Hydra and 3,000 count cabinet and beads -- HELP!

[icehog3]

How long were you running at 55%? With a cabinet that large, it will take several days to bring it up to 65% if your cigars had all actually reached 55% RH.

[BengalMan]

It ran at 55% for about a week until I put the hydra in. I don't have a problem with the hydra taking time to bring the cabinet back up to 65%, that's expected as you said. The thing that I don't understand is why the stupid alarm keeps going off, especially when it doesn't even need to be filled.

Mikey, I'm using the smaller one, not the commercial. The original point of the Hydra was to help bring the humidity back up and maintain it. I have a ton of beads in there, I figured adding the Hydra would put things back where they need to be.

I guess now I have two new questions:

What's the best way to seal the doors on the cabinet if there is indeed a leak?
How do you calibrate the hydra? Just take take the top off and lock it in a tupperwear and salt test like usual? I guess I could also put it in a container with 65% beads for a few hours and see what it reads.

Thoughts?

Thanks everyone for their help thus far!

[icehog3]

I don't have a Hydra....is the alarm designed to sound when the resevoir is empty, or when the humdior is below the set RH for a period of time?

[shilala]

Originally Posted by icehog3

I don't have a Hydra....is the alarm designed to sound when the resevoir is empty, or when the humdior is below the set RH for a period of time?

Tom, the hydra doesn't know if it has water in it or not. It just assumes it's empty and sounds the alarm when the RH doesn't rise.
See, hydras are designed to work in a certain small environment. It knows it should run x amount of time until the RH%age rises. If it's run longer than x amount of time it assumes the RH hasn't risen because it's out of water.
The same thing that's happening to Ian happens when I use a hydra to condition beads in my cooler.
The beads suck up water so fast that the RH%age in the cooler doesn't rise fast enough and the hydra thinks it's empty. The squealing is enough to drive a guy nuts.

[HK3-]

Turn the alarm off so it will quit beeping.

-OR-

Put a bowl of distilled water in the humi and take out the dang hydra until the humi stabilizes.

Is 4lbs. of beads big enough for that size humi?

What are the dimensions Bengal?

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by shilala

Tom, the hydra doesn't know if it has water in it or not. It just assumes it's empty and sounds the alarm when the RH doesn't rise.

That's what I would have guessed, but didn't know for sure without researching it. Thanks, Scott.

[BengalMan]

Originally Posted by shilala

Tom, the hydra doesn't know if it has water in it or not. It just assumes it's empty and sounds the alarm when the RH doesn't rise.
See, hydras are designed to work in a certain small environment. It knows it should run x amount of time until the RH%age rises. If it's run longer than x amount of time it assumes the RH hasn't risen because it's out of water.
The same thing that's happening to Ian happens when I use a hydra to condition beads in my cooler.
The beads suck up water so fast that the RH%age in the cooler doesn't rise fast enough and the hydra thinks it's empty. The squealing is enough to drive a guy nuts.

This makes complete sense, thanks for the info Scott. So I guess my question is, why the hell isn't the humidity raising? I think that then puts us back to the two likely scenarios: leak, or humidor is absorbing the humidity of 4lbs of beads and a hydra faster than all that combined can put it out. Somehow I don't think the ladder is true.....

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by BengalMan

This makes complete sense, thanks for the info Scott. So I guess my question is, why the hell isn't the humidity raising? I think that then puts us back to the two likely scenarios: leak, or .....

Unless the Hydra is defective?

Might be good to put it in a small container with a hygrometer to see?

Hope you get it figured out, Ian.

[BengalMan]

Originally Posted by icehog3

Unless the Hydra is defective?

Might be good to put it in a small container with a hygrometer to see?

Hope you get it figured out, Ian.

So do I, lol.

I loaded the humidor up with all the beads I have, a charged Hydra, and 6 half sponges throughout and I'm going to see what it's at tomorrow morning. If things are still wacked then I'm going to have to look into the above issue and a leak I think.

[HK3-]

Did you try closing the door?

Sorry, I'm no help.

[Texan in Mexico]

I will be honest and admit I dont know the first thing but Im rooting for you!

Travis

[BengalMan]

Originally Posted by icehog3

I don't have a Hydra....is the alarm designed to sound when the resevoir is empty, or when the humdior is below the set RH for a period of time?

When the it's empty

[MikeyC]

Originally Posted by BengalMan

How do you calibrate the hydra? Just take take the top off and lock it in a tupperwear and salt test like usual? I guess I could also put it in a container with 65% beads for a few hours and see what it reads.

It's hard to put the Hydra in a "sealed" environment like a plastic bag or tupperware since it has to be plugged in and the fan may fun and the alarm may go off while you're calibrating. Instead I just put a digital hygro that I know is calibrated correctly next to it in the humi and then adjust the Hydra to read the same after a day of sitting next to each other. Then I check them both a day later to make sure they're still in sink. I repeat this process until they consistently read the same RH %.

Originally Posted by BengalMan

Ok, since adding the sponges and all the beads and setting the Hydra to 65, the hygro on the Hydra is now reading at 67.8 and the damn fan has turned off for the 1st time since I've owned it. I think at this point, the best thing to do will be leave the sponges in there and the Hydra on for the next 3-5 days at least and let everything in there level out. I will update the thread tomorrow when I wake up and see where things are at. Thanks again for everyone's help!

It does sound like the issue could be that the cabinet walls are still absorbing water. While I haven't dealt with a cabinet (yet ) I do have a large humi which I felt got up to the proper RH level more quickly because I wiped down the walls & trays a few times with D-H2O not just once.