Question for people with Walk-In experience..

[sboyajian]

I've cornered off a small space in the new house off the side of the lounge for a walk-in humidor. The space is about 8x8.

I have already determined the filter, direct line humidifier and humidistat. I have also choosen the floor I want to use and know where I will be using greenboard and what will actually be spanish cedar.

My question is in regards to temperature. The room has an exterior facing wall. It is underground, and the basement is on the main floor zone. So I don't think temperatures of the surrounding rooms will cause it to be to "extreme".. I certainly don't see it going over 70 - 72 in any situation.

My concern however is heating. I obviously want to stay away from electrical heating sources to avoid drying the room (and my precious smokes) out, but I also don't want to have some "out of place" floor heater in there.

Will I need to even worry about heating or is there a good wall mountable oil/gas heater I can get? My humidistat has thermo built in, so it does not need it's own.

Any help from the guru's would be much appreciated.

[sboyajian]

Mods.. this may be better served in the Storage forum.. bad placement on my part.

[Cypress]

I will try to move this as I am new to the role.

[tx_tuff]

How cold will it be getting in there? I don't think you even need a heater. But I don't have a walk in LOL

[sboyajian]

that's my concern.. I don't think it will get overly cold.. but then again, I don't know. I've never made one. I don't want to get the whole thing done and then have this big temperature issue.. being on an exterior wall in a basement has me a bit concerned..

Electric Wall heaters (or electric forced) will dry out the air, I don't feel comfortable putting an oil bomb in the wall..

I actually talked to my brother about it yesterday (carpenter) and he suggested radiant floor heating. It's electric, but with how it works, it won't dry out the air.

[ylo2na-cl]

Originally Posted by sboyajian

that's my concern.. I don't think it will get overly cold.. but then again, I don't know. I've never made one. I don't want to get the whole thing done and then have this big temperature issue.. being on an exterior wall in a basement has me a bit concerned..

Electric Wall heaters (or electric forced) will dry out the air, I don't feel comfortable putting an oil bomb in the wall..

I actually talked to my brother about it yesterday (carpenter) and he suggested radiant floor heating. It's electric, but with how it works, it won't dry out the air.

I have a walk-in that is about 9x12, but, I live in Tampa and we dont get those kind of cold winters that you do in VA. My concern was the portable a/c that I chose to keep it cool in the summer.
For my two cents worth, here is my take on what you might consider. Buy a bunch of reliable digital hygrometers and place them strategically around the room...front, back, high, low, middle, corner, etc. I personally have about 20 of them (overkill), but it works. Next, check out where the humidity is being sent when it is on. Some areas will get more, some less, so a well-placed fan can assist to spread the mist around. You will find some areas need more humidity and cooling, but, if I am in the ballpark of 63 to 70 with temp and humidity, then I am good to go. For the winter, purchase an electric heater that is movable and see how the temps are recorded when you are using it on high, low, medium and where it is positioned. Of course, this is only recommended. Be sure to insulate between the studs and the ceiling. And, make sure your entry door is sealed well, too! I used dry-wall and paneling because I couldnt afford cedar, but, from what I have read in my research it is not worth the extra $$$$ to cover the walls with it. Personally, I have visited several B&M's and they dont have cedar in their humidors. I suspect this might be the norm and cedar paneling the exception.
Now, with that said, I worry a lot, too, but I have been operating mine for about a year and the smokes are doing just fine. In fact, some are aging so well (ammonia dissipation), I can hardly believe it. Just remember, nothing is perfect, but cigars are fairly hearty if you can keep it somewhere in the 70/70 range with 5 degrees on the humidity side (65-75%) and (65 72 temp).
PM me if you have any questions...
Best,
Ylo2na

[sboyajian]

So far plans are:

Moisture barrier between studs and drywall.
We will be using green board (moisture and mold resistant drywall).
Back of the shelves will be Luan wood.
Shelves will be Spanish Cedar.

My fear with the electric heater is that it will dry out the air, and in turn my cigars.. Radiant floor heating is electric, but with radiant through the floor you don't run the risk of removing moisture/humidity from the air.

I have already priced out a nice Mohagany and glass Exterior door (for good seal).

The humidistat I am looking at has 3 wireless devices so I can place them throughout the room, although good points with the fans.. I will get a few well placed ones.

[Cypress]

Thanks for the update. Please keep us updated with some pictures.

[Lighthouse]

I built a 6x8 a little over a years ago. Very similar set-up and location to yours with an outside wall. I looked at a variety of heat sources, and yes, you will need a little - very little heat. I went with a small ceramic heater set at the minimum setting which gives me 68-70 degrees. Make sure you have a fan circulatng air at all times too. That being the case, you will not have to worry about humidity because your humidisat will sense when it needs moisture. I keep mine at 69 degrees and 67 percent humidity.

[ylo2na-cl]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse

I built a 6x8 a little over a years ago. Very similar set-up and location to yours with an outside wall. I looked at a variety of heat sources, and yes, you will need a little - very little heat. I went with a small ceramic heater set at the minimum setting which gives me 68-70 degrees. Make sure you have a fan circulatng air at all times too. That being the case, you will not have to worry about humidity because your humidisat will sense when it needs moisture. I keep mine at 69 degrees and 67 percent humidity.

