Cooled Cabinet Humidor Project

[Silound]

Be sure to account for the thermoelectric sinks generating a lot of condensation inside the cabinet from the moisture in the air. IE you don't want that running down the sides of your cabinet or getting things wet directly.

I gave a similar project some thought a while back, and ended up adding a small drip tray immediately below the TE sinks made of some PVC cut lengthwise with end caps to form a small (1" pipe) gutter. I added a T coupler at one end and a step-down adapter to a piece of 1/4" food grade tubing that ran down the back corner and allowed me to direct the constant condensation drip back into the humidifier reservoir.


Other side things I would think of include adding some duct-work in the back corners (cover it with panels) that would allow you to wire two slow speed 120mm PC fans: one blowing air up to the top of the cabinet, one blowing air down to the bottom (with 1"-2" holes on an interval to allow air to circulate out and around the cigars). I decided that would be the most efficient way to move air around constantly to ensure even humidity. The other idea I had was a "false back" to the cabinet with large holes in it, behind which were fans blowing air around to keep it moving, but I ultimately decided ducting the corners was more space-efficient, and presented less problems should I ever need to make modifications or repairs.

AC outlets are almost a must-have unless you plan to wire the whole cabinet into one board and PSU and make the cabinet an actual appliance. My original idea used a 25' heavy guage outdoor extension cord that I cut one end from. I had planned to wire it to a junction box, where I would wire out two outlets on the inside, and then attach a high-efficiency, low-noise PC power supply to run the temperature control, thermoelectric system, and fans inside the unit.


Of course, time restraints meant I never got farther than some plans and drawings I did up years ago. Pity, I would have liked to finish that project.