Mike's Wine-o-dor

[rectifythis]

Urp. I meant a temp probe with a power cutoff.. like some have had to use.

Thanks for the info. My cigars are sitting hot right now (80).. even though the Tstat is set a hair above 70 ..

OUCH! Get those things cooled off ASAP! Anytime I have dabbled in that temp range, I usually get at least 1 beetle.

 

[Mindflux]

Urp. I meant a temp probe with a power cutoff.. like some have had to use.

Thanks for the info. My cigars are sitting hot right now (80).. even though the Tstat is set a hair above 70 ..

OUCH! Get those things cooled off ASAP! Anytime I have dabbled in that temp range, I usually get at least 1 beetle.

They've been this way for a few months (Since I moved in with my GF). So far no beetles. But I'm getting concerned. My best bet is a Wine cooler-a-dor. Which works out anyway, my GF likes wine so I can just toss my 150ct humidor in the bottom, she can use the top racks for wine.. and I'll keep it at 65~ish.

Until my habit gets the best of me and I kick all her wine out, that is... he he he

 

[chado]

Looks great - well done!!

 

[Mindflux]

Got one of these today, it's set at 54, and my hygro reads 66. Middle shelf...

Not sure why there's a 12 degree temperature variance there.

 

[dannymer1974]

Mine 30 bottle haier is set at 60 and is regularly at 67 degrees since i added the digital thermometer/hygrometer. I guess its safe to say that the temp setting on the wine cooler is going to say that its lower than it really is....

 

[Mindflux]

I'm now having the same problem with condensation in my cooler.

I had no luck finding a binder divider with a curve in it at Walmart or Walgreens... so I guess I'll have to try office max or office depot.

What size cork did you use, do you recall? It may not matter since I have a power cord running up my drain plug for a few fans I have in the cooler. So I may just have to seal it with some food grade silicon or just put some tape over it.

 

[rectifythis]

I'm not sure, I just grabbed a handful and used which ever one fit....If you have wires going throught there I would use RTV. Keep looking for the divider...you'll find it.

 

[Mindflux]

I ended up just putting vinyl tape over the drain hole. Ill go to office max or something when I get a chance for the divider. Maybe that'll help redirect the condensation. Though it seems mine drips off center and doesn't exactly follow the molded drip guide on the back of the fridge.

 

[Gator]

Can you get wine coolers in larger sizes?

 

[rectifythis]

Sure, they make virtually any size. As small as 8 bottle capacities on up into the hundreds. You can spend anywhere from $50 to $2000. Some are as large as the cigar tower. All depends on how much you are willing to spend. Personally, at the rate I have been smoking lately, my 28 bottle has been doing me just fine. I would estimate my collection in the 250-300 stick range and will try to keep it on a consistent rotation. If I stopped buying (say because of the supposed tax hike) I would still have at least a year of cigars. If I had more room and a bigger budget, that statement would undoubtedly change.

edit-typo

 

[rectifythis]

Quick update for you other wine-o-dor owners, I have found over the last 4 months that the metal shelving is starting to show early signs of rust on the bottom. Went to Homo Depot today and picked up some Luaun to make a few shelves. Cost: $4.40.

Also, like a jigsaw puzzle, I continue to fit and tweak and cram more and more boxes for more cigars in there. I believe this thing can be pushed to hold upwards of around 450 cigars.

Cbid is the devil.

 

[rectifythis]

Little update for the enthusiasts.

Loving the Luaun shelves for 4 bucks, and I have since experimented with some things. My humidity on the top 6" of the cooler is somewhat lower than the rest. I tried an Oust fan to circulate some air and let me tell you, it sucked. It did not move nearly enough air for this size of a unit. I had a "I-fan" sitting around that I bought for a buck but it burned up 3AA batteries every few hours (but it is a squirrel cage type fan so it MOVES some air!). So, I hard wired it to a DC converter and plugged it into a timer. It runs for 30 minutes, every 3 hours. Seems to be working great.

**UPDATED**
The ifan motor crapped out after a few months so I have replaced it with a computer case fan, $15. Used the same wiring as it was 12VDC, 33 cfm. I would like it to move more air, being more like an 80 cfm but it seems to be doing the job as long as I run it longer. I didn't mount it anywhere as I am using every inch of my Vino so it is suspended at a 45 degree angle via twist tie. Again, this is spliced into a 12 volt DC converter, which is plugged into a lamp timer, plugged directly into a standard 110V AC plug.

 

[bfreebern]

I've got this same unit and it's been up and working for 5 days. I've had zero condensation and wasn't for sure if that's normal or not.

 

[rectifythis]

I've got this same unit and it's been up and working for 5 days. I've had zero condensation and wasn't for sure if that's normal or not.

Maybe it's not running alot? The more it runs (i.e. summertime) the more condensation it produces. Right now mine is running less because it is cooler in the house. Give it some time, I didn't notice it until a couple of weeks. Are your beads charged up?

 

[bfreebern]

I've got this same unit and it's been up and working for 5 days. I've had zero condensation and wasn't for sure if that's normal or not.

Maybe it's not running alot? The more it runs (i.e. summertime) the more condensation it produces. Right now mine is running less because it is cooler in the house. Give it some time, I didn't notice it until a couple of weeks. Are your beads charged up?

Yeah, I charged them up last night, so I'll give it a week or two. I have it set to 66, but it's staying right at 64 degrees. Our house is at 68, so I'll keep this in mind when summer rolls around and see what happens then.

 

[rectifythis]

UPDATED. Vinotemp Unit #2 in the works.

My dad gave me his old Vinotemp as he has no place for it at his new house. I pretty much have set it up the same with some minor improvements, while still keeping it economical. I actually drilled throught the unit this time for the wiring, and sealed everything up with clear RTV. I used 2 glowing LED PC fans from Newegg and wired them together to the same lamp timer. I scuffed the mating surfaces and used hot glue to get them to float right over the bead dish as to push up moisture from the bottom. I cut out bigger slots at the back of the shelves to allow this airflow as well. All in all, still a very inexpensive project. Now, the boxes you see in there are all empty, so when the fall comes and the temps here finally dip below 1000, I will be working on filling it up a bit.

 

[Niko]

That looks awesome... How many lbs. of beads do you have in there?

 

[bfreebern]

Condensation is finally happening. What do you guys do when it pools at the bottom of the bead container? I didn't want to run the risk of mold, so I just took all the beads out and combined them all, dried out the container and put them all back in the vinotemp.

 

[Mtmouse]

Condensation is finally happening. What do you guys do when it pools at the bottom of the bead container? I didn't want to run the risk of mold, so I just took all the beads out and combined them all, dried out the container and put them all back in the vinotemp.

The beads should be fine. Unless, for whatever reason your Vinotemp is acquiring excess humidity, this should just be humidity that was present. The beads should be able to absorb the moisture and redistribute it back as needed.

 

[bfreebern]

Condensation is finally happening. What do you guys do when it pools at the bottom of the bead container? I didn't want to run the risk of mold, so I just took all the beads out and combined them all, dried out the container and put them all back in the vinotemp.

The beads should be fine. Unless, for whatever reason your Vinotemp is acquiring excess humidity, this should just be humidity that was present. The beads should be able to absorb the moisture and redistribute it back as needed.

I would think so, but it's been condensing quite a bit due to our 100 degree weather. I have it set up like Mike and the container that the condensation was draining into, had standing water at the bottom.