What is it with the beads?

M

mattmilliren

Guest
Hey All,

I am an up and coming connoisseur still stuck in college. So obviously my budget is tight. Anyways, over the summer I picked up a cheap humidor that appears to be doing the trick. The humidor came with a cheap 'credo' and an analog hygrometer. A few months later I realized that the analog hygrometer (which was showing me 68% RH) wasnt even working...at all. So I decided to go for a digital hygrometer and so far so good. Additionally, I decided to pitch the crappy credo and spring for something better. I was not aware of these beads at the time so I got a 'Paradigm' humidifier....and I will just say that these things are brilliant. The foam used in the humidifier is anti-mold, bacteria, etc. etc. etc. PLUS, it never needs to be charged with any of that gylcol solution...for life. So this brings me to the point of this thread. Everyone seems to be real high on these beads. Is there anyone here that has a Paradigm and is as happy with it as I am? I am sure it wasnt as cheap as the beads but it is a very nice humidifier.

Matt (looking for some sort of nickname still)
 
Well my walk in humidor has 2 inched of beads below the planks of the cedar floor...that works pretty well...

I wish


I have only used the foam and the beads...obviously...beads were better.
 
Careful. The Paradigm is "low" maintenance but not "no" maintenance. It does require distilled water be added approximately every 4 months depending on your climate and how often you open your humi.
 
Mikey Ravioli said:
Careful. The Paradigm is "low" maintenance but not "no" maintenance. It does require distilled water be added approximately every 4 months depending on your climate and how often you open your humi.
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Nice intro post :D . Hmmm never heard of this paradigm thing til now, but I am happy with my beads
 
mattmilliren said:
...never needs to be charged with any of that gylcol solution...for life. So...
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I had one, it may not have needed glycol for life, but the life span was considerably shorter than beads. When you are ready to retire the Paradigm, do yourself a favor and buy beads!
 
JPH said:
Well my walk in humidor has 2 inched of beads below the planks of the cedar floor...that works pretty well...

I wish


I have only used the foam and the beads...obviously...beads were better.
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dude you have a walk in humidor.....:confused: :D
 
JPH said:
Well my walk in humidor has 2 inched of beads below the planks of the cedar floor...that works pretty well...

I wish


I have only used the foam and the beads...obviously...beads were better.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify....:D ...... highlight original text
 
When I got my first humidor, "Credo" was thought to be the best thing going.

About a month ago (after reading about 65% RH), and getting a cabinet that wasn't stable, I deside to try RH beads.

The cabinet (beads and fan) and one humidor were beads replaced foam are holding steady at 62-4% right now, humidors with foam are in the low 70's %RH. For keeping the RH at 65% the beads work fine. As it's been cold and very dry here I don't think much about the power RH.

I can't say one way or the other as to which is better. Adding nothing but distilled water to the beads is a plus and the sheets open up a lot of possibilities for travel solutions.
 
Haven't heard of Paradigm, but I like beads because they are easy to use and extremely accurate. Plus we all like new toys! Paradigm seems a little expensive to me and somewhat risky in terms of whether it will put the RH exactly where you need it.
 
Boston_Dude05 said:
Haven't heard of Paradigm, but I like beads because they are easy to use and extremely accurate. Plus we all like new toys! Paradigm seems a little expensive to me and somewhat risky in terms of whether it will put the RH exactly where you need it.
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I have two paradigms. They do not keep RH very well. I changed to 65% beads last week and the both humidors are at 65% RH.
 
I have tried a number of methods to maintain humidity. In the winter when the humidity in the house is low, just about anything works. However in the summer when the humidity sky rockets, the beads are the only thing I have found so far that will keep a constant humidity level.
 
The key benefits to the RH Beads over the sponge humidifers is that the sponge humidifiers are merely empregnated with PG which doesn't have any real absorbing properties as it relates to relative humidity.

PG is a chemical that bonds itself to water molecules and happens to have a release point of 70% RH. The problem is as seasons change an RH levels go up the PG doesn't have the capacity to absorb real RH swings. PG will work for a couple of percentage points but has it's limits where as the RH Beads we engineered specifically to absorb and release water vapor to maintain a precise level of relative humidity.

The other benefit to the RH Beads over the standard sponge humidifiers empregnated with PG is that as you add distilled water, you are diluting the amount of PG in the sponge and eventually left with no regulatory properties what so ever. Certain sponge humidiers have a sealed case that doesn't allow for rehydration of PG rendering the device useless.

Also, the Paradigm humidifier can run anywhere from $20 (for a "15 count" model) up to $90 (for a "250 count" model) which is a lot more than the cost of the RH Beads. 1 lb will regulate up to 5 cubic feet which is about the size of a small wine chiller that will hold a couple of dozen boxes.

Hope this helps and welcome to CS!

~Mark
 
I sell the Paradigm units, and I use 1 in a large desktop. The Paradigms definetely are not as precise as the beads, but they do have some advantages over the beads. First, they do hold a lot of water. For somebody with a leaky desktop, that can be a positive. While the properties of the foam will keep your humidity at about 70%, there are some tricks that you can use to adjust the humidity level. If you need to lower the humidity level, partially cover the vents with electrical tape. It takes a little bit of experimenting, but it works well. If your desktop is a little too large for the Paradigm unit, you can remove the endcaps from the Paradigm. This will expose more foam, and boost your humidity level. The Paradigms DO NOT use PG. I sell the Paradigms at 40% off list price, so they are not too bad a deal.

I use Heartfelt beads, and Dave and I also partnered in the Heartfelt Humidity Sheets which are a bead based product. So I know how good of a product that the beads are.
 
ca21455 said:
I have tried a number of methods to maintain humidity. In the winter when the humidity in the house is low, just about anything works. However in the summer when the humidity sky rockets, the beads are the only thing I have found so far that will keep a constant humidity level.
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:tpd: Since I've got the beads(learned about them here!!) I have'nt looked back.
 
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