Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

New to the whole Edgestar/Vino thing.

I'm still struggling with the Coolidor to edgestar transition. Basically the edgestar holds temperature good. Not humidity though. It's a 28 bottle and I have 2 pounds of beads in it. More than enough. It's at 56 RH/66 temperature right now.

So I tossed in 2 shotglasses of distilled water, a 8oz rocks glass and 4 69 RH boveda packs placed all around the edgestar. Also I put an Oust fan in there for good measure.

I did just recharge the beads as well. So there's really no reason it shouldn't be 65 RH.

It is still at 56-59 RH. I'm not sure why. Suggestions?

I'm waiting on shelves for it, so right now it's just boxes and the Edgestar. No shelves or drawers.

I see that drip spout in the back does occasionally drip a drop or two of water, do I plug it up? Where will the water go if I plug it?

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I have no experience with these, but I can offer up the first thing that came to my mind.

-Is the door getting a good seal?

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I thought about that too, here's the thing it's holding temperature.

It's in a 74 degree room, the edgestar is at 65 degrees.

I think the temperature will go down too as the days go on because all the cigars are at ~70 degrees. The edgestar is set to about 62-63 degrees. So it is fighting the higher temperature of the cigars. It's full of cigar too, so it's got a lot to fight.

Before anyone mentions the hygro...it's good. I had it in the coolidor reading 65 RH and 70 degrees. Which is correct.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Bill check this link out. It has some great info.

http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showth...highlight=vino

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

So apparently you cannot just store boxes on the bottom? Is this long term or what? I swear I've seen edgestars and vinos without shelves and just boxes. I'll probably still do it till the shelves come in. 7-14 days shouldn't cause any problems.

Still not sure that thread addresses a full issue on humidity....hmmm there's yet another link that says plugging it can solve humidity issues.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

do you have it plugged?

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I was hesitant to do this as there was water in the back tray. I just plugged it now.

I also put in one of the metal shelves to keep the boxes off the floor of the edgestar.

We'll see what happens.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I think that will help, I assume its thermoelectric. Plugging the hole will help allot with keeping RH. I have read of people storing boxes on the bottom and the condensation builds up and soaks the boxes. If you put a tray of beads or a bag of beads over the hole it will help to catch some of the moisture.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Yeah I put one metal shelf in it for the time being to elevate all of my boxes. So the bottoms got room and there is a 1 lb bag of beads on the bottom.

There is also a 1 lb bag on the top of all my boxes.

The drains plugged with a piece of scotch tape over the hole.

It should be interesting to see if it holds RH now.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I have 2 Vinotemp 28s. Plugged the drain holes (no condensation problems ever), made some Spanish Cedar shelves, and I use a Cigar Oasis in both of them. Temp and RH are almost always around 68 degrees and 62-65% RH. I'm not a fan of beads.

It's a fun project, but it does take quite a bit of tweaking and playing around with stuff. But...I guess that's part of the fun. It's like a science fair project for an adult. :D

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Yeah I'm looking to keep mine at 62-64 RH and 64-65 degrees. Hopefully it all works itself out.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

At that temp your unit will run a lot. I tried 65* for a while and the fan hardly ever shut off. Are you trying to prevent beetle eggs from hatching? I wanted the temp low to combat beetles. But now I just freeze every cigar I buy and set the vino to kick on at 70*. Been about 3 yrs now and no beetle problems.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Never had beetle problems, I don't ever suspect I will. I'm fine with it running all the time.

Thing is it won't be plugged in for probably 6-8 months out of the year. Just the 4-6 months when it's warm.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Ahh, I see. Well, have fun with it man. It's definitely a trial and error project. :D

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I've already noticed :D I'm about to rip my hair out already. Coolidors are so much simpler, if only there was an easy way to control temperature in them.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Just send your cigars to me, I'll keep them in my vinotemp. My basement is usually around 62-67 degrees. :D

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I didn't have any problem with mine as i just did what the thread said. I just used tape to close up the plug and let it go. What % of it is filled up with boxes? Mine did get much easier to maintain the more shelves, boxes and cigars i had in it. The bottom gap i filled up with boxes that i broke and threw under there for some extra cedar to help with the humidity. I did use a sponge when seasoning it rather than a shoot glass as i find that works better.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Bill like i told you. Mine with the drain plug taped up would not rise above 58%. After I removed the tape it and added some water it has gone up to 65% and holding steady.

Like mentioned it trial and error.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

100% filled with boxes.


Yes I figured it out, Frank took a bit.


Seems plugging the drain was all I had to do, my question is will there be water now inside the unit?

Plugged in at 62-65 degrees.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Run a piece of clear tape down to a little container to collect the water.

That's how I had it so that it doesn't collect on the bottom of the unit.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Ugh I'll have to do that sometime tomorrow...

62/63 right now. I hope it stays that way.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Remember too bill that I live in Miami where the humidity is always like 99%

Hell I could prob leave my sticks out on my coffee table for weeks without them drying out lol.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

It's 63RH/62 in the Edgestar. 40RH/70temp in my room where it's at.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Just give it a few days. Should all balance out...

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

What I did to counter the water running down the back of my Edgestars was to add a strip of humidity bead paper from heartfelt down the back of the unit..

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Interesting.....Never looked at the bead paper.

I suppose those last forever, but how do they hold up there?

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

So I looked this morning and my edgestar was at 58 :bh

It held 62 for at least 10 hours yesterday.

