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Problems with seal on Coleman xtreme 70q?
TexasToast
Posts: 37 ✭✭
in Cigar 101
Been a while but I need some help on a humidity issue I’m having in my Coleman xtreme. So I have 5 320g packs of 69% in with some boxes and air pillows to take up space. I just sealed off the drain valve but when I talked to boveda the only thing they can think of is the seal. Has anybody had problems with the seals on these things and how do I tell if mine is bad. Humidity gets as low as 60% in the coolidor. Thanks
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Are the boveda packs drying out? What are you measuring the rh with? What is the ambient temperature where the cooler is kept? 5 320g in a 70qt and you’re filling space with air pillows?
I'd say seal it fakely with something like a large garbage bag and see what it reads if it magically reads good then u got a shït seal which seems unlikely if it reads the same then it's probably just whatever you're reading it with.. like rusty said are the packs drying out? Probably not so I'd imagine it's what your reading with.
@Rdp77 @Jrflickster Bovedas are all liquid filled, hygrometers are accurate and have been recalibrated, temp is around 70. Yeah, only have a few boxes in there and I’m using air pillows to fill the void.
How much time have you allowed for the Bovedas to do their thing?
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
If the bovedas aren't dry then I'd say aren't accurate but Idk
If the boveda packs aren’t drying out you don’t have anything to worry about.
cooler seal
A few other notes here, brother. What an environment do you keep that Coleman in? Do you live in 19% humidity like I do right now? If so you might need a seal on that tub. I would suggest getting some round seal from home Depot or some weather stripping again from home Depot and putting it around the edge. Most of the guys don't have any seal around their coolers, but most of the guys live in some sort of moderately humid environment.
Of course, your hygrometer could be off. Even digital ones are off. I bought a 5 pack from Amazon and the two extremes are 5% different from each other. You can test your hygrometer by putting one of those bovedas in a ziplock with it. Then just remember the difference.
@VegasFrank Hey Frank! Yeah man I thought it was the hygrometers too but I have two in there just re calibrated and they’re reading the same as when I first calibrated… -1%. Even though the humidity is low they both still read the same. Highest I’ve seen it recently has been 66%. As far as the humidity goes I’m in south Texas so it’s usually very humid but lately it’s been anywhere from 35-50% humidity and the hygrometers are reading lower. I just have a hard time believing that something’s wrong with the seal. Idk at this point lol
🤮
Sorry just how I feel
By the way, the humidity getting as low as 60% is fine. 60% RH is good smoking weather...
This is a new setup I guess, may need a jumpstart. Put a damp sponge in there a few days. Monitor it to make sure it does go too high.
Buy a new cooler?
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
@Hobbes86 so far since adding a new 320g pack to make it 5 total, probably about three days.
It might just need some more time. If the seal passes the dollar bill test, then time is likely all you need.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
You may have a seal problem. A 70qt With 5 huge bovedas? Well, by God you should get exactly what those bovedas are rated for. I’m not an expert on anything but I’m pretty knowledgeable on X-treme Coleman coolers. I got a bunch of them. The first couple of ones I bought I noticed the lid on one was loose. There’s a notch on the front that serves as a latch and plastic hinges on the back. If you can lift the front of the closed lid and you feel slack before you contact the notch, then your lid might have a bad seal. Also your hinges in the back may be mounted badly and allow a gap. These coolers aren’t precisely built. I did seal that one with thin closed cell foam stick on weatherstripping on the underside of the lid and it worked great. I have bought more of these but I learned to pass on any that had a loose lid. Never needed to weatherstrip any of the rest of them since. Do a flashlight test and see how bad your gap is. And the dollar bill test is a good idea too. Go all around the lid checking for that gap.
couple of examples of bad seals:
What did I get wrong? Or does somebody have fat fingers?
I’m gonna guess fat fingers.
Seriously serious question. Why not just add a gasket or seal anyhow?
You need more cigars. Add some more boxes, get rid of the air pillows and relax. 60% is nothing to freak out about
@Bob_Luken did the dollar bill test and on one of the front corners the thing slides out with no resistance. Also noticed that one of the screws holding the hinge in the back just spins in place and isn’t keeping the hinge as tight to the cooler as the other ones.
Now you know where to put the weather stripping, and a little hot glue in that stripped screw hole should fix you right up.
Or maybe a pop rivet
Or a bigger screw
I know, You're a big dog and I'm on the list.
Let's eat, GrandMa. / Let's eat GrandMa. -- Punctuation saves lives
It'll be fine once the swelling goes down.
TWSS
1) Choose a tight lid
2) Move to DullAware.
3) Rarely open
I have remote wireless hygros in three big fish coolidors. One holds wrapper leaf at 64%, one holds filler leaf at 50%, and the third holds about a kilogar of home rolls aging at 62%. No bovedas ever ever ever have gone into any of them. Zero expense. Nada. They are virtually impervious to change.
Of course, I rarely open them. That's key. I take out what I want to roll and set that in separate small stackable Colemans. Again, drier filler goes in one stacker, damper wrapper & binder in another. Those are my day tanks for leaf, so to speak.
The big stash coolers may remain unopened for a month at a time. The aging stash may remain unopened for two months at a stretch. Aged gars ready to spark are taken from the aging trove in bunches and stored in a regular humidor.
All lids are tight.
Wrapper and binders go thru a conditioning chamber which makes them damper and limper before use; but filler is rolled dry enough to make a crackle. Fresh gars ROTT go into a dry humi which sucks the damp out of the binder and wrapper. Meanwhile, a box is conditioned to receive them. When a batch is finished, it goes in its box, & the box goes into aging coolidor. That's a big 'un... big enough to set across the back of a fishing boat.
Never a problem. But then, I live on a sandbank between two rivers. If you piss off a DullAware woman in heels so bad that she stomps her foot, she will strike water. Never buy a house with a basement here. You drop a pebble in my back yard, it will likely be in China by election day.
Nevertheless, with the heater running this morning it's only 33% in the office. But that does not affect the stashadors. Numbers are remarkably stable in there.
Have you tried hydrating the room? In Winter, when the furnace is really cranking, I run a heating humidifier in the office here, because I don't want dry air to make my budgie Robin all itchy. The room humidifier emits steamy vapor, too, which helps keep Robin warm at night. Easy to use, easy to keep full of water. That may be a key as well.