Lower RH with lower temp?

[Wharf Rat]

Originally Posted by nater

I recently received and setup my Edgestar 28 bottle unit, and after a few days, things have settled down nicely. I do have one question however. I have 1.5lbs of heartfelt 65% beads in my fridge, and the RH is ~66% with the fridge off and just sitting there. When I turn the fridge on (~60F), the RH drops to about 60%. Is this something that is normal? It is the thermoelectric unit, not compressor based, so I know it is not that.

Is it just the lower temp lowers the RH? Which is more desirable, 60% @ 60F or 65% at 70F?

You want to maintain the same RH, regardless of temperature. Perhaps one of the bead suppliers can comment on how the beads react to temperature. If there were no beads present, you would expect the RH to go up as the temperature declined.

[tedrodgerscpa]

Stolen from the first google link I found, which was USA today

Q: What is the relationship between air temperature and relative humidity?

A: Relative humidity is a percentage that reflects how close the air is to saturation, where 100% relative humidity indicates fog or rain and single-digit relative humidity indicates extremely dry air. For a given amount of water vapor in the air, relative humidity will decrease as air temperature increases and increase as air temperature decreases. Typically, relative humidity at a location is highest around daybreak when temperatures are coolest and lowest during the heat of the afternoon.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule as the amount of water vapor in the air doesn't remain constant throughout the day. In addition, temperatures not always lowest in the morning and highest in the afternoon.

[captain53]

Mine did that for a while then settled in and now is very steady. But from my experience with the Edgestar 28, 4 ChasDen All Cedar Drawers and 2 Cedar Shelves 1.5 # of beads is not enough. I started with that and ended up at 2.5# before it behaved like I wanted. I have mine set at the highest temp and it holds right at 66 degrees, I do not turn it off and on.

Another lesson learned was do not make changes too quickly - it takes several weeks for things to settle down after any kind of adjustments to the setup.