I have six of your hygrometers now, and one caveat: they need to be recalibrated from time to time. When new, they take some time to settle down. But at least I now have the means to do something when I calibrate them, which makes all the difference.
Humidification Beads: FAQs
- Thread starter Viper139
- Start date
I saw the comments, the addy makes sense to me now lets see if it throws the mailman.
Just arrived. Thanks!
BigBully215
Newbie in the jungle
Yes, hygrometer is digital and verified, so we're running a bit high. With 5 cc's in on each hole, I couldn't tell if the beads were wet at all -- the whole top was white. Should I just leave it all in there? I went ahead and reseasoned the whole humi anyway and it's up to a whopping 95 RH without any cigars in it, which I plan on adding back in tomorrow with the beads. Hopefully the thing stablizes! Should i just leave the beads alone now?
And no, I didn't see any velcro, but I have the "slots" for the humidifier in my top drawer, so I'm good (unless they're needed for something).
Don't add any more distilled water to the beads. You need to let them absorb the excess moisture in your humidor and let things settle down.
The velcro is just for mounting it to the lid or side.
"You can just pour distilled water on the beads and pour off the excess. A lot of folks do it this way but the beads can fracture when it is done this way. One thing to remember, fracturing will not affect the efficiency of the beads or ruin them in any way, they will still do their job."
Not trying to be a dick or in the least bit disrespectful, but being as super anal as I am, I had to mention that fracturing the beads truly does impact the bead's efficiency. Please correct me if I'm wrong here because I want to understand these things as carefully as possible before I dump a lot of money on them...
When the beads are broken they turn to mush, effectively decreasing the surface area of the gel, therefore lowering the gel's rate of absorbtion.
While this wouldn't mean much in a humi that's closed all the time, destroying the bead's shape will lower the recovery time of frequently opened humidor.
It's true that the gel's transfer properties won't diminish, it'll just take longer for them to do their job.
To protect the beads, assuming we're going to use these things for a lifetime and they're damn expensive, I'd think it far better to set a dish of water next to the beads (as you mentioned) until the humi has reached it's desired (raised) humidity level. It would probably be best to just put a small amount (relative to the size of the humidor and amount of beads) of water in the dish, wait for it to be gone, and see where the humidity level is. Then a person could add an adjusted amount of water to speed things up if a higher humidity level is desired.
Problem is that if I get too much water in the gel via this process (or by simply adding too much water), I'm going to raise the gel's "humidity set point".
Then I've got to go to drying some of the gel out.
It'd be nice to have dry gel available so I could simply add dry gel to lower the "humidity set point" of the beads.
I'm currently using a crosslinked polymer in my humidors. It simply holds water and lets it go. It's been easy to adjust the amount I use because it's winter and the house's humidity is naturally pretty low. When it gets hot and high this summer it'll still be easy to maintain humidity in the winecoolerdors, but it'll be tough to keep the humidors humidity down.
The gel you guys use would be awesome for that so long as I can control the leakage of humidity into my humidor. I have a cheapo, so it ain't gonna be easy.
Not trying to be a dick or in the least bit disrespectful, but being as super anal as I am, I had to mention that fracturing the beads truly does impact the bead's efficiency. Please correct me if I'm wrong here because I want to understand these things as carefully as possible before I dump a lot of money on them...
When the beads are broken they turn to mush, effectively decreasing the surface area of the gel, therefore lowering the gel's rate of absorbtion.
While this wouldn't mean much in a humi that's closed all the time, destroying the bead's shape will lower the recovery time of frequently opened humidor.
It's true that the gel's transfer properties won't diminish, it'll just take longer for them to do their job.
To protect the beads, assuming we're going to use these things for a lifetime and they're damn expensive, I'd think it far better to set a dish of water next to the beads (as you mentioned) until the humi has reached it's desired (raised) humidity level. It would probably be best to just put a small amount (relative to the size of the humidor and amount of beads) of water in the dish, wait for it to be gone, and see where the humidity level is. Then a person could add an adjusted amount of water to speed things up if a higher humidity level is desired.
Problem is that if I get too much water in the gel via this process (or by simply adding too much water), I'm going to raise the gel's "humidity set point".
Then I've got to go to drying some of the gel out.
It'd be nice to have dry gel available so I could simply add dry gel to lower the "humidity set point" of the beads.
I'm currently using a crosslinked polymer in my humidors. It simply holds water and lets it go. It's been easy to adjust the amount I use because it's winter and the house's humidity is naturally pretty low. When it gets hot and high this summer it'll still be easy to maintain humidity in the winecoolerdors, but it'll be tough to keep the humidors humidity down.
The gel you guys use would be awesome for that so long as I can control the leakage of humidity into my humidor. I have a cheapo, so it ain't gonna be easy.
