Repair a bad seal?

[Gonz]

I've got a small humidor, that apparantly has a bad seal. I've got more than enough beads in it, and a handful of smokes as well. And today I bought a hygrometer from Radio Shack, and put it in there for a while, and it reads 38%. I actually thought the small hygrometer on the inside of the humi must be junk, since it was reading the same even though I've had the beads and all that in there, but I guess not.

So I'm thinking the seal must be bad. Does anyone have any suggestions to correct this problem? Besides buying a humidor that doesn't suck?

I'm currently checking the coolidor right now to see where that's at.

 

[Swissy]

first off, have you calibrated the hygrometer(s)?

If so, and that reading is even CLOSE to being accurate, the only thing I personally can attest to is adding a little more 'seal' around the lid. I had a crappy humidor for my first one (taught me never to buy one off the internet that I could not put my hands on physically to test the seal...)

Anyways, mine had the same problem- never stayed above 45%. So i went to Michaels (craft store) and got some adhesive backed felt, like what was on the bottom of the humi. I trimmed down some pieces to fit around the top of the humidor, so the lid would rest on it. It was a pain in the butt, as straight lines were never my thing! But I got them on, and it worked 'ok'. I found that having some weight on top of the lid helped, as I think it 'crushed' the felt down and didn't allow air to exchange.

But in the long run, I ended up buying a nice new humidor locally that I could test the seal on, and i'm *MUCH* happier with (and my new coolidor which I am ecstatic with!)

Probably someone here has better ideas than this, but this worked for me until I got the better one I still have today (this was 5-6 years ago- I got the new one probably 4 years ago)

 

[AVB]

I would agree that stick-on felt or foam would be the quickest way to fix this. Even so I don't know how you only have an RH of 38 in a small enclosed space like that bad seal or not. I would check your hygrometer(s) to be sure.

 

[Gonz]

That's the strange thing, is that both hygrometers gave the same reading. One is the unit glued on to the lid, which is just an analog type/needle, and the other is the digital one I got from Radio Shack today.

I've actually got a Michaels here in town, so perhaps I'll pay them a visit this afternoon.

 

[Tuxindy]

I used the foam weatherization strips and it worked great!

 

[BlindedByScience]

I have a very small humi that was my first, that I bought from CI. A little 25 ct. desktop. I was doing better than you, but struggled for some time to keep it over 55-ish%.

What I finally figured out is that the humi just needed a bit of time to "soak up" the moisture and now it runs pretty well. The thing is that this is the one I get into on a daily basis, so I have ended up with three of Viper's "small" 65% tubes in there....and things have finally settled down.

If I had your issues, what I'd do is:
- Salt test the hygrometer(s). Unfortunately, just because they read the same, that means little.
- Start out with the humi empty, except for the hygrometer, your beads / whatever, and a shot glass full of distilled water. Let it sit until you get up to 70% or so and hold it for a couple of days (at least) before you try putting smokes in there again.

I've also heard that you can prove / disprove you seal issue by putting your whole humi in a reasonably snug fitting air tight bag to see if the humidity "suddenly" comes right up to where it should be.

Good luck - B.B.S.