wine coolerdor question. PLEASE HELP!

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by King Cat

You know what I REALLY want, is to be able to buy a temp control unit to be able to put in a humidor cabinet. That way, I could buy a giant cabinet of my choice and then just install the cooling system, circumventing all of this wine cooler business!

FWIW dept. I met a couple in Accord, NY, who, over 20 years, built a magnificent house out in the woods with their own four hands. They were both artists, not contractors.

Wife wanted a walk-in refrigerator in the kitchen; they built about a 6 x 10' "room", all wood and heavily insulated, and found a small used 110VAC compressor that went in the basement. They ran tubing upstairs to the "box" where they installed a couple of small fans and a refrigeration coil from a junked restaurant cooler; I think they got a new thermostat and relay set from McMaster Carr or Grainger. The refrigeration cost nothing but the time to find the scrap stuff. Heat and noise from the compressor vanished into the cellar. They had to get a licensed guy to come out and check the system integrity and fill it with refrigerant - otherwise it was all homemade.

If you're really motivated and born to scrounge, it ain't rocket science to make one. You could probably get 90% of what you need by stripping an old refrigertor or two. I think it's like anything else -if you want to know how to do it (or you have to), you can do it.

[GOAT LOCKER]

Originally Posted by King Cat

You know what I REALLY want, is to be able to buy a temp control unit to be able to put in a humidor cabinet. That way, I could buy a giant cabinet of my choice and then just install the cooling system, circumventing all of this wine cooler business!

A question for you guys: Is Magic Chef not a good brand of coolers? I thought I remember reading something negative about them. I saw a Magic Chef beverage cooler today at Home Depot for 300 bucks. I really like it and had the best design that I've seen so far of coolers, although no fan apparently so I would have to add one (it would probably hold 50 bottles and is about 5.4 cubic feet). It had a digital temp. display and control and it was advertised as being able to go up to 64 degrees.

Even if I didn't use it for a humidor, it would make a nice addition to my theater room. Then I could just stay in my room for hours w/o having to leave. A 120 " projector tv display on the wall, comfortable leather couch, great smokes and some ice cold beer - what else do you need? My wife would just love that.

A standard cabinet humidor wouldn't be best for adding temp control, as it's not insulated. Not that it can't be done, but it's not ideal. Cabs that are built with temp control include insulation.

As for the Magic Chef, my only two issues with the 52 Bottle model were

1. It took a long time to get rid of the chemical/plastic smell
2. The factory thermostat is unusable

On the plus side, I only paid $149, it looks great and it has more space than similar units.

[King Cat]

Goat - where did you find one for $149? I looked on-line but can't find any like I saw at Home Depot and that unit was $299. I like it too for the size and even if the factory thermostat doesn't work, not a big deal, I'll use my digital hygrometer anyway. I also like the fact that it can go up to 64 degrees thus no need for a controller.

[GOAT LOCKER]

Originally Posted by King Cat

Goat - where did you find one for $149? I looked on-line but can't find any like I saw at Home Depot and that unit was $299. I like it too for the size and even if the factory thermostat doesn't work, not a big deal, I'll use my digital hygrometer anyway. I also like the fact that it can go up to 64 degrees thus no need for a controller.

I got it on sale at Home Depot. As for this unit's thermostat going up to 64 degrees, don't let the specs fool you. The built in thermostat/controller will not work for a humidor. You will need something like the Johnson Controls A419 to control the temps. Some folks have the Haier have been able to stay with the factory thermostat. The one thing I would do is take your time and buy the one that is right for you, fits the room and fulfills the intended purpose best.

[King Cat]

Originally Posted by GOAT LOCKER

I got it on sale at Home Depot. As for this unit's thermostat going up to 64 degrees, don't let the specs fool you. The built in thermostat/controller will not work for a humidor. You will need something like the Johnson Controls A419 to control the temps. Some folks have the Haier have been able to stay with the factory thermostat. The one thing I would do is take your time and buy the one that is right for you, fits the room and fulfills the intended purpose best.

Even if I need a johnson controller, I still like the cooler - it's a good size and very open. I just returned my Dandby cooler so now I'm back to where I started. Great humis but the temperatures are 74 degrees in each one right now.

Back to the drawing board I go.

[justinphilly]

Originally Posted by King Cat

Even if I need a johnson controller, I still like the cooler - it's a good size and very open. I just returned my Dandby cooler so now I'm back to where I started. Great humis but the temperatures are 74 degrees in each one right now.

