Thermoelectric wine cooler drying and curing - DIY

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jamissr

Member
first thanks for the great thread, idea, etc. i built one of these and love the concept. i am having an issue where the RH in mine seems inconsistent between top and bottom racks, and even front to back of the unit. i have my RH set to 70, and the bottom rack will be 70, but the top rack will be 89, as indicated by the small hygrometers ive put on the different racks. racks in the middle vary between those two values. ive noticed that even front to back the humidity swing is very large.
i do have silicon mats on these racks, im thinking that there is not enough air flow to mix the humidity well, i have ordered some silicon mesh to replace and im hoping that will help.
my question is this, i did put my inkbird humidity sensor on the back wall near the fan. is that still the right place, or does it make more sense to locate it on the top or side somewhere. that seems like it would be the least humid spot since that's where air is being pulled out, but im not sure. has anyone else had this issue and resolved? i really want to read all 72 pages but that will take a while and im worried about mold in the meantime. any thoughts? thanks,
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
jamissr said:
first thanks for the great thread, idea, etc. i built one of these and love the concept. i am having an issue where the RH in mine seems inconsistent between top and bottom racks, and even front to back of the unit. i have my RH set to 70, and the bottom rack will be 70, but the top rack will be 89, as indicated by the small hygrometers ive put on the different racks. racks in the middle vary between those two values. ive noticed that even front to back the humidity swing is very large.
i do have silicon mats on these racks, im thinking that there is not enough air flow to mix the humidity well, i have ordered some silicon mesh to replace and im hoping that will help.
my question is this, i did put my inkbird humidity sensor on the back wall near the fan. is that still the right place, or does it make more sense to locate it on the top or side somewhere. that seems like it would be the least humid spot since that's where air is being pulled out, but im not sure. has anyone else had this issue and resolved? i really want to read all 72 pages but that will take a while and im worried about mold in the meantime. any thoughts? thanks,
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You are probably on the right track replacing the silicon mats if they don’t allow free air flow, that would certainly cause the symptoms. As the buds dry overall the rh change front to back and top to bottom should minimize, meaning once you get rh down into the low 60s and the buds start to dry inside some, they are releasing less moisture and overall the cooler evens out. An extra small fan may help if you still have a problem, but I would replace the mats first, that will likely be the fix.
 
J

jamissr

Member
ok thanks for the response. thats what i was thinking as well, but figured id ask in case it was a common issue with a known solution. ill post back once i get them in case anyone finds this later.
 
J

jamissr

Member
jamissr said:
ok thanks for the response. thats what i was thinking as well, but figured id ask in case it was a common issue with a known solution. ill post back once i get them in case anyone finds this later.
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ok this worked. put them in last night, let it all settle down and checked this afternoon. all racks were within a few points of each other lowest 67 and highest 74 when set at 68. still not perfect but alot better than 20-25 points off from top to bottom. i used bbq grill nonstick mesh as mentioned somewhere in this thread.
 
A

Atarihuana

Member
I‘d like to thank Hook Daddy for this thread and all the time and effort he’s put into it.
I recently built my own Ghettotrool with the parts you recommended (minus the inkbird) and I’m really happy about this setup. I’ve automated everything in HomeAssistant - works like a charm. Thanks a ton and keep up the great work :)
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
Atarihuana said:
I‘d like to thank Hook Daddy for this thread and all the time and effort he’s put into it.
I recently built my own Ghettotrool with the parts you recommended (minus the inkbird) and I’m really happy about this setup. I’ve automated everything in HomeAssistant - works like a charm. Thanks a ton and keep up the great work :)
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Thank you, I’m glad it’s working well for you, it’s great to see how many people have run with the idea using different methods and controllers and all getting awesome results.
 
S

sm0k3gr33n

Well-Known Member
has anyone done a bud wash then gone straighht into the koolatron? just ordered mine and will be putting it together soon and will need to wash this upcoming harvest. wondering what process has worked or if I need to let it hang dry for a day or so after the wash. i think that would be best but wonder what has worked for others.

shout out to @Hook Daddy for putting this thread together and all who helped contribute to the discussion this far. it has been super helpful.
 
