Wineador Information

[projectsunfire]

So after close to 3 years of flawless wineador operation...mine has suddenly decided to create a daily pool of water collecting under the fan. I have the drain plugged. I also had applied several layers of electrical tape over the drain reservoir so that it is basically a funnel. It has been this way for at least the past year and i have never had any condensation build up there...let alone an actual pool of water. I have not changed anything recently so I am really dumbfounded why all of a sudden I have to mop up every day to get rid of this water. It is messing with my normally rock solid RH. Not cool man.

Any one have any ideas what is going on here??

[Herf N Turf]

So after close to 3 years of flawless wineador operation...mine has suddenly decided to create a daily pool of water collecting under the fan. I have the drain plugged. I also had applied several layers of electrical tape over the drain reservoir so that it is basically a funnel. It has been this way for at least the past year and i have never had any condensation build up there...let alone an actual pool of water. I have not changed anything recently so I am really dumbfounded why all of a sudden I have to mop up every day to get rid of this water. It is messing with my normally rock solid RH. Not cool man.

Any one have any ideas what is going on here??

I don't know about you, but my weather's been really wet here in VA. It rained for 6 days, non-stop. This increased ambient humidity to 75% inside the house. With the peltier working against the heat, this can and does cause rampant condensation. That said, unless you're getting in and out of the box a lot, or your seal is compromised, it's a virtually sealed system and shouldn't suffer from these conditions.

What's changed?

[projectsunfire]

I don't know about you, but my weather's been really wet here in VA. It rained for 6 days, non-stop. This increased ambient humidity to 75% inside the house. With the peltier working against the heat, this can and does cause rampant condensation. That said, unless you're getting in and out of the box a lot, or your seal is compromised, it's a virtually sealed system and shouldn't suffer from these conditions.

What's changed?

That's the weird thing. Absolutely nothing has changed. Weather has been the same lately. No excessive rain other than the typical florida afternoon shower. I have a Nest thermostat in the house so temp is very regulated. I have not been opening the door any more or less than I ever do.

[Upstatemax]

What media do you use to regulate RH?

If it's something like litter or beads, is it too wet?

If they can't or won't absorb anymore water (possibly releasing it), moisture might be building in the humidor as it will have nowhere to go.

I think is what bit me in behind when mold popped up on a couple of cigars for me. I threw my litter into the oven for a bit and back into the humidor, it dropped the RH back to 66-65% and no more excess moisture.

[projectsunfire]

What media do you use to regulate RH?

If it's something like litter or beads, is it too wet?

If they can't or won't absorb anymore water (possibly releasing it), moisture might be building in the humidor as it will have nowhere to go.

I think is what bit me in behind when mold popped up on a couple of cigars for me. I threw my litter into the oven for a bit and back into the humidor, it dropped the RH back to 66-65% and no more excess moisture.

I use several pounds of HF beads distributed from top to bottom. Usually if RH starts to creep up I take all the beads out and throw them in the oven and a day later everything is perfect again. I only noticed the water by a fluke chance of just checking in the back by the fan. I was shocked to feel water there. There has never been more than a few drops before. I will check the beads for saturation tonight but I just baked them about 2 months ago. Maybe I somehow just mysteriously developed a major leak.

[Elco69]

So after close to 3 years of flawless wineador operation...mine has suddenly decided to create a daily pool of water collecting under the fan. I have the drain plugged. I also had applied several layers of electrical tape over the drain reservoir so that it is basically a funnel. It has been this way for at least the past year and i have never had any condensation build up there...let alone an actual pool of water. I have not changed anything recently so I am really dumbfounded why all of a sudden I have to mop up every day to get rid of this water. It is messing with my normally rock solid RH. Not cool man.

Any one have any ideas what is going on here??

Hey Kris, the daily pool of water is caused by the fan on the back not operating properly. The peltier assembly is a solid state device that rapidly cools on one side, and gets very hot on the other. These modules are "stuck" in between two heatsinks, one to pull the hot away from the pad and out the back of the unit and the other to pull the cold and have the fan blow into the fridge. Ice builds up on these pads in the right conditions, and will melt off when the pad is not running. When the fan on the back does not work properly, like being dusty, pet hair.... or it has failed, the peltier assembly gets very hot and heats up the inside part of the assembly and melts whatever frost maybe on the unit.

Long story short, I would check the fan on the back. I have 2 Whynter CHC-251S units and I check and clean the fans every month. I m an IT consultant and it is part of my routine when I clean my workstations and servers

[projectsunfire]

Hey Kris, the daily pool of water is caused by the fan on the back not operating properly. The peltier assembly is a solid state device that rapidly cools on one side, and gets very hot on the other. These modules are "stuck" in between two heatsinks, one to pull the hot away from the pad and out the back of the unit and the other to pull the cold and have the fan blow into the fridge. Ice builds up on these pads in the right conditions, and will melt off when the pad is not running. When the fan on the back does not work properly, like being dusty, pet hair.... or it has failed, the peltier assembly gets very hot and heats up the inside part of the assembly and melts whatever frost maybe on the unit.

Long story short, I would check the fan on the back. I have 2 Whynter CHC-251S units and I check and clean the fans every month. I m an IT consultant and it is part of my routine when I clean my workstations and servers

damn ok...I never even thought of that. I will check it tonight. Thanks!

[Chad Vegas]

I also picked mine up from air-n-water.

Good price, quick and friendly...

My Spanish Cedar inserts from John Nelson are supposed to be delivered tomorrow!

Nice! Spanish Cedar inserts are always a sexy addition for any cigar collection!

[projectsunfire]

Hey Kris, the daily pool of water is caused by the fan on the back not operating properly. The peltier assembly is a solid state device that rapidly cools on one side, and gets very hot on the other. These modules are "stuck" in between two heatsinks, one to pull the hot away from the pad and out the back of the unit and the other to pull the cold and have the fan blow into the fridge. Ice builds up on these pads in the right conditions, and will melt off when the pad is not running. When the fan on the back does not work properly, like being dusty, pet hair.... or it has failed, the peltier assembly gets very hot and heats up the inside part of the assembly and melts whatever frost maybe on the unit.

Long story short, I would check the fan on the back. I have 2 Whynter CHC-251S units and I check and clean the fans every month. I m an IT consultant and it is part of my routine when I clean my workstations and servers

so both fans are working, no dust or dirt, etc so I guess that's not the issue either.

[Elco69]

so both fans are working, no dust or dirt, etc so I guess that's not the issue either.

hmm....Has anything else changed in your environment or added new sticks? What has your ambient temp and RH been like in the room? The other things that has come has crossed my mind is that the peltier module, that is sandwiched between the 2 heat sinks has malfunctioned and is getting too cold on the inside and causing the inside heat sink to continually frost up.