Tramontina 45 Bottle Wine Cellar
- Thread starter stewa070
- Start date
When I was setting mine up I wouldn't have believed the difference in RH from top to bottom if I hadn't seen it. I used 12 Bovedas and eventually trays of KL ("trained" 65%). Also had quite a bit of Cedar that was already seasoned: Made very little impact.
Put in the fans: top to bottom RH and temp steady, even in-between shelves where the space is tight and I wouldn't bet too much air flow gets. I read several threads that said the fans were necessary, and it isn't that I didn't believe... I just figured that I could get it "good enough" and eventually get around to the fans. Can't promise it'll work the same for you and everyone's situation is different, but for me the fans were the answer.
BTW, it's looking good. They always look better when they start to fill up.
I got a fan kit in the mail today. It's two 80 mm fans. I haven't decided whether to put them up top and blow down or on top of the KL sucking up. Also have a Hydra LG cabinet humidifier and two 320 gram Bovedas coming in the mail. Hopefully all that is overkill but it's too pretty a humidor to half-ass!
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Installed the fan setup this morning. Pretty sweet but I could probably use another set of them. Plugged into a programmable timer so they run for 20 minutes every hour. We'll see how the RH swings behave now.
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The setup has been running for 10 minutes or so. I moved the high RH hygro down to the middle in lieu of a new one up top. The readings from top to bottom are 71%, 80%, 66%. 66 degrees F on all three. I'm having a hard time believing that middle hygrometer. Seems like it would have started dropping RH by now. I'm going to monitor this setup overnight and see what it looks like tomorrow. There's no way I could have 66% on the bottom 71% on top and 80% in the middle. We'll see. I'll probably bring another unit as I have several of them to see. IF the two lower ones are correct I'm pretty happy. Just move the next victims up to the top and longer storage sticks to the bottom maybe.
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Yes salt test on the one on bottom. Boveda calibration on the middle and top one. The white one that's so high read dead on 75%. The top on read 77% after 48 hours. Once I moved that white one to the middle it actually climbed up to 81 before I left. I'm not sure what that's about.
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Well, hope the fans help, they should. I expect a bit of a difference from top to bottom but your numbers are kind of strange. Maybe they just need time to get established. I know my el cheapo hygrometers need about a week to get to where I was comfortable with the numbers but if they are accurate with the salt test who knows.
While it is empty try putting your fans over your KL and let them circulate from bottom to top. May take a couple of days.
Good luck
While it is empty try putting your fans over your KL and let them circulate from bottom to top. May take a couple of days.
Good luck
Not a bad idea. If I did that I could place the Hydra up top when it gets here with Bovedas in the middle shelves. I'm trying to decide if I should throw my boxes in there but not my naked sticks and see what develops. Im sure the boxes would pull down the RH a bit but I don't want to screw them up if it is in fact 80% in spots
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You aren't going to hurt anything in the short term. If the boxes are closed you buy time on the humidity getting to the cigars.
When I store boxes I jamb them open a bit to get some air to the cigars. Others on the forum will disagree but they are usually storing Cubans for several years and they want them to age slowly IN this case keep them closed without the shrink wrap
When I store boxes I jamb them open a bit to get some air to the cigars. Others on the forum will disagree but they are usually storing Cubans for several years and they want them to age slowly IN this case keep them closed without the shrink wrap
Fans made all the difference. Came in and checked this morning. Top hygro reads 75% humidity, middle one that was so high reads 73% and the lowest one reads 68%. All read 68 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm gonna load it up with my boxes and let them pull down the humidity. When the Bovedas arrive I imagine any swings will be negligible then.
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Keep in mind that as you fill the unit it becomes harder to move air using fans that rest on the trays. I purchased a couple of slot fans that I velcro-ed to the back of my newair. They push the air up between the trays and the wall of the cooler getting better circulation. I keep my trays pulled out a bit, almost resting against the door to provide a bit larger gap in the back of the unit.
So much empty! My poor 150qt coolidor has about 150 singles in it and one box of Punch Rare Corojos too tall to fit in the winedor. I just thought I had a stash!
I'll keep and eye on the levels over the next few days. I expect the boxes will bring down the humidity closer to where I want it.
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I do the same. My only fans are at the top in the very back, set to blow down across the actual cooler module. Pretty full, yet the circulation works well enough to get between the shelves/trays, etc.
Finally gave up on the compressor and cooling. My unit stays cool enough at the office. If it gets too hot I can always turn the thing on. I added a Hydra LG to the cooler which does fine for adding moisture, but it doesn't take it away. And the compressor was leaving condensation on the back of the wall causing the humidity to rise too high. Dried it out. Cut off unit. Set Hydra at 60% RH. Added two Boveda 320 gram 69% packs to keep the Hydra in check. Removed the KL. May be overkill. We'll see how it behaves. Also added a three pack of motion sensing LED light bars in between the shelves. Pretty pleased with how they perform!
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Those lights are pretty cool. Little led up too on mine doesn't do anything but light up the drawer.
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I really dig em. Cost like $15 on Amazon. Come in three packs with 10 LEDs per stick. Think I might get another two sets and mount them on the sides. Then maybe a fog machine to kick on when I open the door and music to play choir singing. Don't really know how far is too far yet...
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Any bottom hygro will read lower as it gets closer to that 2lbs of KL silicate there. Remember KL does not replace RH. It will however, try to settle it's environment to 65%RH. I retired the cooling system on my wino. HAYER 18ct tall. Wife made me 3 bean bags , which I loaded with KL, and now they are dispersed throughout the unit , along with a couple small Bodeva bags from samplers.
The small 5% spread between top and bottom Hygrometer readings never proved to be a problem (with the bottom KL tray ). I went with the bean bag idea later, to reclaim some space for more cigars.
EDIT /( didn't see the 3rd page) you got this.. looks great ! The lights are awesome. Love the beep. Tell people its the burlar alarm's "self-test"
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