What gives, it's plugged.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

dont know mine is UNPLUGGED and holding solid at 65% and 63 degrees.

i just put it on a timer (15 minutes on 45 off) just so the units not running 24/7

ill check back in the am to see what the high / lows are.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Plugged drains are the way to go. Any wooden humidor is a sealed box, and you would not drill a hole in your wooden humidor to allow airflow. Same for coolerdors. They are all sealed. If your ambient RH around the Wine Fridge is OK then you can get away with not plugging you drain, but that will vary seasonally. So, plug the drain.

I did not see if you are running the cooler. If you are that will affect the RH. The cooler units usually remove moisture from the air, which is why most people have a catch tray or the like in the bottom of their wine fridge to save that "excess" moisture and recycle into the air. If the RH is where you want then you can empty the moisture tray.

If your RH is low, saturate some more of your beads and go from there. Remember, you want to change the RH slowly so as not to affect your cigars -- we have all seen the results of rapid RH changes, like when you take a cigar from a warm room to very cold outdoors - split wrappers. Because of this I am not an advocate of adding any kind of raw moisture source (sponge, water dish, etc.) in your humidor -- but that's just my :2. (The catch tray from the cooler unit is OK).

The bottom line is be patient: our cigars are much more tolerant than we think, and it takes a while for any change in our humidor to "soak" into the cigars...

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

lots of good info but the biggest thing is to find out what works for you.

my last wine fridge wasn't thermo so it never ran. it was however a sealed vino and didn't have a drain plug. my new edgestar (same as bills) does have a plug and like bill i was having the low humidity issue.

i added a water dish because that is how i recharge my beads. i spray them now and then but i rather let them absorb what they need over about a weeks time and not worry about over saturation or spikes.

being that the fridge is running even thermo it will still pull some moisture out of the air. biggest thing like it has been mentioned was to give it time.

once you get the drawers in remember that the cedar there will also hold moisture and help out along with all the boxes you put in there.


if i were you bill leave the drain plugged / tapped up for a bit. take out your smokes and see where its at. then why not start adding them say box at a time after its been holding humidity where you want it. that way it slowly brings all the sticks to the humidity/temp of the fridge.

hope this helps bro :banger

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Held up fine over the last year. Newest mod I did after moving. I would say it will last a few years at least. It cuts maintenance down to nothing as it allows the water to go back into the air.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I've had my EdgeStar for a couple of years now. The more the fan runs, the more the RH fluctuates. It's been getting warm here, so I saw the RH drop as low as 60% in the past week or so. I left my drain open. I don't want the chance of water accumulating on the bottom of the unit and soaking some coffins sitting down there. Like some others have stated...it's time more than anything for the drawers, boxes, cigars...etc to acclimate to the environment, and stabilize the RH . In the winter months...the RH with sit at 64-65% and never needs any water to be added. I've got about a pound and a half of beads or more in the cooler. They're spread out from top to bottom, but there's a Tupperware cover holding close to a pound on the floor of the unit. That's where I add water, and leave the rest of the beads to stabilize.
The reason for having a wine-o-dor is to keep the temp down and limit the chance of beetles. ALL of my CC's are in there...and at the moment the interior is 66/62% in the "one spot" that the hygrometer is sitting at the "very moment" I looked at it. RH changes top to bottom, and swings happen over a period of time, whether minutes, hours or days. I had a ***** of a time getting my desktop to stabilize when I first set it up as well. Since it's a closed lid and I can't see the RH by just walking by it...I trust everything is ok. If it's low when I do check...I add some water and trust it'll take care of itself, because every cigar I pull out of there smokes perfect. That's what really matters most...the cigars smoke well because they've been kept in an environment that was favorable to them doing so. Cooling just adds a measure of comfort that something isn't going to manifest itself and eat the cigars you intended to smoke. It'll all work out...I promise. If it didn't...people would have stopped using wine coolers as humi's along time ago.
Funny thing to add. I typically only go into my humi's maybe twice a month now. I take out a couple/few sticks that I want to smoke and keep them in my travelers until I smoke them. I use 65% Boveda's in the travelers because that's what works best for me. But...I won't keep any CC's in the travelers knowing that they might sit in the sun for hours and get well above 75 degrees. An ounce of prevention...ya know?

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

That is very strange, do you still have the shootglasses in there? When i started mine up I started with shootglasses and switched to sponges. They seemed to bring up the RH faster. I went with 3- bottom, middle, and top.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Hey, Bill, are the temp and RH close to where you want it now?
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Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

The more important question is "How are your cigars smoking?" If they are fine then leave things the hell alone! Quality of smoke is much more important than any number. :sh

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

It's weird.

Coolidors = always rock solid for me, 65 every minute of the week.

The Edgestar fluctuates from 61-64.

I gave up giving a $hit. Once the drain is plugged it's now ALWAYS higher than 60RH. So screw it.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I know this has probably already been answered Bill, but is it thermoelectric?

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

:r :tu

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Once the drawers come In and I season them then I'll seal my drain plug. Mines been holding between 60-62% and 63 degrees.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Yes, someone bumped this topic not me.....the cigars smoke great and I stopped caring....in fact I might "recalibrate" this hygro. :D


I think only T.G will get that joke.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Yeah, drawers will help with your humidity. I just got shelves as I'm rocking all boxes.

I don't expect them to make much of a difference, frankly I hope they don't as I'd be very happy with 61-64 RH.

I just didn't get the fluctuation.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Well after the move I'm going to order a Johnson control so I can keep the temp at 66.

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

The temperature in mine is 63 right now :banger

Temperature control kicks @$$

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

I may run my non thermo vino but with the sticks in air tight Tupperware (for aging)

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

Good luck with that. Having your Johnson in control is VERY important!

Re: Edgestar 28 bottle & Humidity
 

:r I try and control my johnson hahaha