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Wine Cooler Conversion

BagfullofPings

BagfullofPings

New Member
I have searched the archives, but I have a couple of questions and a few notes.

Questions & Notes:
1. What coolers do u guys use, Hier, Avanti, Danby, etc? Why? I'm looking at a Whynter. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16896127013

2. Do most of you guys add Spanish Cedar? If you do, what adhesive do you use? I am thinking about lining the walls with 1/2 inch SC, and converting the racks to SC.

3. From what I have read, beads are the only way to go. Are there any other opinions?

4. I plan on using a Oregon Scientific temp/hyro/clock remote unit. Any other sugestions? http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=search

If my plan is flawed, please let me know. I have 5 months to buy the materials and modify the unit. I'm moving to the Palm Springs area within the next few months, and the summer temps (inside my house) will be between 80-90 degrees.
 
Looks good, almost the same setup I use except I'm using a Kenmore wine cooler.

Edit: I didn't mess with lining it with spanish cedar as I simply store cigars in boxes.


:cool:
 
I was thinking about using a wine cooler as well, especially since the summer in NYC can sometimes get brutal for weeks at a time. Plug it in during the summer time, and unplug it during the winter months.

I had no idea that newegg sells wine coolers. quick question as well, do wine coolers work the same way as modern fridges in terms of zapping all moisture out of its internal compartment?
 
Nope, the wine coolers seem to work very well as cigar fridgadors. You can do a search and read more about it, it's been discussed many times before.

:cool:
 
My recomendation to you would be regarding the cedar. I would not attempt to apply any cedar to the inner walls of the cooler. I would put cedar on the existing shelves only. The thickness would not need to be more than a 1/4" and will give more then enough "aroma" to the cooler. It will also help stabilize the RH level of the cooler during the end of the humidity cycle. What I mean by that is, whatever method you choose to humidify as it dries, the cedar will help hold moisture longer then having no cedar. I use cedar in my coolerdor and it seems to hold the humidty better then without. Much better than just the cedar cigar boxes.

I would also be careful running the refrigration as the cooling condenser will remove moisture from the comparment. I would only do this in extreme situations and for short intervals. I hope this helps.
 
ok, did some research here as well as outside of this wonderful website and looked for a thermoelectric wine cooler rather than a compressor model. Supposedly the thermoelectric has less swings in humidity as compared to a compressor model (unless I am mistaken). Some have gotten it to work, but I don't wanna fiddle with more things than I need to. Smoking cigars is supposed to be relaxing, not a headache resulting from a PhD in mechanical engineering.

found this nice page of thermoelectrics

the avanti 16 bottle wine cooler looks attractive.
 
Thanks for the info gentlemen.

I only have one more question. I want to use a couple of trays on the top shelf(s)for singles. Can I just throw them in the cooler, or do I need to do anything special?
 
I've got a compressor unit and it works just fine.

Once it has stabilized, any fridge really shouldn't be coming on all that much. I did have to wire it to a Ranco controller because the temps I'm looking for are outside of the range of most wine fridge thermostats. The humidity dips a little when it cycles, but I've got everything in boxes so I am not worried about it. The boxes act as a buffer. Outside of the boxes recovers in less than 10 minutes and the humidity hardly changes inside the boxes. I was only using beads before, but now I use a Cigar Oasis I picked up in a trade and it works like a champ!

Thermoelectric works too, but I found in my research that they also can cause swings in humidity due to the fact that in cigar storage they are running outside of their normal operating range. As long as you can get the recovery time down I don't see how either type of fridge would be a problem. They each have there unique issues.

I'd advise against the singles tray. It looks awesome, but it takes up a lot of room that can be better used. Also, no matter what you get (TE or compressor) there are going to be environmental swings that I would not want to expose my cigars to. Of course, you're free to do as you please and make your own decision. There's no right or wrong here. It's all about finding what works for your situation.

Good luck to you!

:)
 
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