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Wineador cc-300h humidity issue

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I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I recently got a NewAir CC-300H last week. When I got the unit I put two containers with sponges with distilled water inside. The interior temp has held steady at 65 F but the humidity has not gotten up past 61RH and has held there for the past three days. This morning I added a 1.5 pounds of 65% new Heartfelt beads and the RH is still steady at 61% and the temp at 65 F. Is there something that I am missing if my target RH is 65%? Why can't I seem to get the RH past 61%? Any guidance would be appreciated.
 
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I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I recently got a NewAir CC-300H last week. When I got the unit I put two containers with sponges with distilled water inside. The interior temp has held steady at 65 F but the humidity has not gotten up past 61RH and has held there for the past three days. This morning I added a 1.5 pounds of 65% new Heartfelt beads and the RH is still steady at 61% and the temp at 65 F. Is there something that I am missing if my target RH is 65%? Why can't I seem to get the RH past 61%? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Just of the sake of clarity I have two calibrated Hygrometers inside the unit one in the middle shelf and one on top that both have the same readings.
 

Rupe

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My guess is that you may just need to give the seasoning some additional time? One week is probably not enough time for the cedar shelves to soak up enough moisture to get you up to your desired RH.



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Cigary43

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Rupe nailed it....it's ALWAYS this issue with new owners of these things. I have 4 Whynters....they work so well but they aren't instant in what they do. The instructions say to season the trays....lightly....and you're suppose to let the DW do it's job...not in one day or even two....use some patience and like I did....3 days. The next thing to do is put a Boveda Seasoning packet...84%....let that sit for 4-7 days or until the RH gets to the 80% level......PATIENCE.....you don't need to get all antsy and start worrying about when the RH is going to rise....it will. Once you get to that magic number then start adding cigars....don't overload it with a buttload because your RH will go back down again. Introduce new cigars about 25 at a time.....next box in another week ....etc. Transfer cigars from your humis or tupperware or where ever you store your cigars into your New Air in increments otherwise you will stress yourself out worrying about your numbers. In each case with my Whynters doing it the way I am telling you.....they are rock solid at 65% and I keep Bovedas in all of them.....at least 6 in each unit.
 
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Rupe nailed it. Patience is a virtue when seasoning a new humidor some people will dampen the wood with a spray bottle but we normally don't recommend that because then you'll be trying to get humidity down
 
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New to BOTL but have the same unit. Do you plug the drain? Any issues with condensation build up on the bottom of the tray?
 
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You should plug the drain. The units, when overworked, tend to have a lot of condensation on the chill plate and puddling will form. A small fan blowing on the cooling plate seems to solve the problem.
 
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Thanks @Boudie! For the fan on the cooling plate (sorry still pretty new) do you mean inside the unit or on the exterior? I was thinking of installing a fan inside to move air, but the consensus seems to be mixed about that. Mostly important if there is zero air movement long-term (ie weeks). Thoughts?
 
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I have both. A desk fan moving air away from the back of the unit and a couple of small computer fans inside the unit.

When the cigar cooler is loaded we have noticed considerable differences in humidity and temperature between the top and bottom of the unit. A small fan(s) helps remove this stratification. Since you are installing internal fans you may as well direct one toward the cooling plate.
 

Cigary43

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I have both. A desk fan moving air away from the back of the unit and a couple of small computer fans inside the unit.

When the cigar cooler is loaded we have noticed considerable differences in humidity and temperature between the top and bottom of the unit. A small fan(s) helps remove this stratification. Since you are installing internal fans you may as well direct one toward the cooling plate.
The temps in there can be a constant....they are programmed where the User can adjust it from 62 - 66 degrees....it's the RH that can get squirrely for different reasons....too much stock inside...insertion of new product....fan runs too long....not enough of the right media.....too little media....it becomes a tetris kind of thing when trying to keep RH inside these things at a consistent number....Bovedas work great....if things start to get OOC then kitty litter can fix it within a day or two to regulate the numbers. It's important to know that "seasoning" is vital to the process.....letting it season over a period of days to a week or more sometimes depending on how "wet" the cigars are when you put them in there. I still toggle my units once a day if I see the RH moving past 65%....only takes an hour and then things are normal and it's a good thing to move stifled air inside but I never did like the idea of the fans being on and cycling for hours on end.....cigars aren't chilled bottles of wine.
 