Back to the drawing board I go.

send the cigars to me, i will make sure they are ok...

[mc185]

I'm also thinking about getting a wine cooler. I see alot of the thermo-electric wine coolers being advertised as silent or quite, so how loud are the compressor type coolers like the haier?

I would have it in my bedroom so that might be an issue.

[IHT]

Originally Posted by mc185

I'm also thinking about getting a wine cooler. I see alot of the thermo-electric wine coolers being advertised as silent or quite, so how loud are the compressor type coolers like the haier?

I would have it in my bedroom so that might be an issue.

i never heard mine. the only thing i would hear is when the fan would cycle on for 5 minutes every 2 hours.

[Kennmon]

Originally Posted by mc185

how loud are the compressor type coolers like the haier?

like a mini-fridge, not loud at all.

[GOAT LOCKER]

I found a nice drawer style humidor that completely fills the bottom area in front of the compressor. A perfect little singles drawer. It was purchased off ebay from "Robustos Humidors" . Unfortunately, they appear to be out of bussiness.

http://www.clubstogie.com/photo/show...00/ppuser/1297

[mc185]

okay thanks, might go with a bigger haier wine cooler then.

[ColdCuts]

Originally Posted by Jason Love III

Yeah, I quit worrying about all that and got a humidor made out of WOOD, LOL and got a window a/c unit. After my "excellent adventure" with that whole fiasco my attitude was "f-that $hit!" So I just tell people that wanna do the coolidor route to do a Haier like you got or get an a/c unit to cool the room. I still to this day don't know why my smokes got so f-ed up....

OK, pardon me. I just got here. I'm a newb, and I'm new to the whole wine cooler scene, but I need one, or so I've been led to believe. Jason, what the hell happened?! Is there a link to the rest of your story? I swear I'm on the brink of giving up this hobby! Just yesterday, I packed up my first-ever desktop humidor, only three-weeks-old, and that I loved, and when the post office opens in the morning, I'm shipping her back to JR. The only way I was able to keep that 75-Stick humi cool enough was to run my small window AC unit 24/7. I think that's just nuts. Upon joining CS--only around three weeks ago now--I began looking for a solution to my temperature problem. That's how I learned about the converted wine cooler "solution". It's a lot to try and figure out. I'm wary of asking questions because I've had my head chewed off for that before. I can't find a definitive thread. I've been doing searches for: edison-a-dor, edison-ador, edisonador, coolerador, coolerdor, wine cooler, winecooler, etc. You get the idea. Now, reading this thread, it sounds like for some of you, the foray into wine coolers has been a nightmare. For those of you who have tried it and failed, what happened? I'm not an electrician, or even a handyman. Here on CS, a bunch of guys are making it sound easy, saying it's not rocket science, while another bunch of guys are talking about the total disaster their attempts were, and still other guys are talking about how temperature and RH changes aren't anything to worry about! It's kinda blowin' my mind. Now, I'm willing to invest in a small, decent, wine cellar and necessary accouterments to keep my cigars in perfect smoking condition, but I've got other things I should be doing if this is all just gonna end in tears, you know what I mean? I'm returning my desktop humi because I couldn't control the temp, now it sounds like once I invest in a wine cooler it's going to be difficult to control the RH... and the condensation, and the pooling, and there are external controllers, and wiring fans to think about, etc. I think I might freak out. At least my desktop looked pretty.
Look, I'm sorry I'm ranting. I'm frustrated. I was doing fine until I heard about beetles and how if you don't keep your temperature in the low 70s, you're asking for trouble. Before joining CS, I didn't even know there was such a thing as a tobacco beetle. I decided that since I'm beginning to amass a tiny collection of cigars--which only seems to be growing--I needed to find a way to protect my small investment and minimize my risk, you know? So I heard about wine coolers. Now they're not sounding so good. I don't know what to do. You can see I'm wound a bit tight. Can someone who's been around awhile talk me down? Is there a sympathetic FOG in the house?!
IHT: I don't get it, if the Haier is so great, why aren't you using it anymore?

[Jason Love III]

Originally Posted by ColdCuts

Jason, what the hell happened?! Is there a link to the rest of your story?

http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showthr...t=refrigerated

There ya go. Apparently I'm the only one who's had this problem ColdCuts. And other gorillas have bought the exact same wine-cooler I did, so I don't know why the hell all my smokes were messed up like that. Just my , but go with a Haier unit...