Damnit, Sap/Grease In Humidor?

[Volusianator]

So I got the new wicks from Ron today in the mail and went downstairs to put them in the canisters of the Accu-Monitor. As I was doing this, I decided to pull everything out of the humi and kinda do a visual inspection of things and get to some wiring that I'd kinda jury-rigged earlier and needed to finalize.

So as I'm getting ready to do the wiring, I unplugged one of my fans and on the inside of the connection was a tar colored Vaseline textured kind of grease. As I got to looking around more, it was on the wiring as well, or maybe inside the wiring, it was hard to tell. Then I unwrapped some electrical tape from a temp connection I had and the inside of the tape was covered in the same stuff.

I'm freakin' clueless as to what this is...and freakin' out! Below are some pics I took:

On the cedar and appears to be originating from the nail hole of the wire holder.

Similar but appears to be originating from contact of wiring that lays against the cedar.

Another area that seems to start at the point that the nail is in.

Maybe hard to see, but this is the first place I noticed it, nothing on the outside of the connector, but the pins were covered.

This is on the left side of the sensor in the first pic.

And finally, the top wire is one that I took out of a box and installed tonight, the bottom wire is one that was originally in the humidor. Now I know this is weird, but it looks like what you'd see in a lounge that people have been smoking in for years...and I don't smoke in the house, and especially don't smoke in my humidor!

Anybody got any ideas to set my mind at ease? :dunno:

 

[Volusianator]

OK what, none of you opinionated loud mouths have an opinion?! :rofl:

 

[gibbleguts]

Sorry I have no ideas. Sorry as well about all of your humidor issues. Hopefully you will get it figured out before you have to smoke all of Moro's cigars in a hurry.

 

[Moro]

I'll take care of yer Opuses, Wade :devil:

 

[jwintosh]

dayum! i'm sure Ron will have an answer. i just installed my accumonitor this evening. how long have you been using it?

 

[Jfire]

Only thing I can think of is if the wood is young, like when you tap a maple tree with taps for syrup? I really have no idea about the wiring except for high humidity got inside the coating? Then again you are the wood worker Wade!

 

[WhiteLightning]

Not sure Wade.

If you need some help I can store your sticks for you for a small fee.:smokingbo

Did you use any glue to istall the cedar walls? Maybe the holes made by the nails allowed some of the glue to seep out. Just a thought.

 

[Volusianator]

Only thing I can think of is if the wood is young, like when you tap a maple tree with taps for syrup? I really have no idea about the wiring except for high humidity got inside the coating? Then again you are the wood worker Wade!

I can understand the bleeding on the wood, although even that seems a stretch, but I too thought of that. But to have that stuff, which is really Vaseline like in consistency inside a couple of the connectors is what really baffles me!

Jeff, I think I put the humidor to use in November of last year. (nope, I was wrong, I started the build in November and finished in January, I have it written in Sharpie on top of the humidor)!

 

[Volusianator]

Did you use any glue to istall the cedar walls? Maybe the holes made by the nails allowed some of the glue to seep out. Just a thought.

No adhesive for the panels. The cedar panels are all slip fit and undersized so expansion and contraction will not alter the shape of the cabinet. Good question though. And by the way, I'm uber jealous of your "22" set! Cant stop looking at your pics!:starrylov

 

[WhiteLightning]

You weren't supposed to sneak pics of my album yet.:stickbeat

 

[Jfire]

Wade also maybe the theory of the nail hole introducing excessive moisture into the wood like the old christmas staple and lights type thing?

 

[Volusianator]

You weren't supposed to sneak pics of my album yet.:stickbeat

Oh but I did, I looked at them all, three times!:devil::thumbsup:

 

[Volusianator]

Wade also maybe the theory of the nail hole introducing excessive moisture into the wood like the old christmas staple and lights type thing?

Not sure what you mean on that one. The moisture is on the inside of the cabinet, so any hole from a tack would be letting moisture out, not in...in theory. Or am I missing the point on this one.

 

[Jfire]

Metals in genaral allow condinsation of moisture in one point. Think of the wood as a over all suface area. Now take the metal point on the nail head a allow it to concentrate it on one tiny area. Once again its a guess but it seems like most problem areas have this in common?

 

[Volusianator]

I'll buy that, but my biggest concern is in the connectors and wiring. THAT I just don't understand at all.

 

[WhiteLightning]

I'm thinking of it as when cello turns yellow. The connectors are not airtight and the humidity is going to pass through. Just a thought probably not a good one though.

 

[cf2112]

Wade,
I've been a electrician forever and that bottom wire looks overheated. This can be from to much current or a bad connection. If humidity is getting inside the wire and the current is heating it you could get condensation running to a low or stopping point, I would think the wire holder would be a high spot though. The vasaline stuff could be lube from inside the wire or connector dripping off or running down the wire from the excess heat. If I had to guess I'd bet heat caused by a bad connection or overloaded wire is causing your problem.

Why are the wires going into the connector twisted?

 

[Volusianator]

Why are the wires going into the connector twisted?

That's how they came from Avallo.

The overheating issue. The system came with the four canisters and four additional fans, in addition to that, I hooked up two more fans, one of which I recently unplugged. I've no idea what the power supply is from the control unit, but I thought those computer type fans didn't take much juice to begin with. The wiring is very thin for sure, would a heavier gauge wire help?

 

[Mitch]

I've run across wires that seem to leak grease, althoug usualy green but only from the open ends. If the mess seems to localize around the ends of wires I'd say go get some better wire.

This is weird, I've seen sap a plenty and you just wipe it off with some alcohol, but I wouldn't call sap Vasaline like at all.

 

[arlinliss]

The tacky ooze is likely 'bleeding' from the Spanish Cedar.

Why it is coming from points where nails pierced the Spanish Cedar: likely there was a 'pocket' of 'sap' that mysteriously was situated where you put the nail and the hole acted as a release point......

Hope my inexperrienced comments help~~~~