Attention Avanti Thermo Electric Cooler Owners!

The search function has been my enemy here recently and I can't seem to find any information relating to any necessary modifications to these units in order to make them cooleradors. I'm having some wild humidity fluctuations and the door is rarely opened.

Here's the specs:

It's a 16 bottle thermoelectric
Click here for the parts diagram PDF
It has an internal fan that is always on, but from the parts diagram above, it doesn't look like it has any direct air flow from the outside
I have 1lb of heartfelt 65% beads that are pretty thoroughly soaked
I have new batteries in a freshly calibrated hygrometer

Any thoughts on this model? I read at least a dozen posts on this and the former CS where people claim to have no problems at all with the unit. What could I be doing wrong?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Brian

Define wild humidity fluctuations. More than 10%?

From what I have read over various forums about various units 10% is not uncommon.

Chas

Yes, 10% in both directions, within a few hours. Example, 54% when I got home yesterday was at 72% a few hours later. I had opened the back door to the house to cool it off and it was raining out.

[borndead1]

Are you having any condensation problems?

[bobarian]

This is typical of any thermoelectric wine cooler. How full is the cooler? Put a hygrometer inside a box and take a high/low reading, this will give you a better idea of the actual rh of your sticks. As the unit cycles rh will drop, then come back up. If you are using beads there should be no problem with long term storage.

Being full should help. You will still get swings in RH but it shouldn't be too drastic (as is your case). Is there any way you can check the seal of the unit? Sometimes the corners won't align right and you'll have a bit of space. You can fix that by re-aligning the door with the pivot brackets.

you can check it at night by throwing a light/battery lantern or flashlight inside then closing the door. Turn off all the lights and check all around the rubber seal for light coming through.

Thanks for the input guys (and the peace of mind)! It's not very full at all right now. I've got about 6 bottles of beer on the bottom shelf for aging, 3 22oz/ bottles of beer and a bottle of wine on the top shelf for aging. I've got my 22count humidor on the middle shelf and 2 boxes on the bottom next to the beer (Cohiba siglo1 and party short cab).

I'm awaiting some empty boxes from a fellow BOTL and at that point I'll move in the 100+ singles I have in my desktop.

So far there have been no condensation problems. I've been checking in a few times a day because I'm still paranoid.

The wife has put the brakes on my slide down the slope, so I doubt that I'll be able to fill it up much more anytime in the near future...

The bottles would do it to you then. yes they will help keep the temperature steady for a longer period of time (meaning they will fill up cubic ft space) BUT - the down side is the the bottle will condensate with the temperature fluctuations.

On a side note: get those cabs off the bottom if possible. At the very least raise them with a spare empty box. I almost lost a box of siglo II's because I had them sitting on the bottom.

Originally Posted by fishstix

The bottles would do it to you then. yes they will help keep the temperature steady for a longer period of time (meaning they will fill up cubic ft space) BUT - the down side is the the bottle will condensate with the temperature fluctuations.

On a side note: get those cabs off the bottom if possible. At the very least raise them with a spare empty box. I almost lost a box of siglo II's because I had them sitting on the bottom.

Wetness on the bottom?

[D. Generate]

I may be pointing out the obvious but have you calibrated your hygrometers? I've had some read way off what actual conditions are.

What temperature are you running? In itself it might not explain fluctuations but does influence humidity so opening and closing might cycle the unit and therefore affect your numbers.

Apologies if repeating what you know. I have two 28 bottle coolerdors going for the last two weeks and I still haven't quite hit the sweet spot.

Originally Posted by Drat

Wetness on the bottom?

Yes, the plastic walls/floor inside the cooler can, and usually will, condensate. Think of your glass of cap n' coke sitting out on a spring day. The two different areas of temperateure will cause a condensation buildup (albeit not that drastic). The other possibility is that the cooling fins could condensate and drip down to the floor of the cooler as well.

I think this is pointed out in the vinotemp 102. (it might be from another site though). All I know is that it "almost" happened to me until I read about it and took appropriate action.

The floor of the avanti has some channels running front to back so larger puddles aren't as much of an issue, but I took your advice anyway and put my two cabs up on a little cedar frame.

From all of the input here, I think I figured out what my problem was. My beads weren't properly hydrated when I first put them in. When I would open the unit to spray them, the coldness of everything inside, including the walls would draw in moisture and give me a high reading, even though the beads weren't fully hydrated (50% clear). It wasn't until I properly hydrated them and left the door closed for a full day that things settled down. Between yesterday morning and this morning, I didn't see a single degree of change in the humidity.

Now the real test is whether I can keep from opening the door. Everything I have stored in there right now is highly desirable (Westvleteren 12, Rochefort 10, the last bottles of my homebrewed old ale, party shorts from 07, and cohiba sig1 from 08)