Fridgidor?

[jonnylieberman]

Hey y'all.

Because of our new place's tiny, ancient kitchen, our 21-cubic foot fridge is sitting in the garage doing nothing at all.

Are there any issues with plugging it into a temperature controller (temp probe goes in fridge, when it cools to the desired temp it cuts power, comes back on when it warms up -- available at all homebrew outlets) and storing cigars in it? Will it keep humid enough, etc.

Thanks,

-Jonny-

 

[Jmphotog]

Hey y'all.

Because of our new place's tiny, ancient kitchen, our 21-cubic foot fridge is sitting in the garage doing nothing at all.

Are there any issues with plugging it into a temperature controller (temp probe goes in fridge, when it cools to the desired temp it cuts power, comes back on when it warms up -- available at all homebrew outlets) and storing cigars in it? Will it keep humid enough, etc.

Thanks,

-Jonny-

The condenser will suck up all the humidity.. And that my friend is not what you want.. That's why when we get wine coolers for our wineadors it has to be thermoelectric so it avoids that issue.. During the winter depending on the insulation you could get away with it if it's not so easily cold .... by not turning it on and just letting it rock out .... if not I'd just bring the fridge inside with out power throw some KL or beads call it a day

 

[Jesse]

Not sure how the temp probe works but you could do what I've done with my wineador. I use it just for cooling (since my house gets really hot this time of year) and store tuppers in it with KL inside. With this heat we are having right now my cooler stays around 70* inside but the RH drops to 50% so everything is in tuppers to control the Rh.

 

[jonnylieberman]

Not sure how the temp probe works but you could do what I've done with my wineador. I use it just for cooling (since my house gets really hot this time of year) and store tuppers in it with KL inside. With this heat we are having right now my cooler stays around 70* inside but the RH drops to 50% so everything is in tuppers to control the Rh.

It just's a temperature controller. Brewers use 'em with big chest freezers. Very simple. You just dial up the temperature you want, and the controller toggles the fridge/freezer on off to maintain that themp.

http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Controls-A19AAT-2C-Temperature-Controller/dp/B0002EAL58

 

[jonnylieberman]

Hey y'all.

Because of our new place's tiny, ancient kitchen, our 21-cubic foot fridge is sitting in the garage doing nothing at all.

Are there any issues with plugging it into a temperature controller (temp probe goes in fridge, when it cools to the desired temp it cuts power, comes back on when it warms up -- available at all homebrew outlets) and storing cigars in it? Will it keep humid enough, etc.

Thanks,

-Jonny-

The condenser will suck up all the humidity.. And that my friend is not what you want.. That's why when we get wine coolers for our wineadors it has to be thermoelectric so it avoids that issue.. During the winter depending on the insulation you could get away with it if it's not so easily cold .... by not turning it on and just letting it rock out .... if not I'd just bring the fridge inside with out power throw some KL or beads call it a day

Except that the condenser would barely run. Keeping a fridge at 72 degrees requires the condenser to fire up maybe once a day for a few minutes. Do you think that would remove all the humidity?

 

[cosmoker]

I have a freezadoor that I converted from 1953 freezer. I pulled the condenser and fins and built it from their.

 

[Jesse]

Hey y'all.

Because of our new place's tiny, ancient kitchen, our 21-cubic foot fridge is sitting in the garage doing nothing at all.

Are there any issues with plugging it into a temperature controller (temp probe goes in fridge, when it cools to the desired temp it cuts power, comes back on when it warms up -- available at all homebrew outlets) and storing cigars in it? Will it keep humid enough, etc.

Thanks,

-Jonny-

The condenser will suck up all the humidity.. And that my friend is not what you want.. That's why when we get wine coolers for our wineadors it has to be thermoelectric so it avoids that issue.. During the winter depending on the insulation you could get away with it if it's not so easily cold .... by not turning it on and just letting it rock out .... if not I'd just bring the fridge inside with out power throw some KL or beads call it a day

Except that the condenser would barely run. Keeping a fridge at 72 degrees requires the condenser to fire up maybe once a day for a few minutes. Do you think that would remove all the humidity?

It might make the RH bounce around once it does turn on unless you have a lot of cedar inside like the cooler below. Does your garage get hot inside? That might make it turn on more as well.

I have a freezadoor that I converted from 1953 freezer. I pulled the condenser and fins and built it from their.

What keeps this cool, or do you just have it in a cool environment?

