cabinet style humidor cooling

[ArlinLiss]

Originally Posted by poker

With summer approching & a few folks asking about keeping their humidors at or below 70F in temperature, heres a list of possible solutions. Feel free to add your solutions or suggestions as well.

Other then keeping the room the humidor is in cooled, the only other option is to keep the humidor itself cool. Those lucky enough to have a basement need not worry about this heat issue as much as those of us without one.

After doing some reaserch on this, theres 2+ possible solutions (neither of which is very inexpensive).

An internal air conditioner style cooling system

or

A thermoelectric cooling system.

Cooling
http://www.vinotemp.com/
http://www.eurocave.com/site/pages/p...s/produits.php


Thermoelectric cooling
http://www.kryothermusa.com/Kryother...%20Devices.htm


I know Coleman once offered a thermoelectric cooling device in one of their cooolers & some have suggested buying the cooler just to rip out the cooling device and modify it to fit their humidors. So far I havent heard of anyone doing this personally though.


Another solution would be to buy a wine refrigerator simular to the picture below and changing out the thermostat to achieve a slightly higher temperature (65F-70F):





Any other solutions you have found would be a great addition to this thread.

Here's my way of dealing with the issue:

[JimF]

Arlin,
where's the hot side of the TE coolers exit?? Appears that they are "boxed-in"?

What's the BTU/hr or watts of each TE unit?? Who makes them??

[ArlinLiss]

Originally Posted by JimF

Arlin,
where's the hot side of the TE coolers exit?? Appears that they are "boxed-in"?

What's the BTU/hr or watts of each TE unit?? Who makes them??

Indeed the AC is 'boxed in' To make this design work requires:

[1] handmade ductwork to bring in cool air from the extrerior
[2] replacing the original TE hot side fans to draw more intake air
[3] fans to enhance enhance expell/remove heated air
[4] insualtion keepong the two seperate
[5] fans to move the cooled air on the interior upwards into the cabinet

I am the only Custom Humidor maker [to my knowledge] in the world to offer this!


AC units can be found @
http://www.inbthermoelectric.com/pdf/260-24-AA.pdf

[ArlinLiss]

Originally Posted by JimF

Arlin,
where's the hot side of the TE coolers exit?? Appears that they are "boxed-in"?

What's the BTU/hr or watts of each TE unit?? Who makes them??

For anyone interested here is what I find necessary to do to plaace AC into the base of a cabinet rather than on the rear wall

http://www.arlinliss.com/_Mahogany/H...or_Details.htm

[JimF]

Tnx for pics . . .

What about condensate?? Where does it go?

Are the TE units 400 BTU/hr units?

Looks like a few 'engineering' problems still remain. . .

[ArlinLiss]

Originally Posted by JimF

Tnx for pics . . .

What about condensate?? Where does it go?

Are the TE units 400 BTU/hr units?

Looks like a few 'engineering' problems still remain. . .

Respectfully all 'engineering issues' have been addressed. The condensate is collected by drains and returned back into the humidifier.

The Ac units are http://www.inbthermoelectric.com/pdf/260-24-AA.pdf

I've been building cabinets using this 'format' for the past 4 years . My clients are all pleased, and thats all that matters to me.

[JimF]

OK, looks like very capable TE devices.

The fan noise (in one of your links) was measured in the open: when fans are boxed, the noise is even greater. How do you kill the noise? Do you slow them down?? Or is the noise killed by the thickness of your cabinets: they look extremely thick!

When you say "fresh air intake", I'm not sure what that means. In a TEC device, the HOT side fan either draws or exhausts air. Either way, the air is HOT and it needs to get out. So one side of the plenum is drawing cool air with the other side of the plenum exhausting hot air. Is that what you mean??

With multiple drawers and the TE coolers on the bottom, how do keep them all 'cold' with a 84" high cabinet? Not an easy task I would imagine.

[ArlinLiss]

Originally Posted by JimF

OK, looks like very capable TE devices.

The fan noise (in one of your links) was measured in the open: when fans are boxed, the noise is even greater. How do you kill the noise? Do you slow them down?? Or is the noise killed by the thickness of your cabinets: they look extremely thick!

When you say "fresh air intake", I'm not sure what that means. In a TEC device, the HOT side fan either draws or exhausts air. Either way, the air is HOT and it needs to get out. So one side of the plenum is drawing cool air with the other side of the plenum exhausting hot air. Is that what you mean??

