Gap in Cedar between humdior wall and floor...Bad Seal? (With Pics)

Hey Guys,

I did all the seaches and tried all the fixes concerning leaks and didn't find an answer that applied to my potential one. I bought a 75-100 count glass-top display humidor from cheaphumidors.com, seasoned with the Boveda packs, calibrated my xikar adjustable hygrom. with the ez calibration kit, and installed more than the recommended amount of the heartfelt 65% beads..... pretty much did everything by the book from what I've read on here....

...Now my issue is my rh has dropped and steadied at 60%, i leak tested the glass and lid with painters tape and the humidity didn't move, i have more than half of the humidor full with sticks, and the beads have been drying out really fast, i fill them every 4 days or so. I originally considered this winter humidity but noticed a gap in the cedar between the wall and floor. Here's a pic...





Could this gap be responsible for the low humidity?
If so, would a line of silicone caulk over the gap fix the problem? Or would maybe a strip of weatherproofing tape do the trick?
Or do I just have to return it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[14holestogie]

I don't think that small gap is contributing to any humidity leakage.
Typically, that's just the lining. The outer box is still solid, right?
I'd say the re-upping of the beads is more due to the dry air in the winter.
Normal, for this time of year.

Stay away from silicone, especially inside the humi.

[Tuxguy]

I say return it, but it is most likely due to the winter

[LooseCard]

Originally Posted by Tuxguy

I say return it, but it is most likely due to the winter

You shouldn't have an issue with the return, with the photo. Just give them a call. Everyone I know has gotten good service from them.

Did you try pushing it down?

Some humidors on the market just slide the pieces into the outer shell.

I had one built like that when I first started smoking.

Chas

You didn't say in your original post how long you've been seasoning your humidor. Sometimes it can take 6-8 weeks for humidity to stabilize in a humi. It's not uncommon for a new humidor to be a little "thirsty". The gap in the cedar wouldn't seem to be much of an issue other than cosmetic, to me.

OP how often do you open the humidor?

[shilala]

Good advice here. I was going to say the same thing about the cedar lining.
Michael raised an excellent point about the seasoning. You have to give it time.
The winter weather thing...
If a humi isn't sealing well, the low ambient RH will cause the RH in your humi to plummet, but only if it doesn't seal well or you open it 20 times a day (or leave it open all day by mistake, like I do sometimes). If you are rewetting the beads every four days, it's leaking like a sieve.
A humi is intended and designed to be airtight, or with an extremely minimal transfer of air. Refilling the beads every four days says that it is neither. That's a huge amount of water to be escaping.
You definately have an issue. Whether it's the crack or the lid or the seal or the closure, it's hard to tell without filling it with water and clamping it shut to find the leaks.
Another thing...
These kinds of humidors tend to get leak in the winter more than the summer because they aren't very substantial, meaning the wood isn't very thick. A tiny bit of shrinkage will set them to leaking furiously. I fix them all the time, I have three on the bench right now and just fixed one Sunday. The glass tops are a royal pain in the ass, and they leak worse than an onion sack.
You can try to defeat the seasoning issue by putting the whole humi and everything in a garbage bag, add a few big distilled water sponges on a plate, and season that bad boy from the outside in. It might be enough to get it swelled up so the joints and cracks tighten up. Not real likely, but it's worth a shot.
If that process doesn't slow down the amount of water you're losing, and doesn't allow you to get your humidity up, you can try sealing with caulking and add some weatherstripping and a clasp. Sending it back and getting another one will likely yield more of the same, and it's liable to cost you time and money.
I love a cheap humidor, but man, they're rough. It's a shame they don't make pretty wood coolers and oak rubbermaid containers.

Thanks for the help guys,

I seasoned with multiple Boveda packs for 10 days and the humidity did get to the stated 84% quite quickly and remained constant for a week . I got the glass top just so I wouldn't have to open it very much. I tend to be obsessive with monitoring my sticks haha I did the flashlight test and it seems to be sealed well as there was no light escaping from anywhere. After all the leak tests I've done, I'm thinking that it's just the winter dryness. Like I said, the beads are 65% rh, so I'm only 5% under what it's supposed to be. I'll try sliding down the cedar. I'm thinking of just replacing the 65% beads with 70% beads. Maybe that will compensate for the lower humidity.

[joshpip]

The best way to test a humidors seal IMHO is to hold the lid open about an inch or two and let it drop closed. If it SLAMS down you have a bad seal. If doesn't have a good seal. Once you have a humi with a perfect seal you'll know what I am talking about. It closes like those fancy draws that suck them selves in over the last half inch...

