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

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...416_182104.jpg
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.

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...416_175106.jpg

There, that’s better:

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...416_181959.jpg

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.

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...416_191112.jpg

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.

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...417_230536.jpg

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.

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...418_225620.jpg

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

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...418_210832.jpg

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:

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...418_225620.jpg

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...420_194034.jpg

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...420_194012.jpg

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...420_193949.jpg

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...420_193936.jpg

http://i1046.photobucket.com/albums/...420_193926.jpg


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.

is it still sitting in the laundry room?

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Originally Posted by Lynn

is it still sitting in the laundry room?

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Baby/Laundry Room... Last year my wife Commandeered my man cave to build the Nursery that the baby has never spent one night in. so it has become our laundry sorting room/home of my wineador. This might be the first step toward getting my man cave back

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuTechCoM

Baby/Laundry Room... Last year my wife Commandeered my man cave to build the Nursery that the baby has never spent one night in. so it has become our laundry sorting room/home of my wineador. This might be the first step toward getting my man cave back

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DREAM ON MAN..once its commandeered it gone..it could be walls floor ceiling but its not open to you...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lynn

DREAM ON MAN..once its commandeered it gone..it could be walls floor ceiling but its not open to you...

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Yeah I know :spankme::yield::bitchslap:

Thanks Jonathan now I really want one of these...looks great!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sweet Cigars

Thanks Jonathan now I really want one of these...looks great!

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Thanks man. I have wanted one ever since i saw my first one.

Looks great Jonathan! Glad to see it finally up and running for you! Very nice write-up as well. Now the real trick is not to fill it beyond capacity and need another one ;)

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Originally Posted by projectsunfire

Looks great Jonathan! Glad to see it finally up and running for you! Very nice write-up as well. Now the real trick is not to fill it beyond capacity and need another one ;)

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I knew I shouldn't have canceled the other 7 coolers i ordered... I can already tell that I am going to need a couple more One for boxes and believe it or not i might even get one for wine.

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Originally Posted by AuTechCoM

I knew I shouldn't have canceled the other 7 coolers i ordered... I can already tell that I am going to need a couple more One for boxes and believe it or not i might even get one for wine.

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You can put wine in these? Who knew!:confused:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuTechCoM

Baby/Laundry Room... Last year my wife Commandeered my man cave to build the Nursery that the baby has never spent one night in. so it has become our laundry sorting room/home of my wineador. This might be the first step toward getting my man cave back

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lol.....you think your ever getting that space back.....lol

Great photos and step by step instructions. A++

Fantastic write up! I just purchased a wine cooler this weekend and will be starting the process this upcoming weekend. Now to order drawers...

Fantastic write up! Will be adding this to the wineador post!

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Originally Posted by JollyRogers

Fantastic write up! Will be adding this to the wineador post!

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Awesome sauce! thank you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by projectsunfire

Looks great Jonathan! Glad to see it finally up and running for you! Very nice write-up as well. Now the real trick is not to fill it beyond capacity and need another one ;)

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Where the hell were you a few months back when I bought a second Kris !

Good advice here Jonathan......

And glad you finally got this project done brother !

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Originally Posted by WNYTONY

Where the hell were you a few months back when I bought a second Kris !

Good advice here Jonathan......

And glad you finally got this project done brother !

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haha I most likely would have encouraged you anyway

@AuTechCoM I bought the same newair as you and I was wondering what you did to get the tabs off for the drawers to be able to slide in.
Also wondered how you attached your hygros to the drawers. I'm afraid of ruining the finish on my drawer fronts with sticky stuff.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tjhemp

@AuTechCoM I bought the same newair as you and I was wondering what you did to get the tabs off for the drawers to be able to slide in.
Also wondered how you attached your hygros to the drawers. I'm afraid of ruining the finish on my drawer fronts with sticky stuff.

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Tabs? I had heard them mentioned but I didn't have to do anything. They just slid right in. And as far as the hygros, since I didn't get hardwood fronts I wasn't too worried about it. However I am thinking about routing out and recessing them in. So right now they just have the XiKar double sided tape
@tjhemp could you send me a picture of the tabs. I have never seen them

Quote:

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Originally Posted by projectsunfire

Looks great Jonathan! Glad to see it finally up and running for you! Very nice write-up as well. Now the real trick is not to fill it beyond capacity and need another one ;)

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Foolishness!

