Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

It almost sounds like the best way to go then, is to have the distiller in a separate location on a dedicated line. Put another way...

have a water line feed into a distiller that is in an accessible part of the house - say laundry room. Then feed a line from the distiller to the humidifier.

This provides the humidifier with distilled water, and keeps the distiller out of the humidor but still accessible for occasional cleaning.

This is much more complex than I thought it might be... the geek in me wants to do it anyways. The pragmatist in me wants to just do a cigar oasis type set up... ha ha.

Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

How much water is this humidor going to require? It seems like it would have to be an awful lot before a distiller is going to pay off.

Just a thought but what about a tank that you can periodically fill with distilled water? I am picturing one of the the 5 gallon water reservoirs our caterers use with a spigot in the bottom. Remove the spigot and install a hose fitting. From there the system would be the same. A float level in the humidifiers reservoir controls a solenoid valve in the water line that runs from the water tank.

I did something similar a ways back. My boss wanted to have 'bathtub gin' served out of a real bathtub at a party. We ended up flying an old clawfoot tub 9 feet off of the ground. I stole one of those water reservoirs from the caterers and rigged it to some tubing and fittings I got from the building engineer. It all worked great except the punch the boss mixed up was pretty weak.

Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

Yeah - I like the idea of full automation, but for such a small scare humidor I don't think I'll be able to get there. Plus, I'd have to clean out the distiller anyways. Even without a 5 gallon jug (which is a great idea), it wouldn't be that much work to just keep a couple gallon jugs in the humi to pour into a unit now and then.

Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

You don't necessarily need a distiller. Most cities have at least 1 water store that provides distilled water. Depending where you get it, you can probably find it for around 50 cents per gallon. $2.50 could stock you for maybe up to a month. If you go the 5-gallon route you could probably even set up a gravity feed system. No need to worry about pumps failing or anything.

Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

Water usage for 300 cubic feet will likely be 3-5 gallons a month in a dry AZ residential setting, with a well sealed door. It's not high demand like a commercial walk in with the door opening 50 times a day. Water usage will also depend on whether you cut in an AC duct into the walk in or let the room be passively cooled by the rooms around it.

Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

You can get a zero ppm RO unit for around $250.
That said, if you seal the room the way it should be sealed, you need very little water. It could easily be maintained by hand, depending on the size of your walk-in.
Mind ya, I have an RO unit and I'm spoiled, so it might be a pain. :)

Re: Autofilling Humi for Walk In
 

I took a look at the humidifier units last Saturday,

Meh. Big home units. Not that a home unit is "bad", just that they are usually innacurate.

Seemed to be slightly older versions of either:
Bionaire® Cool Mist Humidifier Tower with Permanent Filter BCM658-U
or
Bionaire® BCM646 Cool Mist Tower Humidifier BCM646-UM