[shilala]

Originally Posted by heelsfan729

Thanks for the help guys,

I seasoned with multiple Boveda packs for 10 days and the humidity did get to the stated 84% quite quickly and remained constant for a week . I got the glass top just so I wouldn't have to open it very much. I tend to be obsessive with monitoring my sticks haha I did the flashlight test and it seems to be sealed well as there was no light escaping from anywhere. After all the leak tests I've done, I'm thinking that it's just the winter dryness. Like I said, the beads are 65% rh, so I'm only 5% under what it's supposed to be. I'll try sliding down the cedar. I'm thinking of just replacing the 65% beads with 70% beads. Maybe that will compensate for the lower humidity.

Good ideas, Samson.
Changing out the beads isn't likely to help. They'll still give off water at the same speed.
If you want to check your beads to see what they're doing, just stick them in a ziplock with your hygrometer. After an hour or so, maybe sooner, it will show you the setpoint of your beads.
Another thing...
You didn't mention what RH your cigars had been. They may just be drawing up the moisture faster than the beads can put it out. It's super important to have enough beads, too. Rather than switching beads, maybe add some more, or try Michael's beads. (cigarnut up there^)
His beads offer mo0re than 500% more available water than the ones you're using, and they give up the water to the air over 800% faster. They might be able to keep up.
If you have some wood clamps, fill that thing with distilled water and clamp it shut. Turn it over and see where water runs out. That will tell you if it's leaking, and exactly where, and you can patch the leaks. It won't hurt the humi one iota, I do it all the time, even to new builds. It's my secret to making humis that actually work. Don't tell anyone, that's top secret stuff.

[Kreth]

Originally Posted by shilala

If you have some wood clamps, fill that thing with distilled water and clamp it shut. Turn it over and see where water runs out. That will tell you if it's leaking, and exactly where, and you can patch the leaks. It won't hurt the humi one iota, I do it all the time, even to new builds. It's my secret to making humis that actually work. Don't tell anyone, that's top secret stuff.

I'm just about to this point. I have a glass-top that was fine for a year, then within the last couple of months, would not hold RH. It passed the dollar bill and lid drop tests. I ran a bead of silicone around the inside of the glass and also around the analog hygro, let it air out for a couple of weeks, then re-seasoned. In addition to finding any leaks, I'm thinking this method might help get the cedar to max saturation. Right now it seems really dry, even after several days of seasoning.
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Originally Posted by shilala

Good ideas, Samson.
Changing out the beads isn't likely to help. They'll still give off water at the same speed.
If you want to check your beads to see what they're doing, just stick them in a ziplock with your hygrometer. After an hour or so, maybe sooner, it will show you the setpoint of your beads.
Another thing...
You didn't mention what RH your cigars had been. They may just be drawing up the moisture faster than the beads can put it out. It's super important to have enough beads, too. Rather than switching beads, maybe add some more, or try Michael's beads. (cigarnut up there^)
His beads offer mo0re than 500% more available water than the ones you're using, and they give up the water to the air over 800% faster. They might be able to keep up.

Thanks Scott, there's a wealth of knowledge on this site. All one has to do is look. I couldn't find anything about Michael's (cigarnut) beads. How do they compare to your's? And how do they both compare to heartfelt's? I know Shilala's beads are legendary around these parts.

[aich75013]

Originally Posted by heelsfan729

Thanks Scott, there's a wealth of knowledge on this site. All one has to do is look. I couldn't find anything about Michael's (cigarnut) beads. How do they compare to your's? And how do they both compare to heartfelt's? I know Shilala's beads are legendary around these parts.

Cigarnut bought Shilala's bead business. They are the same. And they work great!
http://www.cigarasylum.com/vb/showthread.php?t=28368

[G G]

Originally Posted by shilala

they leak worse than an onion sack.

Another Shilalism. Dont know why, but that struck me as funny.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by Kreth

I'm just about to this point. I have a glass-top that was fine for a year, then within the last couple of months, would not hold RH. It passed the dollar bill and lid drop tests. I ran a bead of silicone around the inside of the glass and also around the analog hygro, let it air out for a couple of weeks, then re-seasoned. In addition to finding any leaks, I'm thinking this method might help get the cedar to max saturation. Right now it seems really dry, even after several days of seasoning.
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I'm upstairs fixing sofaman's leaky cheaphumidor glass top (and sides) humi right now. It's definately getting filled with water. It'll be airtight before it goes out of here.
I put a seal on the top earlier this year, still didn't help. It's that bad.
I found, as I expected, that there's no seal whatsoever around the glass. It's a lot of work, but he really loves that thing and it fits perfect on top of his winador. If it weren't for that, it'd be better served in the garbage can.
Sumb!tch sure is pretty, though. (Not sofaman, his humi.)

[Kreth]

So before I turned my desktop into Poof, I decided to try wiping down the wood along the seal. Whaddyaknow, RH jumps 10 points within a couple of hours. I'll give it another wipedown and see what happens to the RH overnight.
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