I have a 28 bottle cooldor and it has been workin great for two+ years now.The problem this weekend the RH dropped to 60%, I have 1.5 Lbs of beads that have been no problem.I keep it at 67deg. F and nor @ 67-68%RH. I have put distilled water in my three different pans of beads and no results.I have made sure the drain hole is still pluged.Its starting to really get my sh*&*^%%$. I am very concern about my 15 boxes of smokes now, any suggestion ???.

I have a 28 bottle coolerdor and have only a half pound of 65% beads, IMO 1.5 lbs of beads is way to much. Also I keep my temp around the 60-62, my humidity reamins stable around 63-66%. You could humidfy 3-4 coolerdors with 1.5 lbs. That might be your problem.

It shouldn't matter how many pounds of beads in there, they are suppposed to absorb or release moisture. Seems like more beads would only mean faster recovery time, or am I missing something?

Is there a shelf life for the beads?
Check the hygrometer?
Maybe something in the door seal?

Good luck

Don't panic, some guys age their cigars at 60%.

Ditto on the hygro or the seal. Something is leaking.

Thanks, I do have two hydrometers in side and they both read +/- 1 on both RH and temp. of each other. I will check the door seal, but when I open its very snug, slight tug to open.I resealed the drain on the back wall.Here in Houston, the air is now a little cooler, but RH is still high. I am not running the a/c as much and the amb. room air may be a little warmer but that woul mean higher RH in the room.

I'm having the same problem with a little under 1lb of beads. It was working fine for months and now it can't get higher than 59% humidity. One thing I do notice is there seems to be more condensation liquid, but wouldn't that mean higher humidity? I'm at a loss... though not too worried about my cigars being ruined. It'd be great if I can get it back to the mid 60s.

FWIW, I found this on another cigar site.

"The lifespan of humidification beads is not without limits. Research by manufacturers has shown that all silica gel will slowly lose its adsorption capacity. The natural presence of gaseous pollutants (like ammonia from cigars) will accelerate this process. However, not to worry, the lifespan of silica gel can be considered roughly 10 years. You can continue to use the beads even longer, but their adsorption characteristics will be lower.

when I had a full pound of beads my humidity was noticeably higher. I took out half and the humidity settled down.

I talked with a supplier of beads today.He advised that they become plugged in +/- 2years, and not as effective of adding or removing RH. Have you guys heard anything like this?.Also this was not HF, can not get intouch with them.

quote:

Originally posted by Des:
I talked with a supplier of beads today.He advised that they become plugged in +/- 2years, and not as effective of adding or removing RH. Have you guys heard anything like this?.Also this was not HF, can not get intouch with them.

They will get plugged if you're not using distilled water, but if you are, that should not be a problem.

Regarding my problem, it was fixed! The Vinotemp was set to 55 degrees which translates to low 60s on the temperature gauge on my digital hygrometer (big difference, I know). What I did was dialed it up to 61 on the Vinotemp (64 on hygrometer). Then, I rearranged my cigars a bit while leaving the fridge door open for about 5 minutes. A few hours later, the humidity reads 66. I'm still not sure what fixed it, maybe the temperature, or maybe the airing out of the Vinotemp, but I'm just glad it's fine now.

same here Bo. I keep the temp at 58 on the Vino's digital display which in reality translates into the low 60s and it seems to balance and hold the pH correctly.