Gee, Chuck! Why couldn't I have said it like you instead of my rambling verbiage.....lol!
Best,
Ylo2na
Chuck

[sboyajian]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse

I built a 6x8 a little over a years ago. Very similar set-up and location to yours with an outside wall. I looked at a variety of heat sources, and yes, you will need a little - very little heat. I went with a small ceramic heater set at the minimum setting which gives me 68-70 degrees. Make sure you have a fan circulatng air at all times too. That being the case, you will not have to worry about humidity because your humidisat will sense when it needs moisture. I keep mine at 69 degrees and 67 percent humidity.

great to hear from someone also in a cold climate. I see some very good options at some very good prices.. since I won't need it year round, I can deal with it being on the floor for a few months.

Thanks all for the advice.

[~Robbie~]

I'm not in a COLD climate, but it does get much colder here than in Tampa. Let me tell you what we did, some of it turned out to work great and some of it had to be changed.

I have a 385sf walk-in which is a full open space totaling a full 3,850 cubic feet. We used 2x6 studs, very heavy insulation, then over the studs, in this order, are greenboard sheetrock, a vapor barrier, thermo-ply, and three coats of glossy mildew resistant paint. We did not cover the walls with Spanish cedar as there is 2,000 board feet of spanish cedar shelving in the humidor, which I personally believe puts enough spanish cedar in the space. I will have to look up the model of my humidifier, but I believe it is made by Cezio, which was a much more economical solution (~$700 http://www.amhumidifiers.com/m_20.as...&c=15&pn=CEZIO) than $4,500 ultrasonic that would be required for that size space. ALSO, we use a DIGITAL humidistat. We found that the analog turn-knob humidistats that come with most humidfiers just do not work well. Here is a link: http://www.climatedoctors.com/items/...?itemid=429462
For both air circulation, dust prevention, and general air quality, I installed, in the center of the room, an electrostatic (HEPA would be fine too) air cleaner (I got mine from aircleanerwholesale.com) and I went with a TRION model. It moves 700cfm and sucks air from the bottom and distributes it in every direction in the room. I HIGHLY recommend an aircleaner in the ceiling of the center of the room for air quality (NO DUST) and for circulation! Everything I have mentioned so far works great!

Here's where things got tricky. We pumped air from our HVAC unit into the humidor. That works GREAT during the summer, as it keeps that heavily insulated humidor around 64-66 degrees (where I like it, WAY away from any type of mold situation and a great temperature for aging) and the lounge outside of the humidor right around 70-72 degrees. The problem comes in the winter. The lounge outside of the humidor gets cooler than is really comfortable and the humidor rises to 70-71 degrees due to the recessed lights in the ceiling in the humidor, which put out a lot of heat. I CANNOT turn the heat on on that HVAC unit because with the heavy insulation in the humidor the temperature in there would skyrocket. I have never turned the heat on. I am afraid that as far north as you are that is not an option. At night I turn the lights off inside the humidor and leave the lights outside the humidor on so that they can produce heat if it is going to get really cold at night. For what northern Florida considers cold that seems to work alright.

Here is what I just did and what I recommend, if you can do it in that basement. To both regulate the temperature in the humidor seperately, and to keep the humidor as a totally independent environment, we just had a duct-less mini-split A/C unit installed on one of the walls of the humidor, which was an exterior wall of the building. That way I can always keep the humidor at that 65degree mark that I like no matter what time of year it is, and now I have a huge HVAC unit to regulate the temperature in the lounge area where we exhaust air from, so that AC has to work overtime anyways. AND, now I can turn the heat on in the lounge if I need to. I still never turn the heat on in the humidor because of the temperature that I like to keep it at. It is hard to get a humidor too cold WITHIN REASON. I wouldn't get it below the upper 50s for an extended period, but if your humidity is where it is supposed to be, anywhere in the 60s is where I like it to be. Great for aging, no risk of beetles, no risk of mold, ect.

Sorry to ramble for so long but I just happened to spend a lot of time and money working on the temperature issue in my walk-in so I hoped that I could be of some help. I know that you will greatly enjoy your new humidor. A walk-in is the way to go! If you have the space for it, a proper walk-in can be done for the cost of just one or two average size Aristocrats, depending on the size of your walk-in and how much of the work you do yourself. Best of luck to you and send me a PM or email if there is any way that I can be of assistance!

[~Robbie~]

You surely know this, but just one thing I forgot to mention: you will DEFINITELY need to filter the water going into that humidifier!!! Many people use reverse osmosis systems. I do not have experience with these, but have heard that they work fine. I have US Filter, a division of Siemens Corp. replace deionization tanks in my mechanical room every six months. These tanks eliminate all particles from the water and I have been extremely happy with this system. However, that may be overkill for home use. A simple reverse osmosis system should be fine, but definitely filter that water!

[sboyajian]

Robbie,

Thanks for the great information! In my early searches and planning I found a GE Reverse Osmosis filter for around $200.

I think the humidifier I found (link and model is on my work computer) is around $450 (and allows for direct feed).. I also found a digital humidistat with thermostat (I'll post the link on Monday when I get back to work).

luckily the walls will be easy (I'll be stripping it down to studs) and then doing as you said with the moisture barrier.

I'm not sure the wall unit you mentioned would work tho as I have no exposed exterior basement walls...

[~Robbie~]

Originally Posted by sboyajian

Robbie,

I'm not sure the wall unit you mentioned would work tho as I have no exposed exterior basement walls...

If not, there are freestanding AC units. We use them after hurricanes sometimes and Sams Club even sells them. You just need a neat way to run the drain line. That can sit in the middle of the room and for a LOT less money air condition the whole room... I just thought of that. I'll see if I can find a link.