With multiple drawers and the TE coolers on the bottom, how do keep them all 'cold' with a 84" high cabinet? Not an easy task I would imagine.

The testing of the balance of the RH and temp is shown @ http://www.arlinliss.com/_Mahogany/H...or_Details.htm

[Sting Ray]

Hey, yes I'm a newbie. I've searched and read most of the humidor cooling threads and post which answered several of my initial questions.

I came across a eurocave that my boss was throwing out after the cooling system broke and spoiled his sticks, so I hauled it home and cleaned it, so now I need some advice. First, should I forget the cooling system and buy the oasis xl and beads or invest the money in replacing the cooling system? I live in South Florida and our house temp is between 74 and 78 degrees. Oh, one of the trays has mold and were wondering how to get rid of it? I'd like to restore it, since I can't afford a cabinet and have collected several vintage cigars that deserve a good home. I know its a lot of questions and please don't be discourage by my newbieism.

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

Thanks

Ray

[DonnieW]

Originally Posted by Sting Ray

Hey, yes I'm a newbie. I've searched and read most of the humidor cooling threads and post which answered several of my initial questions.

I came across a eurocave that my boss was throwing out after the cooling system broke and spoiled his sticks, so I hauled it home and cleaned it, so now I need some advice. First, should I forget the cooling system and buy the oasis xl and beads or invest the money in replacing the cooling system? I live in South Florida and our house temp is between 74 and 78 degrees. Oh, one of the trays has mold and were wondering how to get rid of it? I'd like to restore it, since I can't afford a cabinet and have collected several vintage cigars that deserve a good home. I know its a lot of questions and please don't be discourage by my newbieism.

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

Thanks

Ray

Hi Ray. First off, sounds like you don't really have a temp issue. What is currently humidifying the humidor?

As for mold, if its cheap wood and easily replaced, just toss it. If its not easily replaced, you can clean the wood with a mil bleach/water mixand air it out in the sun for awhile.

[pbrennan10]

Lest you forget the Einstein-Szilard refrigerator?

[Sting Ray]

Originally Posted by DonnieW

Hi Ray. First off, sounds like you don't really have a temp issue. What is currently humidifying the humidor?

As for mold, if its cheap wood and easily replaced, just toss it. If its not easily replaced, you can clean the wood with a mil bleach/water mixand air it out in the sun for awhile.

I don't have a humidifier yet. I'm shopping for one and came across this string and started to rethink my idea/process. I may purchase an Oasis and some beads. Do you or anyone else have suggestions? The wood tray seems good. Where can I buy a replacement spanish cedar tray or wood to make one?

Thanks for your prompt response.

[JimF]

Originally Posted by ArlinLiss

The testing of the balance of the RH and temp is shown @ http://www.arlinliss.com/_Mahogany/H...or_Details.htm

Tnx for the detailed pictorial progress . . . very impressive.

During the 'test' phase, with the temp/rh sensors mounted at the top, middle and bottom, it appears that the 'test' was w/o drawers. I can say that adding drawers really complicates the problem . . by a few orders of magnitude.

I wonder if you were able to test during high humidity weather conditions. In my tests, I found that it's 'tough' to lower the rh since the TE coolers are making 'rh' (water vapor) faster than it can be removed and/or disspated. How does it get removed for your systems?

It was the PITA for me; this summer, the weather was bad: tenp of 90F and rh of 85 - 90%. So even though the humidor is "sealed" (as best as possible), the ambient conditions greatly effect the large amount of rh that was generated. It was the greatest problem I found when adding "a/c" to a humidor. It had to be the same for you . . .

In fact, I've 'harnessed' that capability to make my "own" rh so a conventional humidifier is not needed. And it does works nicely except in "Santa Ana" (10% rh) conditions, then some external humidification is required.

[JimF]

I finished a report detailing my 'adventures' in adding a TE cooler to my humidor and all of the details are here in the PDF.

If you have considered doing this, I think you'll find it worthwhile reading.

http://www.k6jrf.com/Design of Air Cooled Humidor.pdf

[ArlinLiss]

"It was the PITA for me; this summer, the weather was bad: tenp of 90F and rh of 85 - 90%. So even though the humidor is "sealed" (as best as possible), the ambient conditions greatly effect the large amount of rh that was generated. It was the greatest problem I found when adding "a/c" to a humidor. It had to be the same for you . . . "


My way of dealing with condensate is unique due to the orientation of the AC units: