Humidity Problem with Beads

[ash13brook]

I started a 70 quart coolerador a few months ago. It has a thermo-electric cooling unit which is plugged into a temperature control unit. It uses a fan both inside and outside. It is full of boxes, but all of the boxes ore not full. I put 1 1/2 pounds of 65% Heartfelt beads in two bags. It was working fine.
The last time I added water to the beads was April 15. Lately, the RH is running over 70%. I swiched hygrometers and it reads the same with the different one.
I had been planning to switch to 60% beads, anyway, and so did. I added 3/4 ounce of distilled water to each 3/4 pound bag of beads per the directions. The temperature was running about 66*, so I adjusted it up a little. This was yesterday, around 9 am.
I checked it this morning and it's still running over 70%. While the humidity outside is in the mid 80s, it's only about 60% inside the house.
Should I take a hair dryer to the bags of beads? If so, how long do I use it? Till the beads are opaque? Any advice is appreciated. I'm starting to panic a little.

[kevin7]

Open the cooler and let it air out a while. I used to have aa 120 qt coolerador and used a small bowl of gel crystals. You dudes are waaay to scientific for me. If its 58-65 RH Im happy. Cigars are NOT as fragile as you think .

[ash13brook]

I think I was happier when I just bought 4 or 5 cigars and left them lay on the kitchen counter for the 2 or 3 weeks it took me to smoke them!
My son is the one that causes most of my problems. That's the problem with people graduated from engineering schools.
I think I'll do just what you said and open it up for a couple of days without looking at it (eye f___king is the term, I believe you use).

[kevin7]

LOL Matt,I did the same shit years ago too.

[ggiese]

Think of it in terms of it being a "system" and you're reading the rH of the contents of the cooler. Aside from the beads, anything porous in that cooler also retains the moisture. As you open and close he coolidoor the moisture will equalize. It might take a bit, but eventually without doing anything you'll hit 60% if you just let it go. Just have some patience.

[craig]

Sounds like too much fiddling (and too much water-adding). If the cooler has a good seal, then you only have to add a very little water - just to replace the moisture lost each time you open up the cooler - and very little moisture will be lost if you open up to an ambient 60%RH.

If you find yourself always opening the cooler just to check RH, just pick up a remote temperature/humidity weather unit, say from Oregon Scientific. They are pretty inexpensive, and some can handle multiple channels. IIRC, mine was $40 on eBay or Amazon. Once you look at the display a few hundred times, you'll stop looking at it ;-).

[ash13brook]

So, I did what Kevin suggested and let the coolerador air out for about four days. Ambient RH in my house in the low 60s.
Closed it back up and waited a few days before checking it. Back up around 73%.
So, I got frustrated, turned it off, took every box out and opened them up to the room air. Still low 60s. I left them this way for four days. I even laid out the two 3/4 pound bags of beads.
I put it back together again and closed it up and turned it on. Waited a full seven days before checking it. 73% again.
I started to think maybe Heartfelt had mistakenly sent me 70% beads instead of 60% and emailed to ask. No response.
So, I figured if they were 70% beads and I put my 65% beads back in, it should show some change. Three days and still 73%.
F-----g frustrating. Meanwhile my desktop rolls along right at 60%.
The beads do not look wet. They're almost all opaque. So, I was wondering. Are they not working maybe because they need to be a little damp to work? Sort of the way a chamois needs to be damp to dry your car?
Or are the beads overwhelmed and need a hair dryer-ing?
Is it possible the cooling unit is causing a problem? Although everything worked fine for a couple of months.
Help me, please...(grown man breaks down and sobs with face in hands, shaking uncontrolably).....

[craig]

Put the desktop RH meter in the cooler and see what the reading is.

[ash13brook]

Put the desktop RH meter in the cooler and see what the reading is.

I've switched the hygrometers a couple of times, and they all read the same.

[ashauler]

Do you have any extra beads? If you do, overdose the cooler with them, but put them in dry. Leave it closed for a day or two.....open and check the dry beads. If they've been hydrated, you have too much humidity for the bead qty you have in there....so, maybe too many boxes or pieces of cedar that are retaining moisture. Try to remove some of the cigars in boxes, if you have box with a bunch of mixed up shit in it use that one, and put them in either baggies, or a plastic tray of some kind. Dry the beads.....repeat....see what happens. You can do the same thing with some pieces of cedar, box spacers work well, that are really really dry to help absorb and remove moisture.

BTW, how do your cigars smoker directly from the cooler?

[ash13brook]

I haven't been smoking directly from the cooler.
I move cigars from the cooler to my desktop when it gets low.
What's the best way to dry the beads?
I have 2 pounds of 60% and 2 pounds of 65%. Does it matter if I use both for drying purposes?
Thanks for all the help so far.

[badwhale]

I haven't been smoking directly from the cooler.
I move cigars from the cooler to my desktop when it gets low.
What's the best way to dry the beads?
I have 2 pounds of 60% and 2 pounds of 65%. Does it matter if I use both for drying purposes?
Thanks for all the help so far.

Answers:
Good
Ok
Oven, on low or "warm"
Probably not
You're welcome

[craig]

Watch the oven. Too dry and the beads will have to be re-trained to hold your desired RH.

In fact, what may have happened is too much water has been used for too long, and the beads have trained themselves to their maximum - which is about 70-75%.

Take some of your beads, throw them in a Tupperware with a hygrometer, and see what you get.

BTW, keep in mind that:
a) all the wood in your cigar boxes are holding moisture as well, and wood absorbs/releases moisture quite slowly.
b) we really want a cigar's weight to be about 11% to 13% water. RH is about the air around the cigars, not the cigars themselves. I can put cigars in a ziplock with some 65% beads and a hygrometer and put the ziplock in the freezer. The meter will stay at 65%...

Today's wild guess is the cooler isn't completely sealed and your active cooling unit is keeping the cooler at a lower temperature than ambient, with the result of constantly pulling in moisture from outside.

That is just a wild guess, though.

[ash13brook]

So, I dried the beads.
I put some of each in a tupperware container with a hygrometer. Both read about 40%. So, I assume I maybe dried them too much? Retraining necessary?
Or should I put them in the cooler as is and let them soak up some moisture first?
It is possible the seal where I put the cooling unit is not great. I'll pull that apart and seal it good, too.