Are my 70% Beads Working Properly?

[Bill Clinton]

I purchased 3 of the 4 oz. 70% beads with the tubes about 1 month ago. After I got them, I mist sprayed them with distilled water and I placed all 3 tubes with the beads inside my footlocker humidor.

Ever since I purchased the beads with the tubes, I have had to mist spray the beads inside the tubes once a week because the humidity level inside my humidor goes down to 62% to 63% every week (every 6 to 7 days). I already sprayed the beads 2 days ago because when I checked my humidor, the humidity level was only at 63%. Then when I checked my humidor again this evening, the humidity level was only at 67%. I am having a very hard time attaining the 70% humidity level inside my humidor with the 3 tubes and the beads which are sitting inside my humidor. I know very well that I purchased enough beads because when I did the calculations for the amount of beads that I needed for my footlocker humidor, I only needed about 9 oz. of beads. I currently have 12 oz. of beads inside my humidor. This should be more than enough beads for the size of my humidor in order to make the humidity level be at 70%, but the humidity level doesn't even come close to being 70% with the 12 oz. of beads that are there right now. I don't know why?

I also recharge the 2 rectangular humistats which are located on the inside lid of my humidor as an added option in order to try to increase the humidity level to 70% and I am still having a problem with the humidity level reaching and staying at 70%. All 3 of the 4 oz. tubes with the fully charged beads and the 2 humistats are always inside my humidor and the humisity level only goes up to 67% to 68% at the most and it drops down drastically to 62% to 63% only after a few days after I already recharge the beads (after mist spraying them with distilled water). I don't know why this is happening? I thought that the beads should be recharged and sprayed only once every month or once every few months.

Why aren't the beads helping to keep the humidity level inside my humidor a "steady" 70%? And why do I have to keep spraying them to recharge them?

Also, I noticed that the humidity level drops to 50% to 55% after only 3 to 4 minutes after opening up the humidor lid. It seems that the humidity level likes to drop "fast" when I open up the lid of my humidor if I have to rotate my cigar boxes that are inside the humidor.

What could be wrong here? What can I do in order to get to 70% humidity inside my humidor? It seems that the beads are not doing enough to push the humidity level to 70% and to keep it at 70%.
What's wrong? Are my cigars going to get ruined because of this? I am sick and tired of having to keep recharging my humistats and the beads inside the tubes every 5 to 7 days. I shouldn't have to recharge the beads inside the tubes every 6 and 7 days. Something is wrong here.

 

[Captain Leafheart]

Mr.President,
I am having similar grief with my 70% Heartfelt beads. I followed the instructions that came with them as far as amount of beads, how much distilled water, etc. and they just aren't maintaining anywhere near 70% (sometimes more/sometimes less).
The humi was rock solid with the oasis foam before I switched to these dang beads.
Maybe it's the "70%" beads that are the problem. Folks here are having better luck with the 65%'ers.

 

[Tenpin]

My guess is the air in your house is about 15% RH right now.
Does your humi have a tight seal?
Prep your beads again and don't open it every day to check.


Jim

 

[natejustice]

Like Tenpin said below, I would check your seal of your humi, sounds as though some dry air might be affecting those beads. I had a similar problem and it really helped to not open your humi as much to look or move things around like in your case. Try recharging your beads, and closing things up for a few days to see if the rh fluctuates again.

My guess is the air in your house is about 15% RH right now.
Does your humi have a tight seal?
Prep your beads again and don't open it every day to check.


Jim

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[Bill Clinton]

My humidor is located in my office and I don't go to my office very often so the humidor stays shut for at least 3 to 5 days at a time before it's opened again.
My office is inside a house and the heat goes on and off every 5 to 6 hours over a 24 hour period and the heat temperature for the house is set at only 63 degrees. So the temperature inside the room and inside the entire house doesn't go over 63 degrees.

During the summertime, I didn't have this problem. The same humidor was reading 75% humidity level, so I don't think that my seal is bad. Ever since I purchased this humidor, I have been having a hard time attaining the 70% humidity level and when I do attain it, the humidity level drops to 61% to 63% very fast within a few days.

What can i do to fix this problem? Like I said before, I am sick and tired of babying my humidor and having to recharge the humistats and the beads inside the tubes every few days. This is ridiculous.

I am hoping that there is an easy solution to fix the problem so the humidity level inside my humidor can stay at a constant 70% humidity level all the time without me having to keep recharging the humistats and the beads inside the humidor. How can the problem be fixed?

Please help me.

 

[Zeebra]

I also have the 70% beads and I found I wasn't adding enough distilled water to them. I've gotten into the habit of pouring distilled water into a tall glass and then "dunking" the beads tube to about halfway up the tube. This way I know half the beads are soaked while the other half are dry. Once I do that, the humidity remains steady at 70.

One other thing, I have 2 humidors now and in one of the humidors I don't have the tube to use, so I just poured a bunch of beads into an empty jar lid (pretty wide and round lid). The humidity in that humidor seems to be alot more steady then the humidor with the tube. I think the open concept with the beads in a dish or lid works better, also easier to add water to them. If you look on the Hearfelt site, he has a picture of beads in a dish, that's what I'm talking about.

 

[Captain Leafheart]

I'm sure that my home's RH is low now, but I believe the humi's seal is good.
Anything is possible, but it always kept stable RH until the beads were added. Before bed last night, the digital hygro read 68%. 9 hours later it read 64%.
It has been an ongoing routine of too frequently having to add water to the beads. This morning I replaced the oasis foam into the humidifier. I'll monitor it's performance and if it works as it did before I'll probably request a refund from Heartfelt.