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I have my fans on a timer, 10 minutes on every 90 minutes. I velcroed the slot fans to the back of the cooler. When cycled on the fans move air from the bottom of the cooler, up the backwall and over the chill plate. If I leave the fans on constantly the temps in the unit rise.


Good luck on whatever you decide to do, be patient and if something doesn't work try something else.
 
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I'd have to do some digging because it's been a while. Search for a 12/24v computer slot fan. Then find a power supply large enough to run the fan(s). "OKtimer" for a timer that uses the voltage your fans are running on. If you match the timer voltage to the fan voltage you can use a single power supply. I used some stuff hanging around the shop.

If you decide to attach the fans to the back of the cooler I suggest using the heavy duty Velcro
 

Cigary43

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I have my fans on a timer, 10 minutes on every 90 minutes. I velcroed the slot fans to the back of the cooler. When cycled on the fans move air from the bottom of the cooler, up the backwall and over the chill plate. If I leave the fans on constantly the temps in the unit rise.


Good luck on whatever you decide to do, be patient and if something doesn't work try something else.
Yeah....I like that idea of a timer...beats me having to babysit a fan so may have to put that on my "to do list".....the single fan on my units don't get past 66 degrees but the first week or so the RH was great until I started adding more cigars. I went from 100 to 300 and then the RH was going from 60 - 68 so I put more Bovedas in the bottom and middle and then KL on the top which is where the fan is. Moving RH around the inside of the unit is key....warm air rises so putting the fans at the bottom is SOP to continue the loop....there are fans that use batteries and cycle on/off intermittently which may be something to look at,,...buy your batteries at the Dollar Store and switch em out every month or so.

Now that things are good I have nothing to complain about which takes all the fun out of this hobby....the wife now complains about me complaining about her...natural progression of life so she tells me to go play with my cigars.....f'n rude!
 
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I have both. A desk fan moving air away from the back of the unit and a couple of small computer fans inside the unit.

When the cigar cooler is loaded we have noticed considerable differences in humidity and temperature between the top and bottom of the unit. A small fan(s) helps remove this stratification. Since you are installing internal fans you may as well direct one toward the cooling plate.
The cc-300H has a fan on the chiller plate, would a fan mounted at the bottom do anything? I would think that the one fan would be sufficent??
 
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The cc-300H has a fan on the chiller plate, would a fan mounted at the bottom do anything? I would think that the one fan would be sufficent??
Yes it does and I'm willing to bet that if you keep your cooler half full of cigars and well monitored you will not have any problems. I had a lot of water accumulating in the bottom of my NewAir and on the advice of a BOTL I aimed one of my fans at the chiller plate, problem solved. Just saying, if it isn't broken you don't need to fix it, if you start having trouble this may be a solution. You can always add or re-aim the fan later.
 

Cigary43

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I'm not going to mess with running wires or adding fans.....there are battery powered units that can be used....pennies to swap the batteries every month or so if one need extra circulation and they can be programmed to cycle...best place to put them is at the bottom as warm humid air rises so getting that loop of RH is what to look for if they are needed. i barely keep my 4 units running more than an hour a day as it is.
 
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Depending on how warm your house is during the summer, how often you go in the cooler and how full you keep it battery powered fans will probably be more then enough.
They work for @Cigary43 and he's taught me a lot over the last couple of years so see if they work for you, If they don't you can always go through the trouble of running the wire.

If you install wire run it through the drain hole (pain in the neck) and then use a piece of wadded up saran wrap to plug the hole around the wire.
 
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