beads for absorbing moisture

G

germantown rob

Chestbeating Pack Leader
Did a search but couldn't find anything.

I run an A/C all summer so my humidity is fine and in the winter the heat is on so again no problems. It is the spring and fall I can have some problems with the humidity getting up to 70-73. I don't like these spikes and am looking for advice on beads that absorb moisture. I have a cabinet with an oasis and a lot of viper beads, viper beads are great at releasing moisture but they don't absorb it. I am also going after the seals on the humi today to get a better seal.

Any ideas are most apriciated.
 
germantown rob said:
viper beads are great at releasing moisture but they don't absorb it.
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Really?

I was under the impression that, as long as most of them are dry (white), they'll do a fine job of removing enough moisture to bring the environment to either 60, 65, or 70.. depending on the type of beads you have.

I don't really have a horrible time with ambient humidity. During this fall season, my house hasn't gone higher than 60%.
 
I was also under the same impression, Ive got lots of beads in my cabinet as well and dont have this problem as long as Im not keeping the beads soaked. While its a good idea to have a good seal, thats keeping the humidity in. Id say open the cabinet more often (good excuse to fondle your sticks) :D and keep some of the beads a little dry. just my :2 thats whats been working for me.
 
germantown rob said:
viper beads are great at releasing moisture but they don't absorb it.
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You are mis-informed. Beads from Heartfelt release or absorb moisture to maintain the specified RH.
During times of higher ambient RH, you must be sure that the beads are dry enough (white) to be able to absore the excess humidity.
 
pnoon said:
You are mis-informed. Beads from Heartfelt release or absorb moisture to maintain the specified RH.
During times of higher ambient RH, you must be sure that the beads are dry enough (white) to be able to absore the excess humidity.
Click to expand...

"yeah, what pnoon sed!"

they will absorb the moisture to keep the Rh at 70%, but IMHO dont worry about a couple of percents above 70 i.e. 72-74 just dont let it stay above 75% for long periods of time...
 
Try scaling back the Oasis a bit. The RH Beads work well at absorbing moisture but they can become over saturated.

Your 70% RH beads will continue to absorb the 1-2% RH and the Oasis will continue to release it, so the RH Beads will continue to absorb the extra 1-2% until they are saturated then can absorb not more.

Simply spread your RH Beads on a cookie sheet and dry them with a hair dryer set on low until the RH Beads are milky white and then put them back in to absorb more moisture.

Hope this helps.
~Mark
 
pnoon said:
You are mis-informed. Beads from Heartfelt release or absorb moisture to maintain the specified RH.
During times of higher ambient RH, you must be sure that the beads are dry enough (white) to be able to absore the excess humidity.
Click to expand...
True. They do absorb. But they are better at maintaining a certain stability than they are in dealing with more rapid changes or bringing humidity down quickly. As Viper has noted before, bringing humidity down takes time. I had similar problems with my coolers this summer. My beads were completely white and I kept adding and adding beads well beyond what was required for that space to control the environment. I was able to do so, but found my humidity creeping toward 68 often even with COMPLETELY white 65% beads.

I love my beads. Don't think there is anything better out there and nothing else that I use. But they do giveth better than they taketh away.
 
hoyohio said:
True. They do absorb. But they are better at maintaining a certain stability than they are in dealing with more rapid changes or bringing humidity down quickly. As Viper has noted before, bringing humidity down takes time. I had similar problems with my coolers this summer. My beads were completely white and I kept adding and adding beads well beyond what was required for that space to control the environment. I was able to do so, but found my humidity creeping toward 68 often even with COMPLETELY white 65% beads.

I love my beads. Don't think there is anything better out there and nothing else that I use. But they do giveth better than they taketh away.
Click to expand...
:cool:
Thanks for enlightening me. I did not know that.
 
I did an experiment with an empty 100 count humi, I brought the humidity up to 80% with an oasis and then put in completly whit beads (alot of them) They did not absorb much at all. I then ran the oasis at 80% with the beads at the same time thinking with out a doubt they would change from whit to clear, they did not after a week.

