Need a walk in expert to help me isolate the humidity issue I have

[Fakhm]

Hello gents

 

thanks to all those who participated in my earlier mold thread.

 

so I have identified two issues as the source of my mold problems in my walk in humidifier. The dirty air filter and fluctuating humidity. I built this room one year ago and transferred my cigars from five large cabinets, but had nothing but problems since.

 

the air filter thing was easy to resolve, the fluctuating humidity is not. I have all the humidifiers off for three days to test, and it seems the humidity fluctuates between 62 and 77 using two calibrated hygrometers with +- 2 accuracy. At one point it even reached 81 degrees humidity!!!

 

I suppose the culprit is my AC unit. I have a small one ton unit built into the room to circulate cold air, the problem is it might be introducing humidity in different levels? The duct is external of course.

 

what is done usually to resolve this? How can I keep my cigars cool at 18 degrees or 65 degrees and humidity steady at 64-66???

 

please help! This is my main focus in life at this moment.

 

I am attaching a few pictures of the Spanish cedar walk in for your review. Sorry about the mess I am going through the stock and making sure moldy cigars are dealt with.

 

thank you in advance!!!!!

[PrairieSmoke]

First off -- you have an amazing cigar collection! I would be concerned about my babies too if I was you. 😍

I think we need some more information before we can narrow down your issue.

1. Is your walk-in in the basement? If so, what is the ambient temp/RH in the basement outside of your walk in? Does this fluctuate during the year?

2. Was your walk-in built with vapor barrier during construction to seal the environment within?

3. I'm not an expert on the AC unit you are using, but usually an air conditioner will be removing moisture from the air as it condenses on the cooling plates. Does this unit have a drain or drip pan?

4. Were your higher RH readings on the upper shelves? Moist air rises so you are going to have stratification of your RH levels without circulation fans. If your humidifiers are on the floor where the drier air sits you compounding the problem. I have my RH probe 3/4 of the way up the back wall of my unit to mitigate.

I think answering some of these questions might get us a little further in figuring out why you are finding spots with such high humidity.

 

[Fakhm]

Hello

 

thanks so much for your reply! Some very useful tips already!!!

1- no it is in the first floor of my restaurant. I have attached here a picture of the exterior.

 

2- that’s a great point and probably why I am suffering with variable humidity, no no sealing was done. I assumed glass walls and thick cedar lining would be enough.

 

3- the AC does have a drain pipe to the exterior of the building, what I noticed is that the cooler I set the temp the more humid it gets.

 

4- the mold was mostly on cigars stored in middle of the shelves

 

cant say how thankful I am for your reply, I really need someone with experience to guide me out of this disaster. I  have currently isolated the moldy cigars, about 25% have varying degrees of mold on them, but nothing too bad IE in the foot or coming out of the cigars themselves.

 

my plan is to

 

1- salvage the cigars somehow

 

2- rebuild the walk in to prevent future catastrophies

 

thanks for any advice regarding both subjects!!!

 

[PrairieSmoke]

Happy to help. Good luck!

[BossHogg]

Great looking walk in and nice selection! I use inkbird to regulate the humidity and the temperature. It helps keep the fluctuations to a much smaller range.

I have my ac plugged into the temperature inkbird and the humidifier plugged into the humidity inkbird. It keeps the temperature range from 63-66 and the humidity between 63-66. Sometimes the top level will read 68 but when the ac kicks on it drops it to the right humidity.

I also use govee hydrometers on each shelf.

Anyways, I will attach a picture of them.

Hope that helps 👍