Tramontina 45 Bottle Wine Cellar

[stewa070]

Routed the power/controls through a Sampler box:

That's an impressive setup. I ordered that unit I linked to. I'll play around with where best to put it. Have to figure out how to route the wire out of the fridge. Not opposed to drilling and sealing a hole if I have to. I'm hoping that with a shit ton of KL in the entire bottom of the unit as well as the fans probably up top, and cigars in boxes that I'll be able to mostly overcome the compressor's shortcomings. It was just way too much attractive storage to pass up for $60!


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[ApeSmokes]

Looks like you'll have a nice setup when you're done.

I routed my wires down through the condensation drain. Don't know how yours is setup, or if it has something similar... but the drain in the one I have is sort of an a "S" curve. Wires didn't want to push through, so I pushed some fishing line through and then used that to pull the wires. Careful with drilling, I'd see if you can find some info or drawings showing where the coolant lines are first. If you cant find anything, I'd go slow... choose an unobtrusive spot and just barely get through the outer shell, then stop and see what's underneath.

By the time you're done you're going to have more money invested into the fridge than the fridge itself cost, but the nice part is you can use those items in another set up later if you want. Best of luck.

 

[stewa070]

Throw a bunch of Boveda in there, close the door and quit over thinking it...

Edit - I'll elaborate since that's a vague shit post...The Boveda is gonna be more accurate that the $20 hydrometer your looking at. As far as the temp. Try to get your room temp lower and don't rely on the cooling in the unit. Throw a $20 eBay temp control on it and set it to run around the 75* area. Keep it simple and you won't care about chasing swings.

All good advice. The unit can only cool to 64 degrees so a temp control may be the ticket to keep it from running. It's dumb but I love the light in it and if I turn off the power I lose the light.

I put a ton of KL in a tray at the bottom and two hygrometers. One unit had been in there since Friday. It read 73 degrees and 65 percent RH with no humidification in it. I put in the KL and when the unit kicked on shortly thereafter it ran about five minutes and the humidity dropped on both units to 48-49%. 68 degrees on both. Once it quit within ten minutes both hygrometers read 61% (unit directly above KL) and 58% on the unit at the very top of the cooler. I'm going to swing back by the office and check it again tonight to see where I'm at. I've got dual 80mm fans coming in tomorrow and I'll hook those up. Looks like I might win a Hydra LG commercial humidifier at auction tonight. With all that in there maybe I can bring those swings down to mid 50s. With cigars in boxes I think it won't matter much since they'll be insulated from the swings. I'm still experimenting with it. You think that temp control can pretty much kill the cooler except in rare circumstances when it gets too warm?


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[stewa070]

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[Boudie]

If you run constantly low a rag sitting in an open container of DW helps a lot.

As you run out of space and you get your Humidity swings under control you may consider adding sides to the racks to make trays. You can use cedar sheets (from the boxes) for the bottoms. I find I can store close to 3xs the number of cigars without the boxes. You may not need the extra space now but ... you will!
Good luck, you got a nice set up going.

 

[stewa070]

If you run constantly low a rag sitting in an open container of DW helps a lot.

As you run out of space and you get your Humidity swings under control you may consider adding sides to the racks to make trays. You can use cedar sheets (from the boxes) for the bottoms. I find I can store close to 3xs the number of cigars without the boxes. You may not need the extra space now but ... you will!
Good luck, you got a nice set up going.

Eventually I'd love to be able to show off bare sticks. We'll see how the swings stabilize. Right now my coolidor holds boxes with most sticks in the boxes still in their cellophane.

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[Boudie]

I keep mine in the cellos, just without the boxes to save space, where I can. I cut the cello away from the foot to improve airflow to the tobacco. But then again I also label my cigars with the date they go in storage and when I can expect to smoke them. I guess I'm still in my "obsessive" stage.

 

[stewa070]

Not really sure what's going on with the box yet. Stopped in to check on it this morning. Bottom hygro read 81% while the top read 63%. Swapped them out and checked later and the one on top was 71% and the bottom was 64%. Obviously the fans are necessary, but could there be that big of a RH difference in the cabinet or is one of the units reading wrong? They both read 68 degrees though.


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[stewa070]

Not really sure what's going on in the box yeah

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[Boudie]

Should probably do either salt test or use a boveda to test them. Not unusual for quite a bit of variance and once you identify which way and by how much they are off you can make a note and just adjust the readings. After fighting with mine I decided to buy a bit more expensive hygrometer that can be adjusted. Without the fans and the cigars to act as a buffer for the humidity you can expect some unusual readings. The top of my Newair runs a couple points lower then the bottom even with the fans running for 1/2 hr every 90 minutes.

 

[stewa070]

Just ordered two 69% 320 Gram Bovedas. Maybe those coupled with the fans will settle things down. The temp has been between 64-68 degrees which is good. You think the temp controller is still necessary?


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[Boudie]

64 - 68? I keep mine in the range 65-68 The swings may be kind of dramatic now but when you fill it with boxes and cigars the extra mass will moderate how fast the temperatures move.

 

[stewa070]

64 - 68? I keep mine in the range 65-68 The swings may be kind of dramatic now but when you fill it with boxes and cigars the extra mass will moderate how fast the temperatures move.

Cooler cools between 42 and 64 degrees F. I set it at 64. Do you think the temp control unit would make any difference? Is it worth getting?


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[Boudie]

I think the one I have keeps it within 2 degrees I guess it all depends on how well you can fine tune what you have. Or are you saying there is no thermo control, just an on switch and the cooler kicks off at 42 and back on at 64. It doesn't hurt to keep your cigars in the 60 degree range, it just takes longer if you are trying to age them. I read somewhere that they can be stored between 55 and 73 with no ill effects.

 

[Boudie]

Re-read my post, I think if you can keep it within a couple of degrees one way or the other of 64 you'll be fine.

 

[stewa070]

I'm saying the cooler has a thermostat with an adjustable cooling range from 42-64 degrees for different types of wines. I set it as hot as I could get it. I have no separate temp control like you can plug the fridge into. I'm wondering if it's worth it to buy one of those. Could it be set to only turn on when it hits something like 70 degrees and does it override the fridge since it's only able to run as high as 64 degrees? The idea is set a separate therm control at 70 degrees and when the cooler finally gets that hot it will kick on. This will limit the number of cycles the fridge will run thus limiting the RH swings.


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[Boudie]

The cooler will run whenever it gets power from the kegerator because you will set the kegerator to provide power at 70 degrees and turn off power at 68 or pick your numbers. You want to run your winecoolor at a higher temperature, the kegerator allows that. Exactly what I am doing now. You can turn your wine cooler down to 45 degrees but the kegerator won't allow it to go that low, cutting power to the winecooler when the temp gets to 68

 

[Boudie]

Turn your wineador to the lowest setting meaning it is always on. The kegarator controls the temp turning the compressor in the wineador on and off as needed by cutting or provding power to the entire wineador. Sorry, I have one ear on the Saints Game.

 

[Boudie]

Re-read my post, I think if you can keep it within a couple of degrees one way or the other of 64 you'll be fine.

BTW I meant I re-read my post!!

 

[stewa070]

Thanks for all the help. I'm gonna see how it levels out with the fans. Then add the Bovedas and hydra


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