So same problem, looking for crystals that are ment for absorbing moisture, Bueller, Bueller, Bueller, any one?
 
n2advnture said:
Try scaling back the Oasis a bit. The RH Beads work well at absorbing moisture but they can become over saturated.

Your 70% RH beads will continue to absorb the 1-2% RH and the Oasis will continue to release it, so the RH Beads will continue to absorb the extra 1-2% until they are saturated then can absorb not more.

Simply spread your RH Beads on a cookie sheet and dry them with a hair dryer set on low until the RH Beads are milky white and then put them back in to absorb more moisture.

Hope this helps.
~Mark
Click to expand...

The oasis runs at 62.5% and I have over a pound of 65% beads in there. In philly we can get days at 80% humidity and my cab spikes up then.
 
n2advnture said:
Simply spread your RH Beads on a cookie sheet and dry them with a hair dryer set on low until the RH Beads are milky white and then put them back in to absorb more moisture.

Hope this helps.
~Mark
Click to expand...

OK, I have also been wondering about something else. I have a dehydrator. Can I just stick the beads in there, bag and all, and leave them for a couple of hours? I can set it really low, so I am not worried about melting them, if that is possible. Could this be a viable alternative to blow drying?
 
Twill413 said:
Could this be a viable alternative to blow drying?
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This seems as good a place as any to get my question answered....

I currently live in a estrogen-free environment, so no access to hair dryers. I do, however, have a heat gun that very much resembles a blow dryer, but it burns a bit hotter.

Can a device like this be used to dry out the beads, or are they quite heat sensitive?
 
Twill413 said:
OK, I have also been wondering about something else. I have a dehydrator. Can I just stick the beads in there, bag and all, and leave them for a couple of hours? I can set it really low, so I am not worried about melting them, if that is possible. Could this be a viable alternative to blow drying?
Click to expand...


erab said:
This seems as good a place as any to get my question answered....

I currently live in a estrogen-free environment, so no access to hair dryers. I do, however, have a heat gun that very much resembles a blow dryer, but it burns a bit hotter.

Can a device like this be used to dry out the beads, or are they quite heat sensitive?
Click to expand...

Or put them in the oven on low, that is what the instructions for the de-humidifer beads that we use for my sons hearing-aids suggest. Basically anything warm enough to hasten the evaporation of moisture, but not so hot that the beads crack.
 
I have put the beads in an oven after preheating it to warm (like 175f) and then turning off the oven. I lay the beads on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil and put them in the oven.
 
Well being impatient is sometimes a problem for me so I went and got things for an experiment.

I will season my 100ct humi to 75% for a few days with an oasis, then I will add dry cat litter crystals to see how fast it can take care of high humidity. I will also retest "charging" dry 65% viper beads to see how long it will take to change from white to clear. Let you know how it goes. :D
 
hoyohio said:
As Viper has noted before, bringing humidity down takes time. I had similar problems with my coolers this summer. My beads were completely white and I kept adding and adding beads well beyond what was required for that space to control the environment. I was able to do so, but found my humidity creeping toward 68 often even with COMPLETELY white 65% beads.
Click to expand...

Hopefully when you were adding beads you weren't just piling them on top of existing beads, but spreading them out... You want more surface area available for the beads to absorb the extra humidity.
 
germantown rob said:
I am also going after the seals on the humi today to get a better seal.
Click to expand...

I think you are on the right track here. I have a small humi with a bad seal sitting next to my Plexidor. Both have beads. The Plexidor stays right at 65% all the time. When the humidity went up over the past few weeks with the windows open the small humi would not maintain humidity. The Plexidor with good seals stayed constant.
 
drawfour said:
Hopefully when you were adding beads you weren't just piling them on top of existing beads, but spreading them out... You want more surface area available for the beads to absorb the extra humidity.
Click to expand...
Actually I have them in a sealed 1/16" diameter silo taped in the corner of my cooler with no fan running. And they are well charged with PG.

What am I doing wrong? ;)
 
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