 

[Rob_k]

sounds like a seal problem or maybe your humidor hasn't been seasoned properly. i seasoned my humidor and it took close to 2 weeks to get a constant humidity level. put vipers beads in there, been rock solid 65% since and that was this past march.
do the dollar bill test for the seal (open humidor, place dollar bill between seal and close, you should be able to take the bill out, but will have some resistance). and don't keep opening the humi to check the RH...let it sit a few days.
hope this helps

 

[Bill Clinton]

I sprayed the exterior of the tube many times already every time when I recharge the beads. With all the spraying that I gave to the beads, they should still have water inside them. I just don't know whether or not they will work properly if I keep spraying them with distilled water ever 4 days? I don't want them to get clogged up or anything like that if they have too much water inside them.

Do you think that the beads will still work properly if I keep spraying the beads inside the tubes with distilled water?

 

[smallg]

Mr. Clinton - spraying the tube directly didn't seem to work for me. The water simply did not penetrate through the small holes as I would have liked. I found that removing the red caps and spraying into the ends worked best.

 

[Zeebra]

I sprayed the exterior of the tube many times already every time when I recharge the beads. With all the spraying that I gave to the beads, they should still have water inside them. I just don't know whether or not they will work properly if I keep spraying them with distilled water ever 4 days? I don't want them to get clogged up or anything like that if they have too much water inside them.

Do you think that the beads will still work properly if I keep spraying the beads inside the tubes with distilled water?

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The beads won't get clogged up if you use distilled water. Like I said, I've DUNKED my tube into a glass of water so half the tube was entirely submerged in water. The beads become clear in half the tube, and white in the other half. I find it keeps the humidity level consistent. I think the very dry and cold weather is affecting the humidity.

I don't know if just spraying the outside of the tube would allow the water to get ot the beads on the inside. I mean the beads on the outer edges would get wet, but I don't know about the beads on the inside. I leave no doubt about it and dunk the beads. I was afraid of ruining them too, but they're fine.

 

[Marty]

I use the beads in my coolerdor and desk humi both. With the weather changing like it has, I remove the end of the tube, spray it until I saturate the beads that are near that end, replace the cap, turn it over, tap it gently so the beads will not fall out and do the same on the other end.

It works great for me..........as dry as the ambient RH of the house is, I don't worry about over saturation.

 

[mrjinglesusa]

I had this problem with my 65% beads. Turns out they were not saturated enough with distilled water. I added more water to them (probably about 80-85% saturated beads) and also put in a small dish of distilled water in the humidors. Now, after 48 hours, they are slowly getting up to 65%. Currently 62%, 63%, and 64%.

 

[Rob_k]

i have also found putting the beads in a piece of old pantyhose or the sack that viper sells allows for better moisure release, the tubes holes seemed too small.

 

[Zeebra]

i have also found putting the beads in a piece of old pantyhose or the sack that viper sells allows for better moisure release, the tubes holes seemed too small.

[snapback]259711[/snapback]​

I tried putting my beads in a little nylon type sack, but i found distilled water leaked out of it and stained my humidor. Maybe I had the beads too wet?

 

[Rob_k]

i have also found putting the beads in a piece of old pantyhose or the sack that viper sells allows for better moisure release, the tubes holes seemed too small.

[snapback]259711[/snapback]​

I tried putting my beads in a little nylon type sack, but i found distilled water leaked out of it and stained my humidor. Maybe I had the beads too wet?

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could be. after wetting mine with the distilled water in the sack, i pat in a paper towel to get the excess water out, and prevent the drips.

 

[mrjinglesusa]

i have also found putting the beads in a piece of old pantyhose or the sack that viper sells allows for better moisure release, the tubes holes seemed too small.

[snapback]259711[/snapback]​

I tried putting my beads in a little nylon type sack, but i found distilled water leaked out of it and stained my humidor. Maybe I had the beads too wet?

[snapback]259717[/snapback]​

could be. after wetting mine with the distilled water in the sack, i pat in a paper towel to get the excess water out, and prevent the drips.

[snapback]259745[/snapback]​

That just sounds, shall we say, weird.

 

[Joebob]

I just scanned the thread, but I didn't see anyone mention the first thing that came to my mind.

Is your hygrometer accurate? I'd test that out as well.

 

[Rob_k]

i have also found putting the beads in a piece of old pantyhose or the sack that viper sells allows for better moisure release, the tubes holes seemed too small.

[snapback]259711[/snapback]​

I tried putting my beads in a little nylon type sack, but i found distilled water leaked out of it and stained my humidor. Maybe I had the beads too wet?

[snapback]259717[/snapback]​

could be. after wetting mine with the distilled water in the sack, i pat in a paper towel to get the excess water out, and prevent the drips.

[snapback]259745[/snapback]​

That just sounds, shall we say, weird.

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now that i read it again...it is fuggin' weird... ???

 

[Captain Leafheart]

Being the thread-jacker here, I appreciate all the advice.
My digital hygrometer is a Diamond Crown, and I've compared it's readings to two other less prestigious digital hygros that I use in other boxes. Their readings are within 1 or 2% of each other's.
When I recieved the beads, I opened the rectangular brick humidifier that came with the humidor and removed the oasis foam, put in 4 ounces of beads, added 4 teaspoons of distilled water, stretched some pantyhose over them and replaced the slotted top of the humidifier. Some time later, the RH read 74% so I got out the wife's hair blower, dried 'em out a bit and the RH was then too low. I've added water, left the humidifier out of the box when too moist, put more water in when too dry and just can't get them to regulate at 70%.
Today I replaced the oasis foam and a couple of hours later, the humi was at 71%. When I get home from work I'll do the dollar bill test with the seal, but the humi has always been pretty stable until I tried the beads.