deanrantala
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2025
- Messages
- 3
- First Name
- Dean
Good afternoon!
Recently got my first large fully-electric humidor (for 300 cigars) and spent the past week breaking it in.
Did the usual light-sray-down of the cedar shelves and left it on at 75% humidity for the first few days.
I then switched out the pure water for 50/50 mix of water and polypropylene glycol. After a couple more days - I got the humidity holding at a perfect 70%.
This brings me to my question:
Polypropylene glycol releases and absorbes humidity as needed to maintain the 70% balance. I fully understand the science on this part. But that made me think... what do I do when the solution in the tank starts to get low?
The first (instinctive) reaction is simple: add more 50/50% mixture. But herein lies the issue.
The polypropylene glycol does not evaporate from what I understand. Only the water evaporates. So if I start with 750ml of 50/50 mix and in a couple weeks that tank is down to 500.. that means the solution is no longer 50/50, correct? I should actually only add enough water to bring the tank back to the 750ml mark.
Or does some of the polypropylene glycol indeed evaporate as well?
In other words: should I maintain the tank at the 750ml level with just distilled water and perhaps change out the entire tank every 3 or 6 months with fresh solution? Or do I simply add more 50/50 mix to keep the tank at level - also doing a liquid refresh every 3 to 6 months?
Not sure it matters, but I keep the temp at 68F.
-Dean
Recently got my first large fully-electric humidor (for 300 cigars) and spent the past week breaking it in.
Did the usual light-sray-down of the cedar shelves and left it on at 75% humidity for the first few days.
I then switched out the pure water for 50/50 mix of water and polypropylene glycol. After a couple more days - I got the humidity holding at a perfect 70%.
This brings me to my question:
Polypropylene glycol releases and absorbes humidity as needed to maintain the 70% balance. I fully understand the science on this part. But that made me think... what do I do when the solution in the tank starts to get low?
The first (instinctive) reaction is simple: add more 50/50% mixture. But herein lies the issue.
The polypropylene glycol does not evaporate from what I understand. Only the water evaporates. So if I start with 750ml of 50/50 mix and in a couple weeks that tank is down to 500.. that means the solution is no longer 50/50, correct? I should actually only add enough water to bring the tank back to the 750ml mark.
Or does some of the polypropylene glycol indeed evaporate as well?
In other words: should I maintain the tank at the 750ml level with just distilled water and perhaps change out the entire tank every 3 or 6 months with fresh solution? Or do I simply add more 50/50 mix to keep the tank at level - also doing a liquid refresh every 3 to 6 months?
Not sure it matters, but I keep the temp at 68F.
-Dean
