Active humidification advice

[Ash Bridges]

Calling all experts on active humidification:

I have a couple temp-controlled active cab humidors, and in the last few weeks my Aristocrat Plus THC has seen a major increase in humidity. My other (smaller) unit is going strong, doing fine. My working hypothesis is that because the ambient temp is higher, the cooling unit is working overtime and producing more condensate, which drains into the set-it and forget-it reservoir at the bottom of the unit. What I don't understand is why that would cause the rH to spike (up around 75% at 15 degrees C) any more than just refilling the reservoir does. I just replaced all the fans in the unit and I'm 75% sure I did that right.

So my questions are:

1. Any ideas what's causing the spike?

2. Any ideas to fix it? Do people put beads in the reservoir? Cat litter? Cat food? 

I put a silicone desiccant in at the top to draw some moisture out of the air inside, but that doesn't seem like a long-term solution especially if it keeps drawing the humidity down to the low 50s. 

Any advice is very much appreciated, especially with quite a few boxes from our host en route.

[moellert]

I’m very much interested in the answer here. I get the same effect when I leave home and turn up the thermostat and my cooled Avallo runs more often. The RH spikes up by ~5%...


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[Eric05]

I notice in my avallo that when summer time comes my humidity raises. My unit actually doesn't turn on often at all, just the fans for 10 min an hour. My Aristocrat did the same as well. I think i read somewhere before someone using cat litter. 

[CanuckSARTech]

I have a mix of active and passive in my display cabinet.  Large Boveda packs at 62%, and then RH Beads at 65% (dried out a bit extra hard in the oven at set-up, so they actually are a little lower RH than that) for the passive constant, and then a Cigar Oasis Plus (with the green foam removed from the reservoir, and using the hydroabsorbent polymer crystals instead, which give off at about 68-70%) which kicks in for active when needed, set at 64% (the accuracy is a bit fuzzy).

But these things together help me hold everything at around 62-64% RH.  

You should expect that summertime humidity spikes though, especially if you have active cooling too (condensation).

[thebigdog]

On 7/22/2020 at 4:34 PM, Ash Bridges said:

Calling all experts on active humidification:

I have a couple temp-controlled active cab humidors, and in the last few weeks my Aristocrat Plus THC has seen a major increase in humidity. My other (smaller) unit is going strong, doing fine. My working hypothesis is that because the ambient temp is higher, the cooling unit is working overtime and producing more condensate, which drains into the set-it and forget-it reservoir at the bottom of the unit. What I don't understand is why that would cause the rH to spike (up around 75% at 15 degrees C) any more than just refilling the reservoir does. I just replaced all the fans in the unit and I'm 75% sure I did that right.

So my questions are:

1. Any ideas what's causing the spike?

2. Any ideas to fix it? Do people put beads in the reservoir? Cat litter? Cat food? 

I put a silicone desiccant in at the top to draw some moisture out of the air inside, but that doesn't seem like a long-term solution especially if it keeps drawing the humidity down to the low 50s. 

Any advice is very much appreciated, especially with quite a few boxes from our host en route.

Not an expert, but you are correct the more your coolers run the greater chance you will experience condensation which increases the humidity.  The longer the TE coolers run, the greater the chance the aluminum on the interior heat sink will drop below the dew point and start affecting the humidity.   You counter this by quickly cooling down your humidor.  TE cooler(s) will only reduce temperatures gradually, much slower than a compressor, so your cooler is constantly running.  If your cabinet only has one TE cooler then it's probably working overtime trying to cool the humidor.  If your humidor configuration allows, you can always try and add additional TE coolers in order to shorten the run time when cooling the humidor.

As temperature decreases in the humidor the humidity is most likely to increase and if I'm reading correctly, you are trying to keep your humidor at 15 degree C.  If so, that's a tall task to ask one (if that's what you have) TE cooler to try and maintain.  You may want to consider raising the temperature in your humidor.  Another option is to decrease the ambient temperature in the room where the humidor resides.

I am currently in a situation where I have out grown the storage in my current climate controlled humidor (Remington) and recently placed an order for a large Avallo temperature controlled humidor.  My current humidor has a compressor and when it kicks on it cools rapidly and in the process it removes humidity at the same time, but humidity recovery is always quick.  In the Avallo humidor I added four (Quad) TE coolers to try and reduce the time it takes to cool the humidor to my desired temperature, therefore reducing chances of excess condensation.  I also plan to maintain the humidor at 66-67 RH and 68-69 degrees too.  This climate is where I believe optimizes the condition of my cigars best and hopefully will keep the humidity spikes in check.  Good Luck!