cabinet style humidor cooling

P

poker

Its ok, just blame me.
With summer approching & a few folks asking about keeping their humidors at or below 70F in temperature, heres a list of possible solutions. Feel free to add your solutions or suggestions as well.

Other then keeping the room the humidor is in cooled, the only other option is to keep the humidor itself cool. Those lucky enough to have a basement need not worry about this heat issue as much as those of us without one.

After doing some reaserch on this, theres 2+ possible solutions (neither of which is very inexpensive).

An internal air conditioner style cooling system

or

A thermoelectric cooling system.

Cooling
http://www.vinotemp.com/
http://www.eurocave.com/site/pages/produits/produits.php


Thermoelectric cooling
http://www.kryothermusa.com/Kryotherm Consumer Cooling Devices.htm


I know Coleman once offered a thermoelectric cooling device in one of their cooolers & some have suggested buying the cooler just to rip out the cooling device and modify it to fit their humidors. So far I havent heard of anyone doing this personally though.


Another solution would be to buy a wine refrigerator simular to the picture below and changing out the thermostat to achieve a slightly higher temperature (65F-70F):

B00004SACU.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg




Any other solutions you have found would be a great addition to this thread.
 
Great solutions. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. :) At some point, I have to convince the wife to let me convert a fridge. :D
 
Great post Poker!
Got a question, Wine Ref. do you need to replace the thermostat unit or you mean, adjusting it? sorry, not familliar with this.
Cayman summer can go up to 98F or higher, looks like a good idea instead of leaving the ac on all the time.



Muchas Gracias!
 
Nice post poker, thanks.
I am definitely going to have to look into changing out the thermostat on my Magic Chef wine chiller. It has extremely crappy temp control right now. Does anyone know what type of thermostats these things have? is it some kind of cheap thermocouple (my guess) that is readily swapped out, or can I get a totally separate thermometer/control unit for this puppy?

I know Goatlocker has the same chiller - maybe he's gotten around to making some more alterations.
 
Thanks Poker. Great information. I've been eyeing the wine refrigerator for some time now. But my question is, do you have to worry about condensation and if you do, how do you deal with it. My knowledge on this subject is severely limited.
 
catfishm2 said:
Thanks Poker. Great information. I've been eyeing the wine refrigerator for some time now. But my question is, do you have to worry about condensation and if you do, how do you deal with it. My knowledge on this subject is severely limited.
Click to expand...
I've been using a wine regrigerator with just under a pound of beads from Viper in a bowl in the bottom of the unit. I've had no problems with condensation but I do open it regularly :D
 
catfishm2 said:
Thanks Poker. Great information. I've been eyeing the wine refrigerator for some time now. But my question is, do you have to worry about condensation and if you do, how do you deal with it. My knowledge on this subject is severely limited.
Click to expand...

The only problem I have with condensation is when the condenser is actually running. Putting a small PC fan (you can get AC or DC fans - search for edison-a-dor for more info) aimed up along the condenser tubes in the back pretty well eliminates the problem. It is a pretty simple thing to wire the fan to the condenser, so the fan comes on when the condenser does, and voila!. It would be nice to be able to set the fan to stay on for ten minutes or so after the condenser shuts down. i think I may be doing a little research on this over the weekend, if I get time (like I need another project).
 
catfishm2 said:
But my question is, do you have to worry about condensation and if you do, how do you deal with it. My knowledge on this subject is severely limited.
Click to expand...


one of the guys that hangs with us on Saturday nights on the patio has his wine chiller modified with a new thermostat. I believe he has a tupperware container that holds a pound or so of the humidification beads directly under the refrigeration unit and any moisture condensated on the coils drops off into the bead container, thus recyling the humidity lost back into the enclosed environment.

Gee, I hope that made sense :r !
 
Also lots of options as far as wine cooling units at Sams Club:


I like this unit for 462.00


http://www.samsclub.com/eclub/main_...a&coe=0&oidPath=0:-23542:-23586:-29762:732532


60 bottle capacity
Free-standing
Full view flush glass door design framed in black with silver trim
Heavy duty brushed metal handle
Automatic setting for red or white wines
Adjustable electronic thermostat can be set between 39 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit
Dual function LED readout to set temperature and to monitor internal temperature
Four deluxe chrome glide-out racks and seven chrome slide-out racks
Interior light
Dimensions: 50.4"H x 19.9"W x 21.7"D
 
Whew.... Jokieman, you got the right find there Bro.

Definitely going to be looking into a few of those. That, a thermostat and my already good RH control and I think I will have it set!

Thanks for the link :w
 
Thanks for explaining that guys. I'm reallly getting tired of running the A/C wide open all summer. This may be just what I'm looking for, since buying a custom built unit is out of the question right now.
 
Well I have been lurking here for a while and after reading a lot of good threads on wine cooler conversion I bought a cheapy $99 Magic Chef at the Ooops better not.

Like a lot of guys on here have noted I found the temperature range was just not right. When the compressor came on it would chill the cigars too low and allow them to climb bak into the upper 70's before kickng in again. Also the humidity is all ove the place. When the compressor comes on the back metal surface becomes cool and moisture condenses on it. Taking moisture out of the air in the fridge-a-dor.

In order to control the temperature I used a Johnson Controls A419 temperature controller. For 50 bucks unwire or something like 60 wired it acts just like an extension cord that you plug your fridge into. When the temperature probe reads the correct temperature it will switch off the fridge. You can control the temperature of your wine cooler to within one degree of 70F. And it makes it a lot easier to get to the desired relative humidty.
 
Franksmith said:
Whew.... Jokieman, you got the right find there Bro.

Definitely going to be looking into a few of those. That, a thermostat and my already good RH control and I think I will have it set!

Thanks for the link :w
Click to expand...


Yep it's the exact same technology they use in the thermoelectric coolers you can buy from igloo and coleman. For small spaces these are more cost efficient than a regular freon based cooler. And with some simple modifications, you can strap this into just about any humidor.

The link I gave is for one that is already pre-built, but if you want bigger/smaller, check around as there are companies that sell the plates to just about any size you want.

These are also used for cooling down overclocked computer CPU's as well with much success.
 
My only challenge is trying to figure out how many to use for my humi which is about 40 square ft. I'm thinking three of them... any thoughts or suggestions out there?
 
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