 

[cosmoker]

I keep it in my basement. It sits at 66/70 in the freezer. I use a Tupperware container with kitty litter about the size of a shoebox and 1" deep. I sprayed it when I first setup and haven't sprayed in about 4 months. Let me know if you have any ? or want pics from the build.

 

[StogieNinja]

If you want to use it for it's cooling properties, you could, but you could see some rH fluxes, and you want to avoid that as much as possible. It can work if you have enough rH medium in there that can help everything bounce back.

I think honestly a great option would be smaller airtight tupperdors with internal rH media. That way you have a closed, rh regulated environment located within a temp-controlled environment. Like air conditioning a room your humidors are in.

 

[jonnylieberman]

Thanks for all the insight.

 

[SurpriseMVP]

You can install a etc and it works fine. I'm in AZ, no basement and temps in the 100's 8 months straight. I converted a freezer with an ETC, no cedar, just filled with boxes Tetris style. I keep this freezer in my office where the AC goes to 90 at night to save on the electric bill. You will have no issues converting the fridge

 

[Jesse]

You have pics or more info on your setup? My house is about 85 - 90 right now and my wineador is struggling to keep cool and is killing my RH.

 

[StogieNinja]

You can install a etc and it works fine. I'm in AZ, no basement and temps in the 100's 8 months straight. I converted a freezer with an ETC, no cedar, just filled with boxes Tetris style. I keep this freezer in my office where the AC goes to 90 at night to save on the electric bill. You will have no issues converting the fridge

Was it a manual defrost freezer or a frost-free freezer? The manual defrost doesn't zap RH like a frost-free freezer or refrigerator.

 

[SurpriseMVP]

Has to be Manuel defrost freezer. Auto will not work
Drilled a hole through the top for the etc probe

Add some beads, fill it up, shut the door, and forget about the cigars for 3 years.
I use wine coolers at home because the wife wouldn't let me put this freezer anywhere. The ambient temp at home isn't that hot so the wine coolers work.

Freezer is nice because you can fit boxes behind boxes so 4 stacks per shelf. No idea how many it holds, but it's not enough.

Mike

 

[Ducttapegonewild]

Has to be Manuel defrost freezer. Auto will not work
Drilled a hole through the top for the etc probe

Add some beads, fill it up, shut the door, and forget about the cigars for 3 years.
I use wine coolers at home because the wife wouldn't let me put this freezer anywhere. The ambient temp at home isn't that hot so the wine coolers work.

Freezer is nice because you can fit boxes behind boxes so 4 stacks per shelf. No idea how many it holds, but it's not enough.

Mike

Good grief!!! I know where I'm going when the zombie apocalypse happens and I need cigars!!!

 

[rfraser]

Like said earlier, the fridge will suck up all the humidity.

 

[jonnylieberman]

I'll do an experiment. I really don't think the Fridge will suck up that much humidity. As Erjaq pointed out to me, sausage makers use fridges with temp controllers all the time, and they have to be more humid than cigars (about 72%).

 

[erjaq]

I'll do an experiment. I really don't think the Fridge will suck up that much humidity. As Erjaq pointed out to me, sausage makers use fridges with temp controllers all the time, and they have to be more humid than cigars (about 72%).

I did say this, but a lot of these guys use active humidification, so that could make a difference. In any case it's an easy enough thing to figure out if you have a hygrometer.

 

[Jesse]

Okay dumb question, what's the difference between this and just adjusting the temp on the fridge all the way down? Or does this only work with freezers?

Has to be Manuel defrost freezer. Auto will not work
Drilled a hole through the top for the etc probe

Add some beads, fill it up, shut the door, and forget about the cigars for 3 years.
I use wine coolers at home because the wife wouldn't let me put this freezer anywhere. The ambient temp at home isn't that hot so the wine coolers work.

Freezer is nice because you can fit boxes behind boxes so 4 stacks per shelf. No idea how many it holds, but it's not enough.

Mike

Good grief!!! I know where I'm going when the zombie apocalypse happens and I need cigars!!!

Haha, I'm closer.

 

[StogieNinja]

Okay dumb question, what's the difference between this and just adjusting the temp on the fridge all the way down? Or does this only work with freezers?

It has to do with how the cooling system works. The ETC is managing the temp, keeping the freezer from cooling any lower than the specified temp (say 67*). Basically the freezer only runs for a few moments ever so often.

If you just crank the fridge temp down you'll get a really cold, but very dry space as the condenser sucks all the humidity out.

Manual defrost freezers work great. Refrigerators do not.