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Winter humidor problems

K

KenK

New Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2005
Messages
24
I have read several of these threads about dropping humidity with the onset of "heating" season. I wonder if the problem isn't compounded by the wooden humidors themselves shrinking in the dry air and messing up the seal.

I can't think of a solution, but taking this into consideration may help someone else solve the problem.

I have my smokes in a marine Igloo and am fighting it also.
 
I found that when the heat in the house kicks on, the atmospheric RH drops to about... 10%

Humidors with bad seals, immediately start to loose the contained RH. Which is why some people will notice that instead of recharging their beads once a month if that, they have to racharge them at least once a week (myself being a good example, in my $100 humi)

I have a second humi, that I paid $20 for, that holds RH like a champ. It's all in the quality of the seal.
 
You are correct. This is by far the hardest season for keeping humidity in our humidors. The heat we add to the house as well as the natural drop in moisture in the air compound to reduce the rh in our humis. Recharge the beads often and spend as little time as possible with the lid open.
 
It's not easy playing god. Even when your domain is only a few cubic ft. :laugh:

Doc.
 
You are correct!

And we will keep doing it until it drives us to drink.......

mmmmmm Eggnog :love:
 
viper139 said:
You are correct. This is by far the hardest season for keeping humidity in our humidors. The heat we add to the house as well as the natural drop in moisture in the air compound to reduce the rh in our humis. Recharge the beads often and spend as little time as possible with the lid open.
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HOW OFTEN should we recharge the beads? I am having the same exact problem with my 400 count footlocker humidor that's in my office. It doesn't reach the 70% humidity level and I have 3 tubes with the 70% beads in them. I recharge the beads and the humistats usually every 4 to 7 days depending on when the humidity level goes below 65%. Is recharging the beads once every 5 to 7 days going to ruin the beads or prevent them from giving off the proper amount of humidity that's needed? Please help me out here.

Thanks,
George G.
 
Adding water directly to beads can cause them to burst. Many people have had good luck using a spray bottle, but I prefer to put some water in a shot glass or on a sponge in my humidor. That way the beads absorb it through the air. I would recommend you take a similar approach if you are having to charge your beads that often.
 
I usually spray my beads. But I did pour water a generous amount of water into the sides of the tubes for the 1st time last week while I was recharging them in order to make sure that the beads got really wet so they can give off the humidity that's needed to raise the humidity level inside my humidor to 70%.
Are you sure that the beads can burst if water is added to them directly? This is the first time that I heard this. I know that some people in here usually take one of the end caps off the tubes and just add water directly to the beads. I never heard of the beads bursting. Do the beads really burst if too much water is added to them? I always thought that if the beads have soaked up too much water that they will not be able to soak up anymore water. But I never heard that they can burst from too much water.
Maybe someone else in here who knows more about the beads can tell me more about this subject.
 
My "Viper / Heartfelt Powered" humi struggles when the RH gets this low, though when the RH goes up and the heater is off it works like a champ. During the summer months it's 68-ish every time I open the lid, now it struggles to keep above 60%. I know it's as dry as can be in the house. We're actually looking into adding a humidifier to our centeral heat system...it's bad.

My solution was to place a couple of the little sponge elements in there that I moistened with straight DI. I can manage 62-64% but they get dry as can be after a few days. But - this is the humi that I'm in at least once a day. My "Coleman" humidor sits at 68-70% rock solid..... :cool:

Good Luck - B.B.S.
 
Bill Clinton said:
I never heard of the beads bursting. Do the beads really burst if too much water is added to them?
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Yes, they do. That being said, if a bead splits in two from absorbing too quickly, it still functions the same, there's just two pieces of it.
 
I was just wondering...I'm having the same problem. My humi likes to stay around 58% during the winter. I have it in a closet that is closed most of the day. I was thinking about putting a small fan in the closet to cool it down a little. Anyone have something like this in the storage place where their humi is?
 
Winter is by far the hardest time of year to maintain a good rh. This is when we find out how good a seal our humi has or shows how often we go in the humi.

If you have to re-charge the beads alot more often that you do in the summer months you have one of two issues. First, the seal on your humi is not as good as it could be. The dry air is infiltrating the box and allowing the moistened air to escape. Second, you are going in your humidor often and the exchange is happening due to this.

The second reason there is not much you can do about. The first you can try to improve your seal by the number of methods discussed on other threads.

One thing though that must be done. You have to confirm the accuracy of your hygrometer because without that you have no real idea of what rh your humi is at. If you confirm it with the salt test make sure you do the test exactly correct, if not it will give you the wrong answer.
 
I've had better luck testing calibration with my beads. :p
 
What can I do to improve the seal on my footlocker humidor? The humidity level goes down to the 60%-63% mark about every 5 to 7 days after recharging the beads and the humistats. I want to correct this problem by trying to put something around the lid's seal. What can I use to "wrap" around the seal of the lid in order to keep the humidity level inside the humidor at a constant 70%? I am not handy, so I need a "simple" fix if there is one available. I was thinking of putting some sort of covering or weatherproofing around the bottom part of the lid where it meets with the top part of the humidor when it closes. I need something that will cover up the lid's seam so it can give it a tight seal. What can I use?
I am sick and tired of having to keep recharging the beads and the humistats inside my humidor every 5 to 7 days. Please help me out.

Thanks,
George G.
 
I was having similar problems with my humidors because of how dry it was in our condo. I have since purchased a room humidifier to raise our RH in the condo, I try to keep it around 55 in the room. I have noticed a great improvement in the stability of my humidor now that i'm maintaining the RH in the room itself.
 
The Master said:
Bill Clinton, there is nothing wrong if your cigars go down to " 60%-63%".
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I always thought that 60%-63% was too low, but I guess that a lot of people in here like the humidity level inside their humidor to be below 65%. Is this correct? Or am I wrong by making this statement?
 
best thing is to get a room humidifier or a humidifier right on your furnace if you have a forced air type, typically around 30-40% humidity is better in the house, especially for wood furniture and hardwood flooring. Also will eliminate nose bleeds in children. Both these types run $100-150.
 
Bill, I mean this in all kindness, You should be more concerned about the ulcers your going to get rather than the humidity of your cigars. You worry too much. This hobby is supposed to be fun. You're not having fun. 58% to 65% is ideal.

Doc.
 
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