Mini Fridge to Humidor

I know that the compressor in my mini fridge is going to dry out my sticks but I would like some opinions on these subjects:

1. I'm planning on putting in an electronic HOUSE thermostat to control the on/off of the fridge to keep it at 68*F so although it may DRY them a little but with about 2lb. of beads for a 5 cubic foot fridge do you think the beads can combat the drying?

2. Do you think that the home thermostat would WORK?

3. If I cannot figure out the wiring of the mini fridge do you think that it has a good enough seal to at least keep the cigars in there during the winter (i.e. I won't need to COOL them just keep an airtight box)

Any input would be great guys

I can get a 16 bottle wine fridge for $150 but if I can spend $20 on a thermostat and be done with it I'd be allot happier!

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Comments

AQUADGIO1200

I think you are better off with your 2nd choice. I had a Vinotemp wine fridge last year.....most newer style wine coolers are THERMAL ELECTRIC, but make sure before you buy one that its that type. Thermal Electric models will not suck up the humidity that a normal wine fridge or std fridge would. You can line the interior with spanish cedar or just buy spanish cedar cigar trays for storage. Try to get a 16 bottle or 32 bottle for tons of storage and enjoy.

jeff_connors

Try putting your digital hygrometer in the fridge , whats the RH%? In the interest of saving some cash and science, I vote you give choice one a try, dont buy anything just fiddle with the fridge as is...im curious myself to see if it will work..does the fridge have its own thermostat you can fool with,if so use a thermometer to test what setting is what temp. Im sure your experiments will help other BOLT's down the line with similar concerns....dont you already have one vino up a running??

ironhorse

As a person in the heating and cooling business. Be careful with a house thermostat, especially the cheaper ones. They are really not that accurate as to the actual temprature of the house. Most of them simply give you a base in which to judge warmer or cooler off of. I have seen some that are up to 7 degrees off.

TatuajeVI

So does that mean my digital hygrometer/thermometer is probably a bit off? Seems relatively accurate, but I assume it's not exactly spot on.

But it would be perfect to test out a fridge. Throw that in the fridge, it will read temp and humidity. Not bad.

ironhorse

Well the humidity should be spot on if you calibrated it. As far as temp, maybe a degree off. The digital hygrometer/thermometer are way more accurate than a house t-stat, because they are produced to be relied upon for accuracy. A house t-stat is meant to turn the furnace/AC on when it gets above or below a desired temp set by the homeowner. The super fancy new honeywell ones are accurate, but they cost 100 dollars or so. A 30 dollar home depot issue t-stat will likely be way off and should stop fooling people with degrees written on it, It should look like the t-stat in the back of your refridgerator if it was to be a true representation of what they really expect it to do.

ironhorse

and another thing to be careful of with a fridge is that they routinely go colder than the desired setting and then let the insulation hold the cool as long as it can till the t-stat sets it off again. So it won't cool to just 68 or so and then shut off. It will likely cool to 62 or so before it shuts off. It's not wired like home airconditioning.

clearlysuspect

Whatever happens, let us know. I'm curious to see how this all turns out.

Lasabar

clearlysuspect:
Whatever happens, let us know. I'm curious to see how this all turns out.

I think I've settled on one Idea...

I bought Two pounds of beads (to cover 10 Cubic feet of space in my 5.2 cubic fridge) and I will be buying a "External Thermostat" that will read a certain temp and cut the electricity wen it gets to 68*F...

This seems like the cheapest option at $65.... We'll see.

clearlysuspect

That sounds like it'll work. How many stogies do suppose this thing is gonna hold?

Lasabar

clearlysuspect:
That sounds like it'll work. How many stogies do suppose this thing is gonna hold?

The size difference between my mini fridge and my Wine fridge would make me guess the 5.2 cubic foot mini fridge could potentially hold 20-30 boxes or potentially 1000 singles.... It's huge inside!

clearlysuspect

Lasabar:
clearlysuspect:
That sounds like it'll work. How many stogies do suppose this thing is gonna hold?
The size difference between my mini fridge and my Wine fridge would make me guess the 5.2 cubic foot mini fridge could potentially hold 20-30 boxes or potentially 1000 singles.... It's huge inside!

That's good to know. I've only been enjoying cigars for a few months now and I already have over 100 cigars. At this rate, I'm gonna need something much bigger to house all these things. This might be an option for me eventually.