A

Atarihuana

Member
sm0k3gr33n said:
has anyone done a bud wash then gone straighht into the koolatron? just ordered mine and will be putting it together soon and will need to wash this upcoming harvest. wondering what process has worked or if I need to let it hang dry for a day or so after the wash. i think that would be best but wonder what has worked for others.

shout out to @Hook Daddy for putting this thread together and all who helped contribute to the discussion this far. it has been super helpful.
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Yes, I have. I’ve given the buds a good shake after the wash to get rid of excess water, then they went straight into the koolatron. Took a couple days longer to dry. I kept the temps low at 12 degrees Celsius, so no issues with mold whatsoever. Worked like a charm
 
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bigsmoka

New Member
I put the entire dehumidifier inside the fridge without any alteration and loaded it up with a conservative amount of branches, trimmed off the fan leaves. My problem is the dehumidifier is on, the fan is blowing air, but the water basin isn't filling with water anymore. I can't get the humidity below 80%. The dehuey filled with a small amount of water for a short time and hasnt refilled with any water since then. The metal fins never form any water droplets if I look inside the dehumidifier with a flashlight. It's not bringing the humidity low enough to turn off, it's staying on steady at 80% rh. However, there are water droplets in the back of fridge slowly draining out the bottom of the fridge drain. This seems completely unrelated to my dehuey which is collecting no water at all. I got the probreeze dehuey other people in the thread have used. Could my dehuey be broken?
 
B

bigsmoka

New Member
bigsmoka said:
I put the entire dehumidifier inside the fridge without any alteration and loaded it up with a conservative amount of branches, trimmed off the fan leaves. My problem is the dehumidifier is on, the fan is blowing air, but the water basin isn't filling with water anymore. I can't get the humidity below 80%. The dehuey filled with a small amount of water for a short time and hasnt refilled with any water since then. The metal fins never form any water droplets if I look inside the dehumidifier with a flashlight. It's not bringing the humidity low enough to turn off, it's staying on steady at 80% rh. However, there are water droplets in the back of fridge slowly draining out the bottom of the fridge drain. This seems completely unrelated to my dehuey which is collecting no water at all. I got the probreeze dehuey other people in the thread have used. Could my dehuey be broken?
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Additionally, does frequent powering on and off kill these dehumidifiers? Can they handle turning on and off every 5-10 minutes? Seems like mine was working; humidity spiking up and down on the graph and the dehuey turning on and off. Then it simply stopped having a dehumidifying effect and stayed on for hours and hours. I bought another ProBreeze because it had same day shipping, and the new dehumidifier seems to be impacting the graph again and pulling out humidity. I only used the last one for two days before it died. Hoping this one lasts longer. Does taking the dehumidifier apart and rewiring it somehow help with its resilience to turning on and off repeatedly? Was my failure a fluke most likely? I'm just worried about molding up my harvest.
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
bigsmoka said:
Additionally, does frequent powering on and off kill these dehumidifiers? Can they handle turning on and off every 5-10 minutes? Seems like mine was working; humidity spiking up and down on the graph and the dehuey turning on and off. Then it simply stopped having a dehumidifying effect and stayed on for hours and hours. I bought another ProBreeze because it had same day shipping, and the new dehumidifier seems to be impacting the graph again and pulling out humidity. I only used the last one for two days before it died. Hoping this one lasts longer. Does taking the dehumidifier apart and rewiring it somehow help with its resilience to turning on and off repeatedly? Was my failure a fluke most likely? I'm just worried about molding up my harvest.
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Hopefully the new dehumidifier will fix your problem. I would think taking the dehumidifier apart should not help it last longer, it should last longer as designed. Mine have been running two years now, and runs about every day, so they should last longer, you might have just received a bad unit. Good luck, let us know how it goes.
 
Hook Daddy

Hook Daddy

Well-Known Member
I will usually keep it at 55f the entire dry, and stop at about 62% rh. I will then just let it ride there until ready to bag up, the drop the rh to 58% for a couple days before bagging.
 
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