Walk-in

onestrangeone

I am going to be moving before too much longer and will have to build a closet in what wil be my new office in order to have some place for my cigars. It occurred to me that this would be the time to do a small walk-in (280 cu. ft.) I am in the R&D phase of this project now, the actual construction doesn't worry me, I have done wine cellars and it's basically the same process. 
I have been researching electric humidifiers and they are not cheap, so my first question, is anyone familiar with the Trion humidifiers? These are the least expensive that I have found but I don't know if I would be comfortable with something that blows a mist close to my cigars.
I can build this to where it is airtight and am wondering if I could simply use KL and water jars? does anyone have experience with the large cabinets or a small walk- in that is not electronic?
What are y'all's thoughts? 

Lee.mcglynn

Personally I was researching a bunch a while ago and did build some big electronic humidifiers. Pretty much I did it this way...I bought 5 gal buckets and digital hygrometer/rh regulators. Packed them with beads and hooked up a bigger computer fan to the low voltage. It cost me about $40 for the set up and works just fine when calibrated and tweeked

peter4jc

I don't have direct experience, Nathan, but depending on how often you open the door to walk in, I doubt that KL would be able to recover.

As far as a misting humidifier, if you run purified water through it, you should be OK.

Sounds like a great project... 5' x 7' by my calculations.

onestrangeone

@lee.mcglynn I like this, don't know why I always overlook the simplest design
@peter4jc very close my friend 4x10 with 7' ceiling, I have seen the Trion in action and you can actually see the mist it puts out, it might be okay in a larger room, I'm just not sure about smaller space and they are still a few hundred bucks, I don't mind spending the cash, I just can't afford too make an expensive mistake.

CharlieHeis

I'd be wary of a mist as well. I'd see if Lee's idea works for you before going the other route. I'd rather have an extra $40 invested and find out I need to go the more expensive way than the other way around. 

Lee.mcglynn

Yeah I dislike the misters especially when you see it going right onto cigars! I'd keep it simple and see what works. The one draw back to what I did was since its beads you need to use distilled water which can get expensive in the long run. 

90+_Irishman

I agree with Lee and everyone else, not a fan of the mist too dangerous and likely to cause mold and other issues I would imagine especially that close to a cigar spitting it out! I like the idea that Lee came up with though, sounds promising!

Brett

onestrangeone

Yeah I really like Lee's idea as well, already have a plan of sorts and will put together a prototype this afternoon and start testing and tweaking it.

90+_Irishman

Awesome, keep us in the loop Nate can't wait to see how this comes out!

Brett

Lee.mcglynn

onestrangeone said:

Yeah I really like Lee's idea as well, already have a plan of sorts and will put together a prototype this afternoon and start testing and tweaking it.

Just FYI I used a 5gal bucket with a 2inch hole for the fan and used a 3/4 inch Pvc pipe for the inlet. I put it 3/4 of the way down in the bucket. I used beads off eBay and the were the beads orbeez makes. You can get a pounds worth for under $20. A pound should do just fine! Good luck and hope it works for you

peter4jc

Just saw this on facebook, a closet-to-humidor conversion, and thought 'what a cool door to put on that'.

NorthsideSmoke

Wow, that is awesome. How would you like to have something like that in operation for a decade?

Ryan1990

That is freakin' sweet

90+_Irishman

Now THAT is the right way to do it hot damn! Love the look and the function has to be perfect!

Brett

Lee.mcglynn

The sad part is most of us would fill it and still have coolers and wine fridges going! I know I coule prob fill it with half of what I have. But it does look nice

matkn293

Did you just most the beads every so often or what did you do with the distilled water?  What the regulator did you use?

Lee.mcglynn

I got a cheap regulator off fleabay and just add water as needed. I made a couple for people and one for a b&m. I used the pvc as a dip tube so it would make the air go out from close to the bottom.

Lee.mcglynn

For the b&m I used the foam since they don't use distilled water

jbohon

Lee.mcglynn said:

Personally I was researching a bunch a while ago and did build some big electronic humidifiers. Pretty much I did it this way...I bought 5 gal buckets and digital hygrometer/rh regulators. Packed them with beads and hooked up a bigger computer fan to the low voltage. It cost me about $40 for the set up and works just fine when calibrated and tweeked

I'd love to see how you put the electronics together for this.  

Lee.mcglynn

jbohon said:

Lee.mcglynn said:

Personally I was researching a bunch a while ago and did build some big electronic humidifiers. Pretty much I did it this way...I bought 5 gal buckets and digital hygrometer/rh regulators. Packed them with beads and hooked up a bigger computer fan to the low voltage. It cost me about $40 for the set up and works just fine when calibrated and tweeked

I'd love to see how you put the electronics together for this.  

It's actually very simple if you know anything about high and low voltage. If you don't I'm sure YouTube has a good walk through. Pretty much there is supply volts control volts and that's about it

jbohon

I understand the high and low voltage part.  Did the hygrometer have a low voltage (12/24V) output for the CPU fan?  That seems like it would be a much more cost efficient way of regulating a larger cabinet as well (with a smaller bead container and fan). I've been looking into a larger cabinet and this seems like a really great idea!

jbohon

Ok, now I get it.  I looked into the rh regulator and now it all makes sense.  Looks like I have a new project to tinker with! Woo Hoo!!!