Cigar Oasis questions

[dpricenator]

Ron,
I have a COxl and 2 lbs of Silica KL in a 30 bottle wine coolerdor I just set up. It's about 6 1/3 cubic feet. I have stabalized the temp at 63 degrees. The CO and KL have only been in there for 36 hours. I guess the real question here is is my CO working right? The Hygrometer in it seems to read about 5-7 degrees lower than my digitals, that I know are spot on. I can just aadjust the set points to correct for that. But when the RH is at 50% shouldn't the fan in the CO be running constantly until the RH reaches the set level of 65? It only runs for maybe 30 seconds at a time. Is that normal? Also, how much water should I add to the KL. Is that just trial and error over the next couple of weeks? I know I should be using Beads, but I can't justfy the purchase to the wife. Thanks

Dave

 

[RonC]

first, the CO fans should run constantly till the humidity reaches the set point. But remember that the humidity near the CO sensor might be higher than near your hygrometer. also, the sensor in the CO is within a couple inches of the output fan of the CO, so humidity is likely higher near the CO as compared to other areas of the cabinet. I wouldnt worry to much about the fans turning on and off as long as it reaches the desired humidity level. new CO's have a recalibration feature(somebody has been copying the Accumonitor..LOL)so you should be able to dial in the accuracy.

regarding the silica gel, i would not add any water. I would let the cigar oasis condition the beads. it will take some time, and you will have to refill the CO, but this is actually the "more scientific" way to condition the silica gel. My advice would be to get the heartfelt beads for your setup. wine cooler type setups are usually a little less stable than non cooled humidors. this instability makes it a little harder to acurately condition silica gel.

 

[dpricenator]

New question...

It seems the CO is working perfectly now that I have it plugged in instead of on battery power. The RH is sitting steady at 64%. However I set this up for use in the garage because it wold be too hot in the summer to keep a standard coolerdor. My question is how cold is too cold. I have it set to come on if the temp ever goes over 70. But the unit is not set up to heat. I live in Socal and the winter temps will most likely not ever go below freezing and will only go below 40 a couple days a year. Are my sticks going to be ok if they get that cold during winter?

 

[RonC]

you are going to have too keep a close eye on them. i understand that cold temps will slow the ageing process, but thats no big deal. what you need to worry about is humidity levels.

 

[dpricenator]

Right on, I have a ton of KL on the bottom now, and the CO seems to be spot on so far. So as the Temp goes down the RH goes up right? Or is it the otherway around?

 

[RonC]

temp down, rh up