Hydra and 3,000 count cabinet and beads -- HELP!

[shilala]

Originally Posted by BengalMan

Ok, got up this morning, and guess what, NO ALARM. lol. Not only was there no alarm, but the cabinet was at 69% (Hydra is set to 65%) so not only was the humidity finally up, but the hydra fan didn't even have to run. I pulled 2 sponges out, and will continue to pull 1 sponge per day until all 5 are gone. It seems to be that like some have said, the cabinet was still absorbing humidity, and then when I filled it up, the boxes were absorbing the humidity as well and the hydra just couldn't keep up. I think by the end of the week everything will be stabilized and fixed. Thanks for everyone's help!

Go real slow, Ian. The boxes and humi will keep soaking for a good while.
If you want to keep your beads right on the money, set the hydra 3% below your desired setpoint.
That's what I do with mine and it works great.
When the hydra runs it seems to "run away". That little extra is enough to get the beads a couple %age points higher than the hydra's setting. That keeps the hydra from coming on until the beads lose a few %age points.
It's a neat little dance.
It doesn't break down until the hydra is empty.
In my winadors I never have to refill the hydras. Mind you, I took the foam out because they grow mold. That's gonna happen because of the high humidity inside the unit. It's impossible to avoid. So I tore out the mold foam and just use distilled water. I rinse out the cartridges on my hydras every now and then when it comes to ming so that the water stays clean.
In my displayadors (that leak) I have to refill the hydras now and again.
I haven't yet refilled them this winter.
If you go this way, you'll know when to refill the hydra when the evil squeal wakes you up in the middle of the night.
My point for this whole story is that if you find yourself refilling the hydra more than once a month, you've got a pretty massive leak.
If you can live with refilling it once a month, and you're happy with that, you don't have to fix anything.
If you find yourself refilling the hydra every couple days or every week, you'll want to see what you can do with your cabinet to seal it up.
If the door meets the frame pretty well, you're probably losing all your humidity from around the glass. If you pull the glass out of the door and put a bead of silicone behind it, that should do the trick.

[MikeyC]

Originally Posted by BengalMan

Ok, got up this morning, and guess what, NO ALARM. lol. Not only was there no alarm, but the cabinet was at 69% (Hydra is set to 65%) so not only was the humidity finally up, but the hydra fan didn't even have to run. I pulled 2 sponges out, and will continue to pull 1 sponge per day until all 5 are gone. It seems to be that like some have said, the cabinet was still absorbing humidity, and then when I filled it up, the boxes were absorbing the humidity as well and the hydra just couldn't keep up. I think by the end of the week everything will be stabilized and fixed. Thanks for everyone's help!

Great news! I wonder if you had the new larger Hydra if that would have sped up the process. I think using the smaller Hydra in an unseasoned cabinet was pushing the limits of the device which might be why you were running into all your problems with the alarm.