@AuTechCoM , thanks for this! Tomorrow I'm removing my newspapers and excited to see how it went. I was debating posting up the full set on my efforts, but you had it pretty much covered, so I'll just start/add it to a wineador thread should there be one once I fill it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SeanTheEvans

Foolishness!

@AuTechCoM , thanks for this! Tomorrow I'm removing my newspapers and excited to see how it went. I was debating posting up the full set on my efforts, but you had it pretty much covered, so I'll just start/add it to a wineador thread should there be one once I fill it

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Glad to hear that Sean. I am excited to see what you have done. I am just happy that I might have helped someone out there

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Originally Posted by Woodted

You can put wine in these? Who knew!:confused:

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It's the other way round.
Unless you do want Grape infused cigars...
If you do want such, I believe you can some already so infused.
Save yourself some money, and you avoid becoming a wino too.
Now here is the easiest way to do this.
Do not smoke any cigars that have larger ring gauges,you would either crush them or,
have to cut them down in size, this could well have a negative effect on how they smoke.
Do use only cigars of the smaller ring gauges which you can easily slip into a wine bottle.
Note you need to uncork or unscrew the bottle first.
Caution, if you break off one end of the wine bottle not 0nly will you have to live with the smell.
but the cigar will keep moving about resulting in uneven infusion.
The wine could evaporate before you are ready to smoke that cigar, and you end up with a dried out cigar.
One final tip, if you think the wine bottle is too full to allow the cigar to placed in there before resealing.
Pour some the wine out into an ashtray or other container then discard outside well away from the house.

When seasoning did you run the wineador?

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Originally Posted by bluenoser

When seasoning did you run the wineador?

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No i actually did not even plug it in until my room started to get hot. I almost regret plugging it in now. before I powered it up i was maintaining rock solid at 65%RH throughout the whole thing. now i need to build a fan rig because the top is at 70% and the bottom hits 59%.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuTechCoM

No i actually did not even plug it in until my room started to get hot. I almost regret plugging it in now. before I powered it up i was maintaining rock solid at 65%RH throughout the whole thing. now i need to build a fan rig because the top is at 70% and the bottom hits 59%.

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that's a fairly large difference. Mine is within 5% from top to bottom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by projectsunfire

that's a fairly large difference. Mine is within 5% from top to bottom

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It fluctuates throughout the day. The problem that I think is the biggest cause is that where I have been allowed to place it by SWMBO is against the east wall that is across from a window and it puts direct sunlight on it. I notice that in the morning when there is no sun exposure it is a minimal difference.

Can you put something over it or in front of it to block the sunlight? Maybe you can put something on the inside of the glass.

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Originally Posted by Zeede

Can you put something over it or in front of it to block the sunlight? Maybe you can put something on the inside of the glass.

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I have done this and it does help. However my 1 year old son has discovered that he gets a lot of attention when he messes with daddy's humidor

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuTechCoM

It fluctuates throughout the day. The problem that I think is the biggest cause is that where I have been allowed to place it by SWMBO is against the east wall that is across from a window and it puts direct sunlight on it. I notice that in the morning when there is no sun exposure it is a minimal difference.

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I would have to think that direct sunlight is definitely going to make it difficult to keep consistent. You said it was stable at 65 until you plugged it in. So it was still getting direct.
sunlight but that did not make it fluctuate?

When I first got mine setup I was incredibly OCD every time it changed +/- 1%. I still check it every day but as long as its no more than 3% off my target then I don't even think twice. And even then I usually just wait a day and then its back to normal. I have accepted that its just going to fluctuate. Plus unless are are spending mega dollars on a nasa level instrument...these hygrometers are not going to be 100% accurate anyway.

*UPDATE*

This has single handily been the best investment I have ever made. My wineador had been neglected and not even opened for a couple months and is still holding perfect RH with no signs of mold or any negative affects.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuTechCoM

*UPDATE*

This has single handily been the best investment I have ever made. My wineador had been neglected and not even opened for a couple months and is still holding perfect RH with no signs of mold or any negative affects.

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So it's still half empty ? :poke:

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Originally Posted by WNYTONY

So it's still half empty ? :poke:

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I prefer to think of it as twice the size it needs to be