F$%king mold

[StogieJim]

So I open my wino and it just doesn't smell right. Never has.

Got my wino and custom drawers in March. It's been 65/65 for the past 3 months. Solid. No changes. But it's always smelled a little strange.

I also have 2 cpu fans in there on a timer.

I took out a tray to pick a smoke, and one was covered in mold In the foot too. It was just one stick, but now I'm sketched. I inspected all of my sticks and the rest are good. But there was also condensation on the walls of the wino. No RH media in there at all. Drain hole covered.

I've since powered off the wino and I'm just going to run it at the 75 degrees that my apartment is at. I also uncovered the drain. The trays look fine, no mold or water spots anywhere. Could the cooling of the unit have caused mold somehow? It'd be nice to have it at 65 degrees but not with mold man. I'm not too happy. I've got ~ 400 very nice sticks in there.... Half are Habanos. If I had room in the Coleman I'd move everything there but no room.

Any ideas as to WTF happened?

 

[ChuckMejia]

Wino might be in an area too warm and is running too much. I'd suggest moving it to a cooler area in the house

 

[StogieJim]

Wino might be in an area too warm and is running too much. I'd suggest moving it to a cooler area in the house

I can never tell when it's running. It's always making a humming sound. Always. But from the reviews I read online that's normal for this unit. Newair 281, might be the 280, i can't remember now.

Also, I have nowhere else to put it. But that room is never any warmer than any other room in the apartment.

 

[ChuckMejia]

I can never tell when it's running. It's always making a humming sound. Always. But from the reviews I read online that's normal for this unit. Newair 281, might be the 280, i can't remember now.

Also, I have nowhere else to put it. But that room is never any warmer than any other room in the apartment.

I used to run mine at 65 and had the condensation as well. Moved the winos into a shoe closet that's always cooler and bumped it up to 68 and the condensation went away

 

[StogieJim]

I used to run mine at 65 and had the condensation as well. Moved the winos into a shoe closet that's always cooler and bumped it up to 68 and the condensation went away

Damn I wish I could go to 68. I guess I can get one of those temp controllers. That condensation is probably what caused the mold. Thankfully it was only one smoke but hopefully that "off" smell will go away. Not too worried about 75 degrees I guess cuz I freeze everything. Just pissed about this whole wino thing. I should have just picked up a second cooler. (that's in my closet and always at 70 degrees)

 

[sofc]

Damn I wish I could go to 68. I guess I can get one of those temp controllers. That condensation is probably what caused the mold. Thankfully it was only one smoke but hopefully that "off" smell will go away. Not too worried about 75 degrees I guess cuz I freeze everything. Just pissed about this whole wino thing. I should have just picked up a second cooler. (that's in my closet and always at 70 degrees)

I have mine lower than 65 with no condensation at all.

 

[bdc30]

had somewhat similar issues with mine. Eventually I just ended up ziploc'ing boxes with individual bovedas in each. Practicality takes a back seat to reliability for me.

 

[StogieJim]

I have mine lower than 65 with no condensation at all.

Good for you man.

 

[StogieJim]

had somewhat similar issues with mine. Eventually I just ended up ziploc'ing boxes with individual bovedas in each. Practicality takes a back seat to reliability for me.

I may do the same.

 

[sofc]

Good for you man.

My point was that it might not be the actual temperature that's the issue, it could be something else. And if you freeze them and have the other cigars in a cooler, you can just use the wino unplugged (as I'm sure you've thought of.)

 

[StogieJim]

My point was that it might not be the actual temperature that's the issue, it could be something else. And if you freeze them and have the other cigars in a cooler, you can just use the wino unplugged (as I'm sure you've thought of.)

Yea man, I just can't figure out what the hell is causing condensation. I freeze everything so I'll probably just use it unplugged, not worried about 75ish degrees.

 

[ascrivner]

Never a bad idea to wipe things down with hydrogen peroxide.

 

[knw247]

I've seen a touch of mold twice. Both times it was near the Fan. I did notice that cigars not in cello were the ones impacted. Now I don't have any singles out of cello or boxes near the fans.

 

[StogieJim]

I've seen a touch of mold twice. Both times it was near the Fan. I did notice that cigars not in cello were the ones impacted. Now I don't have any singles out of cello or boxes near the fans.

Hey it was sticks unwrapped , next to the fridge fan. kind of a silly set up , but I guess they didn't design these for cigars!

Oh well, Really not sure what I'm gonna do. Drain plug is now untaped and the fridge is off. Defeats the purpose of why I bought it , but so would mold.

 

[StogieJim]

shit I also have a very nice box of sticks on my upper rack that is near the fan.. I didn't see mold on the sticks as theyre in cello, but should I have been inspecting the wood for that box as well?

 

[xjsnake]

I've seen a touch of mold twice. Both times it was near the Fan. I did notice that cigars not in cello were the ones impacted. Now I don't have any singles out of cello or boxes near the fans.

I've noticed the same, the only 2 times I've had a stick pop up with mold was not in cello, right by the fan as well. now all my open trays are up at the top and boxes are near the fan outputs.

 

[JG358]

I ended up having some condensation issues this summer to Jim. I unplugged the drain hole and ran a tube from the back of the drain to a empty distilled water jug.
I believe my CPU fans put off enough heat to warm the unit enough to make the wineador kick on. So its turning on once an hour while the fans are running instead of just a couple times day with out my fans running. Starting to think the CPU fans do more harm than good.

 

[LFOD]

Strange. I've never had any mold issues in my NewAir 281 and I keep it at 66 degrees. I should not that I DO NOT have any cpu fans in it. I just keep 2 bags of beads - one on top shelf and one one the bottom and deal with the fact that humidity is a little higher at bottom then top. I wonder if your fans could be causing any problems??

 

[StogieJim]

Strange. I've never had any mold issues in my NewAir 281 and I keep it at 66 degrees. I should not that I DO NOT have any cpu fans in it. I just keep 2 bags of beads - one on top shelf and one one the bottom and deal with the fact that humidity is a little higher at bottom then top. I wonder if your fans could be causing any problems??

This is a good point. I imagine those kings kick up some heat when they're running. Maybe I'll pull them. Is your drain hole covered?

 

[StogieJim]

I ended up having some condensation issues this summer to Jim. I unplugged the drain hole and ran a tube from the back of the drain to a empty distilled water jug.
I believe my CPU fans put off enough heat to warm the unit enough to make the wineador kick on. So its turning on once an hour while the fans are running instead of just a couple times day with out my fans running. Starting to think the CPU fans do more harm than good.

We live enough to each other as well to have the same ambient environment too. I'm wondering if I should get rid of the fans and just wire in a cheap temp controller to keep it at 70. I never know when the fridge is running though because it's ALWAYS humming. As of now the thing is off and the drain plug is undone. I open it enough where maybe fans are just overkill and causing un-needed heat...??