My Beads Have Turned Yellow

shilala · 11-21-2008, 02:18 PM

Free hydrocarbons get stuck on the walls of the bead's tunnels.
Eventually the beads will be plugged to an extent where it'll affect performance.
I don't at all mean to be contrary, but I can't imagine Mark said it doesn't hurt the bead's performance because it does. I think it's a misunderstanding.
It's gradual and minimal at the beginning though. As years pass it obviously decreases the bead's performance even moreso.
I imagine he said "the beads will still work". That's completely true. Just like when the beads turn to crumbles, they still retain their properties, they just don't transfer moisture as well because of their shape and loss of surface area and airspace between beads.
The silica beads have big pores ranging from 10-400 angstroms wide, and they're not uniform. Depending on the size of the hydrocarbons floating around in the humi they may or may not be able to get in there and stick.
HCM beads have pores that are 4 angstroms wide and uniform. That keeps stuff from getting in and sticking. The hydrocarbons just don't fit.
That's why they don't change color.
If the HCM beads ever get grossed up for some reason they can be steam cleaned or boiled back to newness.

Mattster, pm me with your humi dimensions and I'll send ya some HCM beads to replace the HCS beads so you can compare them. I'll trade ya for some coffee!!! w00t!!!

Mark C · 12-03-2008, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shilala

If the HCM beads ever get grossed up for some reason they can be steam cleaned or boiled back to newness.

Can you do that with silica beads or just HCM? If not, what's special about HCM that allows them to be cleaned up?

I deal with carbon filters at work and we're usually looking at SO2 as the primary environmental contaminant. Let's assume for a minute that my humidor is sitting in a similar atmosphere, would either the silica or HCM adsorb the SO2? May not be applicable to a home humidor, but I'm curious

11-21-2008, 02:18 PM	#1
shilala Dear Lord, Thank You. Join Date: Oct 2008 First Name: Scott Posts: 13,721 Trading: (252)	Re: My Beads Have Turned Yellow Free hydrocarbons get stuck on the walls of the bead's tunnels. Eventually the beads will be plugged to an extent where it'll affect performance. I don't at all mean to be contrary, but I can't imagine Mark said it doesn't hurt the bead's performance because it does. I think it's a misunderstanding. It's gradual and minimal at the beginning though. As years pass it obviously decreases the bead's performance even moreso. I imagine he said "the beads will still work". That's completely true. Just like when the beads turn to crumbles, they still retain their properties, they just don't transfer moisture as well because of their shape and loss of surface area and airspace between beads. The silica beads have big pores ranging from 10-400 angstroms wide, and they're not uniform. Depending on the size of the hydrocarbons floating around in the humi they may or may not be able to get in there and stick. HCM beads have pores that are 4 angstroms wide and uniform. That keeps stuff from getting in and sticking. The hydrocarbons just don't fit. That's why they don't change color. If the HCM beads ever get grossed up for some reason they can be steam cleaned or boiled back to newness. Mattster, pm me with your humi dimensions and I'll send ya some HCM beads to replace the HCS beads so you can compare them. I'll trade ya for some coffee!!! w00t!!! __________________