Help... beads not holding RH

[jayrocco30]

I have a 100 count humi (with Digital hygro that is calibrated), and a 2 ounce bottle of beads from heartfelt (the only humidification device), the beads are 70%, but only get up to 65%, the Temp stays at about 65 degrees, I live in Upstate NY.

Why dont they get up to 70%?? about 80% are charged (clear) with distilled water

The seal is good, I did the flashlight test and all you can see through the small gap on the outside is the illumation of the cedar, so the seal seems fine.

This is driving me nuts.

[chippewastud79]

Having your humidor stuck at 65/65 doesn't sound like much of a problem to me. That's what mine sits at and I love it.

[Little General]

It could be a number of things. How full is your humi? Was is fully seasoned? Did you add new sticks lately? Do you keep opening it? All of these affect your RH. Your beads will work but it may take some time.

I live in NJ the house is cold and very low RH. It took awhile to get my rh to balance out but it finally came around with just beads.

[jayrocco30]

I recently took out my sponge humi device (that held it around 71% with the beads) I took it out and then the RH dropped.

I recently put in new sticks about a week ago, i have roughly 40 in there now, I also have been opening it bc my mind is overtakes my will power

[Da Klugs]

Originally Posted by jayrocco30

I have a 100 count humi (with Digital hygro that is calibrated), and a 2 ounce bottle of beads from heartfelt (the only humidification device), the beads are 70%, but only get up to 65%, the Temp stays at about 65 degrees, I live in Upstate NY.

Why dont they get up to 70%?? about 80% are charged (clear) with distilled water

The seal is good, I did the flashlight test and all you can see through the small gap on the outside is the illumation of the cedar, so the seal seems fine.

This is driving me nuts.

Originally Posted by Little General

It could be a number of things. How full is your humi? Was is fully seasoned? Did you add new sticks lately? Do you keep opening it? All of these affect your RH. Your beads will work but it may take some time.

I live in NJ the house is cold and very low RH. It took awhile to get my rh to balance out but it finally came around with just beads.

Excellent points!

How full being one of the biggest issues. Think about "relative humidity". It's the moisture content in the air of a space. IF your HUmi is packed full of sticks the amount of air the beads need to adjust is small. This assumes the cigars are at the RH point (70%). If it has 8 cigars in it, every time you open it and it fills with the 20-30% rh of your home.. the beads (and cigars) need to move that volume back up again. If you really want to keep things at 70% maybe get another tube of beads to handle the recovery time from open and close better. If it's a winter time only thing.. put all the cigars and the beads on a plastic freezer bag inside the humi and see what happens. Or put the whole humi in a plastic bag. All humis are different. You didn't mention how often you are having to recharge the beads.

[houdini]

jay, im in new york and i went through the same thing because of our climate. i am using the boveda packs. i have to use 4 - 72% packs and 1 84% seasoning pack to keep the rh between 65% - 70%.

im not sure why youre worried though. 65/ 65 sounds ideal after doing some research on this forum. what worries me is when the summer comes!

[Kojak]

I agree with what others have said. You can always do a quik test by making sure the beads are as close to your hygrometer as possible and then take a reading. You might need to add more beads to a different spot in your humidor to help even out humidity sources.

[jayrocco30]

Great, fast replies fellas, very helpful, I planned on getting some new beads soon to help out the opening and closing, I think I am just panicking with summer coming up! (yet so far away!)

[GWN]

Originally Posted by chippewastud79

Having your humidor stuck at 65/65 doesn't sound like much of a problem to me. That's what mine sits at and I love it.

I shoot for 65 RH as well. It's probably just the time of year. It's always a battle when my house is as dry as it is in January. Bought a portable room humidifier, which helps a bit, as I can never get the one of the furnace working correctly.

[shilala]

Hey jrocco,
How long ago did you calibrate the hygro?
You may want to do a salt test on it yourself if it's "factory calibrated".
Factory calibrated actually means that no one has done anything and the hygrometer is totally inaccurate.
If you do a simple salt test yourself you may find that it's way off.
If that's the case, you may be busting your ass to overhumidify your cabinet.
If you've done the salt test yourself, just pretend I never said anything.
Hope this helps!!!
Scott

[houdini]

Originally Posted by jayrocco30

Great, fast replies fellas, very helpful, I planned on getting some new beads soon to help out the opening and closing, I think I am just panicking with summer coming up! (yet so far away!)

Humidity isnt a problem in the summer for us on the east coast....The temperature is.

[Kaisersozei]

I had this exact same problem for about a week after getting my Heartfelt beads: 100 ct humi, 2+ oz of 70% beads, only a small inventory... I got good humidity as long as the damp floral foam was in there with the beads, but as soon as I removed it the RH would drop to 60-62% and not move.

Once I received my first shipment of cbid winnings (about 40 sticks from 3 different auctions!) that seems to have fixed the problem. Maintaining a nice 69/68. Not exactly 70%, but I'm not worried--my La Crosse weather station says the house is @ 33%, so I guess it's all good.

[warden291]

I am having the same problem with my humi and the beads. I have a aluminum & a tube with the beads (both 65%) and it is constantly in the mid 50's. I put my seasoning packs in their and that brought it back up to the mid 60's in a couple of days. I hope you guys are correct about the weather.
The temp. in my basement is always around 70 degrees.

[Ge|atinousFury]

I'm having low RH issues using 6 Boveda 72% packs in my humidor (~250ct, no cigars in it yet) so I went all out and ordered two 4oz. tubes of 70% heartfelt beads. If that doesn't do it I don't know what will!!!

Now I need to find a syringe to add water to the beads...

[BamaDoc77]

sounds like a "good problem" to me...I like mine @ 65%