AuTechCoM's Step By Step Newair AW-280e guide
So as promised, here is my step by step guide to my NewAir AW-280e Build. To be honest it took a lot longer than I had expected, but I am extremely satisfied with the outcome.
I am going to spare you guys all of the unboxing pics and just get right in to the build. Let’s be honest no one likes to watch someone else unbox something.
-----------------------------------------Material list----------------------------------------------
Hard Materials:
NewAir AW-280e
Purchased from www.air-n-water.com using the coupon code “buynow” for 20% off and then wrote a review on Air-n-Waters amazon site for a $10 refund on my order.
Drawers form www.winedors.com (Forrest
@R1100RS
)
I opted for the 4 Drawer, 2 Shelf model, with 3” pulls and I also ordered 4 long dividers and 10 short dividers
Heartfelt Industries Beads 2 LBS
I used the outside dimensions to calculate what I would need for a little buffer. It said I only needed a little over a pound so I doubled up
Heartfelt Blue Cap Medium Tubes x4
To spread out between the drawers
XiKar Digital Round Hygrometers x2
Cleaning/Prep Materials:
New Generic sponges x10
I know it was more than I needed but I think it worked the best.
New Box of Baking Soda
Always use a new box, because you don’t want to transfer any smells it might have absorbed of last week’s tuna salad.
A Few Newspapers
4- Pack of Ziploc Storage containers
Bottle of Un-Scented Dish Soap
Roll of Paper Towels
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Okay guys let’s start the build!
Step One. Prep your work area
Prep your work area. And make sure you sort the laundry in the room first and don’t just put a folding table over it in you excitement to get started. Trust me you don’t want to hear that one from your Wife.
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There, that’s better:
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Happy Wife, Happy Life.
Step Two. “Decontamination” approximately 72 hrs
First With one of the sponges start scrubbing. I used Hot water and the Un-Scented Soap first. On all surfaces inside. Don’t be afraid to get wet and use a little elbow grease. Then use a new sponge with clean hot water rinse out all of the soap residue. Wipe out with clean paper towels and allow to air dry for a little while with the door open.
Then Mix Hot water and baking soda together in a container. I used a lot of baking soda (almost half of a box to make a mixture/paste. Now apply that to every square inch of the internal surface. And close the door. As it dries you will notice the inside turn white. Don’t worry we will be cleaning that all off in 24 hours.
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Now that the mixture has had time to work its magic. Start again with hot water and soap. This will be a little tricky in the corners and especially in the shelf slots. You may need to use Q-tips to get the tight places clean. Then again with a hot water rinse and towel dry. (I made sure to use one sponge for each step. I don’t think this is necessary, but it made me feel like I wasn't cross contaminating anything) now allow to air dry with the door open. (Give it a few hours)
Now comes the fun part. Make sure that your wife isn't trying to put the baby down for the night when you do this. After the surface is completely dry start crumbling up big wads of newspaper. And fill the unit to the brim. This can be tricky with the unit standing up, I didn't lay it down because well I have had bed experience laying refrigerators on their sides, But I am sure that wouldn't have an effect on this unit since it is a thermoelectric unit.
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Now wait….. As long as you can and resist the urge to open the door. I only made it about 20 hours. Then empty the paper and take a good whiff, if you can still smell the plastic load it back up and give it another 24 hours, or as long as you can handle. By the time I was ready for bet the next day I emptied it and could barely smell any plastic, so just for good measure I threw the box of baking soda in overnight while I slept, and let the magical Wineador fairies work their magic. When I arose the next morning like a kid on Christmas I ran in the room and buried my nose in the unit to find that there was absolutely no plastic smell, so I ran and woke the teenager up in fear that I had gone nose blind to the smell of plastic and told her “Smell my Wine Fridge!” she gave me the all clear and also the Death eyes of a teenage girl being woken up at 6 A.M to smell a wine fridge… I thought about calling in sick for the day but, I couldn’t.
Step Three. “Seasoning” Approximately 72 hrs
After assembling the drawers and putting them in, affix your hygrometers. I placed one on the bottom drawer and one on the top drawer. I like the idea of being able to just take a glance at my wineador and knowing how it is doing.
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Now this is where your Ziploc containers and extra sponges are used. I put a fresh sponge in each one of the sandwich containers, and fill with distilled water up to about halfway up the sponge
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My idea was that the sponge would give more efficient evaporative surface than just trays of water allowing for faster seasoning. I mean hell I have had this thing for 3 days already and I have barely put my drawers in. I put one on the bottom and one in each drawer. Now close the door and try to forget that it exists. I just ended up sitting and staring at it until it was bed time. When I started the hygros read 39% by the next morning I was sitting at 63% … still a long way from the 80% that I was shooting for. So after 2 days I was at 74% and couldn’t take it anymore, I needed to do something so I took out 2 of the containers and emptied the water and filled each one up with 1 pound of HF beads. I hydrated 1 of the containers as per Heartfelt industries suggestions and the other went in dry. Then let it sit for a few hours until the RH settled right at about 67% (the reason I didn't wait for exactly 65% was because my desktop bovedas had run dry and I had only maintained about 60% RH for 2 weeks in my desktops.
Step Four. “Filling this beast up” This step really never ends
Who would have known that this would be the hardest part? So much room and so many options for sorting. So I tried to come up with the perfect organizational method but was too excited to come up with one while at the same time realizing that I have way too many singles.
So here is the finished product:
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Thanks for everyone who helped guide me. And I hope this help anyone looking to build a wineador.
*I will be looking into electronics (Fans/Controllers) in the near future. I just want to let it do its thing for a little while to get a benchmark of performance first
** If you have any questions or if I left anything out please feel free to contact me.
