[stephen_bj]

Hi Guys,

I am trying to convert my Humidors to HF beads and sheets.

I am going to start with my Cabinet first and would like to get your opinion / comment on my setup.

I am thinking of using HF beads 65%, HF Humi Sheets 65% and an active humidifier which came with the unit.

1. I emptied out all my humis and gave a good rub with a very diluted alcohol/distilled water mix.

2. Airing out the interior.

Time to do some math's: :drama:

Volume of unit 13.5 X 16.0 X 20.0 = 4320 cubic inches.

Thinking of using four 2 X 14 inches humi sheets which I am going to nail to the cedar shelf.

And using two half pound beads in mesh bag. One I will put on top and the other at the bottom.

According to the HF website each square inch of the sheet will humidify 22 cubic inches of space. I used 112 square inches of sheets, so that means it will keep 2464 cubic inches of space humidified.

For the 1lb or 16 ounces of beads I used, they should be able to keep 8640 cubic inches of space humidified.

So the combined should keep 11,104 cubic inches of space humidified. This is 2.6X of the recommended amount, so i think I should be more than safe?

Humi sheets nailed to shelf.

You can see that only the end of the strips are touching the wood.

Two 8oz bags.

Set and Forget Hydro/Temp meter

Set and Forget Reservior

Okay time to put everything together.

Placed one bag on the far left of the top tray with the singles.

Placed the other at the far back bottom of the cabinet.

Placed the resorvior at bottom center right of the cabinet.

I also added a USB fan at the back of the shelf facing up.

Seasoning:
1. I first sprayed the sheets lightly with distilled water.
2. Sprayed beads until 70% of beads are clear.
3. I seasoned the unit with humidifier off and sponge in the middle and left it there for 3 days. (the humidity never went pass 68%)
4. Turned on the humifier and set it to turn on when the humidity drops below 65%.
5. Tuened on the USB fan so it is on all the time.

Question:
I kept the unit empty and was waiting for the RH to drop to 65. It has been almost a week now, but the RH is still at 68% What am I doing wrong here? Should I not have the USB fan on 24/7? Is the movement of air in the unit causing water to evaporate from the reservoir?

Any other comments?:decision:

I guess 68% should work, will start to load this baby up and move on to my desktops.

 

[stephen_bj]

Hi Guys thank you for your input. I did that when I first moved here last year. The first time I used it, the cigars was way over humidified. The reading of the set and forget was 70 but I later put in another Hydro and it read 90!!!!!! So I immediately took out everything and moved it to a temp place. I later found out that the Set and Forgot was 21% RH off!!! I asked Bob about it and he said some times in very RARE cases, the set and forget could drift by as much as 20% after 3-5 years. After that time I started to look for other option. One thing to point out is that the humidity here in Hong Kong is almost always above 70%. Usually in the 80's + I found that I have to constantly have aircon and dehumidifier on so that the internal temp and RH wont shoot up.

Currently the cabinet is roughly 60% full, with most of the sticks and boxes in ziplock bags. Should I not use the ziplocks?

So what should I do? Should I not use the beads?

Thanks a lot guys for your help

 

[stephen_bj]

I guess I still have the following questions:

1. USB FAN - Should I have USB fan on 24/7? Will this increase the RH? Since my set and forget reservoir has vents all around, would that be the equivalent of me turning on the humidifier's fan? Is this why I am getting RH above 65%? I want to keep the air moving because most of the sticks I have in there are 10+ years old, so very easy to get mold.

2. CANNOT KEEP THE RH at 65% -The beads in the cabinet are maybe 50% clear. Why am I still getting a higher than 65% RH? I have three hydro in the cabinet and they've been all calibrated recently, so don't think this is a inaccurate RH reading. They read anywhere from 67 to 71%.

3. CIGARS IN ZIP LOCK - Currently I have all loose sticks and boxes in separate Zip Lock bags. Should I take them all out so the Cabinet will stabilize better?

:bowdown::bowdown::bowdown: Any comments?

 

[stephen_bj]

You could always us the unit and just adjust it for the % it is off or you could just use the HF beads. Of course you could also use them both but you still need to make the adjustment to the set and forget unit.

Hi big Popa, (Should i be calling you this?? )

Anyways, yeah tried to do a salt test with the set and forget unit, but since it does not take DC, I zip lock bag the whole unit and put silly putty around the wire and opening of the zip lock. Got a -21%RH reading. Should be some what accurate. I doubled check with the Hydro in the cabinet and they all yield the same results, 21% off. So I've set the set and forget at 65 - 21 so that is 44%.

 

[stephen_bj]

I know I am new here, but I have to say this again. The amount of knowledge floating around here is just mind boggling!!! Also the willingness of brothers sharing and helping people are also amazing.

Anyways, I will do the following.

1. keep equivalent of 1.5lbs of beads in the unit.
2. Close off 90% of the vents of the reservoir.
3. Set the set and forget to kick in at 62%.


One more questions though. Should I have extra fan on 24/7? Or I should get a timer and have it kick in every 12 hours?

Again, thank you for all the brothers who've chimed in!!!!:beerchug:

 

[stephen_bj]

I do have an extra fan hooked up to move air up from the bottom but I have a plus - I'm not sure if the mini needs one. If you do add one a timer is a good idea - mine is hooked up to the set and forget system and is set to run for 5 minutes every half hour.

To seal the slots I used electrical tape. Bob initially suggested I cover half the slots, then cover more if needed, so you may have to experiment. Good luck!

I have an older version of the set and forget, so I need to have my own external fan. Just bought a timer, will set for the puppy to go off every 2 hours for 10 mins. I taped 90% of the slots will open up the slots if RH runs low. Thank you for the heads up though.

Man are you guys following what's happening in Japan? People here are very sensitive and some people are scared that the nuclear debris will effect Hong Kong if the wind is blowing the wrong direction. Anyways, my friend just gave me a La Habana 2000. He said this is the bomb. Will smoke it and report in later. Will worry about the nuclear meltdown later