My humidor got a little roughed up during my move back home, and because of that, it no longer has a perfect seal. Its usually in the basement, so the RH was spot on during the summer. Lately, its been a different story. So, I decided to make myself an "active" humidification system.
Design time: 2 minutes pre-planning, the rest was made up as I went along
Fabrication time: 10 minutes
Supplies needed:
Remington 870 12-ga
00 Buck
Florists foam
PC fan
Some sort of perforated sheet metal I found in the basement
12V adaptor
1' of wire
During my 2 minutes of design time, I decided to mount the foam in front of the fan. But theres no way a PC fan could blow through 1/2" of florists foam. I needed to make holes in it, but how? Poke holes in it? Too easy! I decided to go to bed (this was last night) and work on it after I went to the range in the morning.
It was at that moment that I had my answer. Shoot the foam! 40 yards, 00 buck, IC choke. Perfect!
Cut it into a 1/2" thick 3.5" x 3.5" chunk, wrapped it in perf sheet metal, cut myself as I always do while working with sheet metal, used solid copper wire to attach it to the fan, and bent the hot prong on the PC fan so the AC adapter would stay in place.
Results:
Humidity from 58% to 66% in 5 minutes.
Is this bad for the cigars to rise so quickly? Some say yes, but they haven't cracked. I figure its no worse than taking them from the box they were shipped in and throwing them in the humidor.
Right now, I have to plug it in whenever I need a quick shot of humidity. It seems every other day or so. Coincidentally, that is about as often as our sump pump turns on. In order to make it a hands-free system, I am working on developing a relay that will use household current from the sump pump to turn on the 12V fan....but thats still in development.
I have also filed for a patent on the manufacturing process used to prepare the foam for use.
I'll post some pictures when I get a replacement USB cord. Damn dog thought it was a chew toy.
Design time: 2 minutes pre-planning, the rest was made up as I went along
Fabrication time: 10 minutes
Supplies needed:
Remington 870 12-ga
00 Buck
Florists foam
PC fan
Some sort of perforated sheet metal I found in the basement
12V adaptor
1' of wire
During my 2 minutes of design time, I decided to mount the foam in front of the fan. But theres no way a PC fan could blow through 1/2" of florists foam. I needed to make holes in it, but how? Poke holes in it? Too easy! I decided to go to bed (this was last night) and work on it after I went to the range in the morning.
It was at that moment that I had my answer. Shoot the foam! 40 yards, 00 buck, IC choke. Perfect!
Cut it into a 1/2" thick 3.5" x 3.5" chunk, wrapped it in perf sheet metal, cut myself as I always do while working with sheet metal, used solid copper wire to attach it to the fan, and bent the hot prong on the PC fan so the AC adapter would stay in place.
Results:
Humidity from 58% to 66% in 5 minutes.
Is this bad for the cigars to rise so quickly? Some say yes, but they haven't cracked. I figure its no worse than taking them from the box they were shipped in and throwing them in the humidor.
Right now, I have to plug it in whenever I need a quick shot of humidity. It seems every other day or so. Coincidentally, that is about as often as our sump pump turns on. In order to make it a hands-free system, I am working on developing a relay that will use household current from the sump pump to turn on the 12V fan....but thats still in development.
I have also filed for a patent on the manufacturing process used to prepare the foam for use.
I'll post some pictures when I get a replacement USB cord. Damn dog thought it was a chew toy.
Sounds like fun though!