So I got my new Wineador set up

hydro-terp

hydro-terp

Active Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2005
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288
Location
The Democratic People's Republic of Maryland
So I found this guy on CL outside of Philly for free because it doesn't cool any more. I exchanged emails and scheduled a pickup. It still runs and circulates air but I noticed the humidity takes a hit when you run it so I dont plan to plug it in.
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It is a two zone fridge with a divider in the middle. Since it is 2x+ bigger than my current setup I didnt think Oust fans would cut it so I sourced two fans.
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Fan

Then I had to figure out how to wire that up so I went with a splitter and a male to female wire into a 110 to usb adapter like you get with phone chargers. I had a bunch laying around. I had planned to run them on a timer but they are pretty quiet so they are running on low constantly now. I dont notice any real change in the temp when they run. I have them at the bottom of each zone blowing up.

wire
splitter

Since the wire was pretty small I didnt drill a hole and just sealed the small gap in the door with some sticky back foam window weather sealer. It seems to be just fine. The wire is small and the light strip is paper thin.
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And light is good so I put a LED light strip around the door. It is almost paper thin so it went behind the drawers that slide out and even the middle divider. I done top bottom and both sides but the row on the bottom really hits your eyes so I put painters tape over it so it looks cool blue now.

Light strip

For humidification I went with 2 lbs of fresh 65% beads from RH shield since Heartfelt seems to be out of biz and my old beads were running a little high and are pretty old. I went to Dollar Tree and got some food containers and cut a window in the lid and stretched a women's nylon across it so if there is a fumble $$ beads wont go everywhere. I have two in each section, top and bottom.
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Since this is a huge upgrade in size for me I went to a local B&M and got some extra boxes. They serve a couple purposes. They occupy space so when you open the door less air is exchanged, they regulate humidity and will be a place for 5r's and non-box purchases. I scored three of these slider top boxes which are awesome for the $2 ea they cost me.
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Its in my finished basement which floats in the upper 60s all year.

So total out of pocket...
Fridge $0
Gas and tolls....call it $75
Lights $20
Wire $8
Splitter $8
Fans $20
Beads $100
Boxes $10
Govees $24
Total $265

HT
 
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So glad you got that after posting it to see if anyone else would bite. I was tempted, but having just gotten a second smaller one, I decided I could not justify an upgrade. You've knocked it out of the park, however, with this setup! I didn't bother with lights, although they're nice, or the wired fans. I have two Oust units in each of my too fridges. It works very well, but doesn't look nearly this nice!

If you're using Bluetooth or WiFi hygrometers, be sure to put one in the top and the bottom section. I'm not sure if your divider area is airtight or not, I suspect not. But in my basement the humidity spread from the top of my top fridge, about your unit's height, the RH is about 65%. When I move the exterior hygrometer to the bottom of the bottom fridge, near the floor, the RH is 72%. It varies by 7% RH from eye height to floor. I suspect your basement may be similar.

Both my fridges are extremely stable, but I'll have to oven-dry the beads in the lower fridge from time to time, I think. There is a 1% RH difference between my two units. Anyway, even with fans in both your sections, get two hygrometers, you may find several % RH diference between top and bottom even with the fans depending on the effectiveness of the barrier between them.

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JCinPA said:
If you're using Bluetooth or WiFi hygrometers, be sure to put one in the top and the bottom section. I'm not sure if your divider area is airtight or not, I suspect not. But in my basement the humidity spread from the top of my top fridge, about your unit's height, the RH is about 65%. When I move the exterior hygrometer to the bottom of the bottom fridge, near the floor, the RH is 72%. It varies by 7% RH from eye height to floor. I suspect your basement may be similar.
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I have a Govee top and bottom. You can see them to the left in the picture. I also have one of the small air tag size ones extra from my previous setup I will probably drop in there somewhere. The fans move way more air than an Oust and having them on all the time I have only noticed a +-1% difference in humidity and honestly that's probably within the precision of the hygrometer and also the beads. Right now looking at them they are both stuck on 67. The fans have three settings and right now I have them on the lowest setting and blowing straight up from the bottom shelf of each section. Obviously its something I will keep an eye on if for no other reason than curiosity. The Govees will be salt tested/calibrated every ~6 months or when I think something is off.

The divider area is not air tight. There is a small gap between it and the glass of the door which allowed me to route the wire for the fan in the top section up from the bottom. Im not sure how much air passes the divider but it doesnt matter much as I have a tray of beads on the bottom and top shelf in each section along with the fans on the bottom shelves pushing air constantly.

Im only into the first week of the "poormans tower of power" so we shall see how it goes.

HT
 
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I laughed. But I filled my two in no time. This place has destroyed what little impulse control I may have once had when it comes to buying cigars.
 
2K6TBSS said:
Very nice setup. Keep on the lookout for another one, I'm sure you will fill that one up very quickly...
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Normally I would say pfft no way but Cigar Page keeps bombing my inbox w deals. Ive got their "working mans" 32 stick bundle arriving tomorrow...I couldnt turn away from that at $2.78 a stick w free shipping.

HT
 
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