow at least 4 days if the gel is initially dry, and longer if spread as a thicker layer.
- • Silica gel can be conditioned to a higher RH than the desired level, either to speed up the conditioning process or because of the inability to control RH. If so, it is important to allow 2-3 day for the moisture to equilibrate within and between the gel beads, especially if beads with different moisture contents are mixed together.
- • The direct addition of water through mist spraying or immersion is not recommended, since the high heat of decrepitation causes silica gel beads to crack and fragment. Although silica gel retains its hygroscopic properties, the overall response time of silica gel in a tray will slow down because of denser packing from the mix of large beads and smaller fragments.
