New to the forum/ Hygrometer off by 18%?

danielruas

First I'd like to introduce myself I'm new to the forum and regular cigar smoking. I've always liked cigars but started smoking them regularly about 6 months ago. A few hundred dollars later and a couple of favorites, a couple duds and getting my a$$ kicked once or twice here I am.

Now on to my question I've got a little havana hygrometer in my 50 ct glasstop humidor and I've salt tested it 3 times and it always gets to 52% I'll throw it back in the humi and it reads right around 51-53%. I know most hygrometers can be off but I think this is a bit much. Should I just trust it reads off by 18% or dump it and get a new hygrometer?

Heres a pic of my humi a few weeks ago with around 22 sticks in it, its got about 12 more sticks in there now and still reading around 52%.



Anyhow thanks for the help!

crzydimnd68

I'd opt to get a new one.And some beads.They're cheap enough and worth every penny.

Joeyjoe21_8

Walmart makes a little white one...5 bucks...temp/humi% and it works great...you can calibrate it but what u can do, is test it overnight with the salt test, and when u wake up, if it says 65%....it just means when u look at the hygro just add 5% to it in ur mind. mine is off by 1%. but hell, 5 bucks and its great/

Diamondog

Joeyjoe21_8:

Walmart makes a little white one...5 bucks...temp/humi% and it works great...you can calibrate it but what u can do, is test it overnight with the salt test, and when u wake up, if it says 65%....it just means when u look at the hygro just add 5% to it in ur mind. mine is off by 1%. but hell, 5 bucks and its great/

Salt test is 75%

blurr

Yeah DD is right, salt test if done correctly should get your hygrometer to 75%. With that being said, if you are confident the gel you are using is holding 70% pretty closely then you still are correct in it reading 18-19% low. I have a $7 walmart Springfield cheapo hygrometer that reads 25% low, so I'm not suprised.
I think I would just deal with it by always knowing You need to add 19% to the reading and you should be fine.

danielruas

Thanks fellas, I think what I'll do is pick up a new hygrometer and test it out and possibly pick up some beads.

Joeyjoe21_8

oh thats right....dur. lol

kaspera79

Daniel.. Did you season that humidor. The wood may be stealing all the moisture and will never catch up. And Close that humidor ! It will never get to 65 with the lid open.

docbp87

If the hygrometer has a the ability to be calibrated, like a reset button or anything, do the salt test, and after about 12 hours in the bag, even if it still reads 52 or whatever, hit that calibrate button, and it should calibrate it properly.

danielruas

Just want to thank you all for the help, I ended up picking up a new calibrate able hygrometer salt tested it for a couple days then tossed it in the humi and am getting a steady reading of 68% which is fine by me and gives me some peace of mind that my jars are working and that the humi is seasoned since I now have a box of 20 CAO Brazilias on the way.

Joeyjoe21_8

I love brazilias...my humi finally took a dive of % so i did a salt test on the hydro...either the battery is almost dead or its off by 7% now cuz mine only read 65% and i left it in the bag for 24 hours. Ill pick up a new battery cuz I think its been a year ive had it. lol. dam batteries.

cimberdog

blurr:

Yeah DD is right, salt test if done correctly should get your hygrometer to 75%.

Can you tell me what the salt test is?

laker1963

cimberdog:

blurr:

Yeah DD is right, salt test if done correctly should get your hygrometer to 75%.

Can you tell me what the salt test is?

your question about your husbands Humi has been answered in the other thread you asked about it in this morning.

xmacro

cimberdog:

blurr:

Yeah DD is right, salt test if done correctly should get your hygrometer to 75%.

Can you tell me what the salt test is?

http://www.cigarpass.com/index.php/salt-test-calibrate-hygrometer.html

Basically, salt naturally emits/absorbs humidity around 75% RH (relative humidity) - it's used to calibrate hygrometers and make sure they're accurate. Ideally, after being placed in a bag of damp salt for a day, a properly functioning hygrometer should read 75%

The link I posted will tell you how to do it; only things I disagree with is the amount of water - you don't want soaking wet salt - just damp salt (think wet sand at the beach after the tide goes out), preferably leaving some of it dry - one bottle cap damp salt and one bottle cap dry salt should do you fine. Secondly, the salt test should be left alone for 24-36 hrs - the humidity will spike and drop, and you need to give it time to settle out - 4 hrs just isn't long enough.

Heavy

I had a hygrometer that looks very similar to the one in your picture and it was off by about 17%-18%. I used it for a while becuase it was at least consistently off. But I eventually just got a new one.

cimberdog

your question about your husbands Humi has been answered in the other thread you asked about it in this morning.

Yes, I saw that. Thank you. But I wasn't aware of what the salt test is after reading the responses there and downloading the document link that was posted.