Can I use the beads to calibrate a hygrometer? I threw my hygrometer into a 1 lb bag of 65% beads while I'm waiting for my humidor to season. It read 66%. How accurate would this reading (+1) be vs. a salt test?
I would assume that it would actually be more accurate vs creating your own salt solution.
Thoughts?
I would assume that it would actually be more accurate vs creating your own salt solution.
Thoughts?
Viper,
I have a water question... and you may not beable to answer it but I figured I would ask anyway.
So a little history, I live in the high arctic, 600 miles above the arctic circle and well I don't have access to many things you guys take for granted... like distilled water. Well I just started a thread about how to make some and did manage to get a little but man it was work! So I mentioned iceberg water in the thread as how many elders here will only use it to drink. And I have to say it is nice.
So my question... what do you think about iceberg water? Is it pure enough I wonder to spray on beads... well I would be using sheets I think but same thing right?
Like I said you may not know but I figured I would ask
I have a water question... and you may not beable to answer it but I figured I would ask anyway.
So a little history, I live in the high arctic, 600 miles above the arctic circle and well I don't have access to many things you guys take for granted... like distilled water. Well I just started a thread about how to make some and did manage to get a little but man it was work! So I mentioned iceberg water in the thread as how many elders here will only use it to drink. And I have to say it is nice.
So my question... what do you think about iceberg water? Is it pure enough I wonder to spray on beads... well I would be using sheets I think but same thing right?
Like I said you may not know but I figured I would ask
I use them often for calibration, it works well for me.
Gotta say this is the first time I have been asked if icebrg water is good to use. I have to assume that there are minerals and such in iceberg water just like there is in any water but I have no idea if there is or not.
I'll make you a deal...as long as you are up there and use iceberg water to re-hydrate the beads or sheets I will replace the beads or sheets if the iceberg water ruins them.
This is a one time offer so you guys that live in Florida don't start telling me that your iceberg water ruined your beads. :r
Old Sailor
BOSUN - S.O.B. MEMBER
I thank you for your offer sir. I will do some research on it first. Although I think it would be wicked to have an iceberg humidor... I don't want to ruin any of my sticks!! I was just curious. I will have distilled water in September, that is when I planed on running beads.
But you are a true BOTL and even though I have not dealt with your company yet, this is proof of your customer service... and that is why I deal with someone. You have a customer in me until I stop smoking cigars sir.
Thank you.
Thanks! I'm salt testing right now anyway, I can post results if you are interested.
Viper,
First let me appologize, this may have been discussed here already and while I normally read the whole thread before I ask questions... this is one LONG thread. So I have another question, can you recharge the beads with steam... in another thread KVM made the suggestion:
Would this hurt the beads? Can they take heat like that?
First let me appologize, this may have been discussed here already and while I normally read the whole thread before I ask questions... this is one LONG thread. So I have another question, can you recharge the beads with steam... in another thread KVM made the suggestion:
You don't really need distilled water. If you were going pour it on beads or a foam device you would, but you can set a glass of regular water in your humi without any problems. When you do get beads just bring a pan of water to a good boil for a few minutes and put the beads in a colander and hold them over it, the steam will recharge the beads. You might want to try that selling iceberg water thing a shot. You'll probably get rich.
Would this hurt the beads? Can they take heat like that?
New question...
Imagine if you will the following situation. I have a cooler set up, well it would in fact be a number of air-tight cases like Pelican.. but it's the same thing. In these cases I have the right number of beads to hold the wanted humidity.
In a sealed ziplock I have the same number of beads with a bowl of distilled water, these would be charging? These guys would basicly be the backups... I mean when the humidity dropped in my humi I would then remove all beads and put the "charged" ones in the humi and the dry ones in the charger
I know this is overkill but I plan on keeping all of this at school under lock and key and I would like for it to be quick and discreet for me to replace the beads when they dry out... would this work ok?
Imagine if you will the following situation. I have a cooler set up, well it would in fact be a number of air-tight cases like Pelican.. but it's the same thing. In these cases I have the right number of beads to hold the wanted humidity.
In a sealed ziplock I have the same number of beads with a bowl of distilled water, these would be charging? These guys would basicly be the backups... I mean when the humidity dropped in my humi I would then remove all beads and put the "charged" ones in the humi and the dry ones in the charger
I know this is overkill but I plan on keeping all of this at school under lock and key and I would like for it to be quick and discreet for me to replace the beads when they dry out... would this work ok?
I have not tried this but I can't see why it would not work. It won't hurt the beads themselves.
As soon as the beads become clear they have absorbed all they will, remeber to leave a few white. I would not leave the bowl in with them beyond that point since standing water has a tendancy of encouraging mold. As long as the beads are in a airtight container they will not give off their moisture so they would be ready for the switch at any time.