DOES ANYONE CURRENTLY OWN & USE A "NewAir 28 Bottle Wine Cooler"

kos22us

doesnt matter what season it is or wether i have the heater/ac on or off the temp. in my humidor is a constant battle that never ends, im totally at the end of the road on this matter ! the coolidors seem to be very popular but i think i would be in the same boat so im not trying to go down that road at all either the wine cooler appears to be the best bet for my situation, the NewAir 28 Bottle Wine Cooler is the one i see mentioned the most but havent been able to find many reviews on how it works in general let alone how it works as a humidor, im a poor man with a rich mans hobby so this would be a big purchase for me, i would really really appreciate any insight or info on this if someone would kindly help me out i may have a few follow up questions thank you in advance Jack, PA

thedjfish@comcast.net

i use 2 models of the newair wine coolers, aw280e and aw281e, these wine coolers are thermo electric, so no compressors, they work with a peltier system lil electronic thing that gets cool on one side and hot on the other,
as for using these as wineadors, gonna take a bit but basicly block the drain hole use a bit of silicone or tape,
get your self a humidifier, say small electric i like these because they will adjust the humidity pretty fast , as a secondary humidity control some humidity beads or silica cat litter, when using both your electronic will not to often and you can turn on or off as needed, the silica beads will be doing the majority of the controlling and absorbing the condensation of waters, this will be from the cooler turning on and off cooling, get some pc fans arrange them in the best way to get air moved around the humidity in the cooler as well as moving the cool air,some cedar shelves if you have time to wait some places make then custom for your cooler but takes 8-12 weeks for them to get done, or do what i did buy some cedar planks cut down to fit as shelves slats and buy some cedar trays for humidors
whole thing sounds harder then it is, im sure others will post there ideas or what works for them, so use this as an idea for what your looking to do.

kos22us

thedjfish@comcast.net:

i use 2 models of the newair wine coolers, aw280e and aw281e, these wine coolers are thermo electric, so no compressors, they work with a peltier system lil electronic thing that gets cool on one side and hot on the other,
as for using these as wineadors, gonna take a bit but basicly block the drain hole use a bit of silicone or tape,
get your self a humidifier, say small electric i like these because they will adjust the humidity pretty fast , as a secondary humidity control some humidity beads or silica cat litter, when using both your electronic will not to often and you can turn on or off as needed, the silica beads will be doing the majority of the controlling and absorbing the condensation of waters, this will be from the cooler turning on and off cooling, get some pc fans arrange them in the best way to get air moved around the humidity in the cooler as well as moving the cool air,some cedar shelves if you have time to wait some places make then custom for your cooler but takes 8-12 weeks for them to get done, or do what i did buy some cedar planks cut down to fit as shelves slats and buy some cedar trays for humidors
whole thing sounds harder then it is, im sure others will post there ideas or what works for them, so use this as an idea for what your looking to do.

very cool thank you, are there any differences in the two models other than the finish ? i only need 1 and would of course want the better of the two, i like the look of the 280e a little more are they quiet or loud any hum or weird noises ? thank you

thedjfish@comcast.net

they are bbasicly the same other then the finish, as for noise it has a pc fan in the back area so no louder then a desk top pc with the fan running,

kos22us

thedjfish@comcast.net:

they are bbasicly the same other then the finish, as for noise it has a pc fan in the back area so no louder then a desk top pc with the fan running,

couple more quick questions if you dont mind did you line the sides, top & bottom with anything ? when you cut down your cedar planks for the shelves do they fit in all the way against the back wall or did you make them shorter so there would be a couple inches between the back wall & the back end of the shlef for better circulation purposes ? final question, did you drill small holes in the cedar planks again for better circulation purposes ? thanks alot i really appreciate the info

thedjfish@comcast.net

i did not line sides, or top, i did lay some slats on the bottom so my humidifier was not sitting on the bottom of the cooler,
for the size i only cut the planks about 2" wide by the width of the cooler shelve slots, these are to hold the tray or cigar boxes so 2 slats per shelf sort to speak so circulation is not a issue, i left a bit of space between the back wall for circulation, same in the front,
no drilling used the slats as is. with small slats it made it easy to arrange and mount the fans since the slats can adjusted in or out with out worrying about circulation or having to cut over or trim constantly,
not pretty but functions just perfectly

alienmisprint

I use that model, I dig it alot. I really didn't do anything to it, just set it up and threw in some beads for humidity control. I love it. There are websites that you can order pre-cut Spanish cedar shelves or drawers to replace the existing metal shelves. I ended up just taking out all the lower shelves and stacking boxes up to fill the bottom, leaving just the top shelf in to hold a few bags for singles and my humi beads.

kos22us

if you guys dont mind me asking how long have you been using your unit ? i read all the reviews on amazon for the newair aw280e and it seems the life span of the unit is about 2 years & less than in some cases, now these people for the most part are using as a wine cooler and the lowest temp. setting is about where you would want your wine ie: the unit is working as hard as it can continously causing the most stress, i realize i would have mine at the highest temp setting which would be alot less stress but even if that gave it an additional 3 years of life for a total of 5 years of life (speculation) than im looking at about 400- for two units in 10 years, the cedar & trays could be swapped but buying that stuff is what another 50-100 bucks, im looking at these beautiful cigar tower humidors that are plenty big enough of to install a small professional grade cooling unit, some sites have them marked 599- or make an offer so even if i got one at 500- these units properly kept would basically last a life time right ? i dont know, talk me into something or talk me out of something

alienmisprint

I've had mine since early 2011, and it has been running constantly at 65 degrees. I haven't had any issues with it so far, and as far as I know it is still in great shape. It even moved from Louisiana to Korea and then back to Texas and still runs fine.