Humidor won't get above 60%

[xGaspy]

What's up fellas. I've got a quick question & would love some advice! I just recently seasoned a new bigger humidor with the Boveda seasoning kit, worked like a charm and held humidity around 78% for a solid 4 days at the end of the 10 day seasoning. So I finally transferred all my sticks and she worked perfectly. It's a 150ct humidor and I used (5) 69% Boveda's and she was holding GREAT at 64-66% which I was very happy with. Then when the weather here shifted to much colder, she dropped down hovering around 57-60% and I couldn't get it to rise back up, changed locations, put it in the closet, everything!

SO, I thought maybe the Boveda's just weren't cutting it and I ordered the (XL) 65% Heartfelt tube capable of humidifying 2000ci, for my 1080ci humidor. Hydrated the beads as per instruction and threw it in the humidor, guarded off on the left side with nothing covering and a divider right next to it. She's holding steady at 68 degrees and 59% right now with a calibrated Xikar hygrometer. I don't know if it's just the weather or what, because the humidor passed the paper tests and WILL allow the humidity to rise back up to 59/60 after opening and whatnot, so to me that proves it's clearly holding humidity fine, it just isn't as high as I want.

I'm currently in the middle of going the Wineador route, but I need a safe haven for my sticks until she's completely finished!

Any ideas? Thanks in advance brothers!

 

[Robertsndr68]

Maybe your sticks were super dry and theyre absorbing humidity like crazy. Try spritzing the hf beads again

 

[joshthe6th]

I agree with Robert. Also, check your gauge, it might need calibration.

 

[MoJo]

Agree with Robert and Josh. Another thing you can do is, if after calibrating the hygrometer again and still off, replace the battery on your hygrometer (learned recently that a low battery on a hygrometer can cause it to be off). If still no go, then your humidor is probably leaky. In VA the air is much dryer in the winter, with heating and such, and you just might not have noticed the leak in the summer due to the higher humidity or are just not re-hydrating your beads/boveda packs as often as needed.

 

[Treinenwj]

Just out of curiosity, what's the temp in the humi, as compared to the temp before, when you had a higher Rh?

 

[Farringtonr]

I have a pound if heartfelt beads in my 100 count humidor and the seal is fine. I have to rehydrate them like every week to every week in a half. I'm in central New York and the between the cold and the heater in the house winter is just rough. Let the beads stabilize and you should be ok

 

[Capttrips]

With the heat running in your home you will need ALOT more than a XL tube. I use at least a pound. Bigger is always better. I honestly believe this is a bead/media issue. I have 9-150 qt coolers that hold exactly at 65% during the summer. Once the heat came on i was chasing humidity and recharging beads once a week. Last week I finally broke down and purchased an evaporative humidifier. I opened up the coolers, cranked that bad boy on and shazam! 65%.

 

[xGaspy]

Very much appreciated fellas! Just ordered a lb of beads! I need to get this Wineador finished and call it a day. I'm out of room in my humidor already anyways, haha!

 

[LigaPrivadaFanboy]

This is just me, but I would do *nothing* for a few weeks, aside from getting properly calibrated hygros. You can do more harm than good by micromanaging humidity. I've been there myself and went from overly-dry sticks to overly-humidified ones. Too wet is definitely worse than too dry for me.