Well, it lasted a good 2-3 years, so i can't complain, but it seems that the humidifier just crapped out. I'd love to hear what everyone here is using for humidification.
Let me know guys (and girls?)!
Thanks
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
My ultrasonic humidifier is broken!
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24 comments:
I sent you the link to mine. $15 is a bargain, and it works just fine.
Hey scott, i was actually looking for your email last night, and couldn't find it! could you repost your humidifier here?
thanks
I have been using a pan of water and towel suspended from the top. It has been a bit of trial and error with the humidity jumping to 78% and dropping to 58% over the course of a few days. I am now steadily at 62%.
It's a Kaz personal mist, ultrasonic humidifier.
Welcome back! Picked up a Eva-Mist EDV2500I ultrasonic hmidifier via Amazon....Seems to work pretty well. I look forward to reading more posts from you.
Not directly on the topic of humidifiers, but I found this combined controller for temperature and humidity which is quite cheap. So far I've only tried out the temperature part though.
http://www.reptiledirect.com/zoomed-hygrotherm.aspx
I have a Hunter Night Glo humidifier. I got it to add some humidity to a few rooms during the winter. It never seemed to do much in a few rooms, but it has worked well in the mini curing room I set up. It also has a built in humidity controller. Might too big for going inside a fridge curing chamber though.
I've used a combination of a pond fogger, an aquarium air pump and a sealed plastic sandwich box.
I've put the fogger in the box with the water and pump air into the box. I have a tube leaving the box that goes into my fridge. I can deliver a stream of fog to wherever it's needed and can monitor/top up the water without opening the door.
http://www.greasley.com/files/humidifier.jpg
Very ingenious Tom! Thanks!
wow...im almost jealous - I have the opposite problem. Its hard to keep things dry enough here in Virginia. I typically just use a bowl of brine which seems to keep my curing chest (wine fridge) pretty regulated... I crack the door about every 3 days for 12 hours to lower the humidity even more.
you can try this one:
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/?asin=B000V5RSL8&LNM=Primary&AFID=Performics_DealCatcher.com
good price, and stylish
hah! Well i do have this one:
http://www.target.com/Crane-Cow-Figure-Ultrasonic-Humidifier-Black/dp/B001AQVW6O
in my daughter's room. Maybe i can just take hers!
The Eva Mist I have used for the last two months has been horrible. The humidistat in it is wildly inaccurate, and finally crapped out - it now is either on or off.. which would be fine, since I am about to install a separate hygrostat, but unfortunately the unit has a power button, which resets when the unit powers off - so it cannot be controlled by an external unit.
I just got a Crane EE-5301 Cool Mist Humidifer - will have to see how that works out.
Hey Jason,
Thanks for the site. It is very helpful. I have a question. I live in Portland, OR and in the 8 month winter we have a relative humidity of 75% and an average temperature of 40-55 degrees. I made a cabinet in my mudroom into a curing chamber and it stays pretty consistent at 68-80% RH and 48-55 degrees. I am hoping this will serve my curing needs as space to set up a dedicated fridge is slim. Anyway the question is about moisture loss: Is the loss pretty consistent over the whole period of curing or is there usually more loss in the beginning and then a gradual slowing of the rate?
I have a lonzino a coppa and a bresaola all hanging and after two weeks, the first I weighed them, they had lost 18-22% and then this past week they lost 5-6% which seems slower if I do the math. We did have a couple drier weeks when I first hung them and this past one has been on the wetter side so maybe that is the reason?
Thanks, darren
Darren, the rate of weight/moisture loss does slow down as it progresses.
Jason,
Glad to see you're posting again!
When I built my curing fridge I went with the Love controls (TS for temp and HS for humidity). They both work like champs. The humidifier I use is no longer made but was one of the Sunbeam ultrasonic models.
I'm now researching and building a "1-wire network" to get better data/control of things. I'll let you know in a few months how it works out. See this for more info on 1-wire networks: http://www.hobby-boards.com/catalog/howto_basics.php
With winter here, my basement is actually too cold now (not by much) and I find I need to heat the curing fridge a little to keep it in the right zone. I've been using a light bulb as a heat source but would like to use something which doesn't give off light (degrades the fat) and is designed to be a heater. Any suggestions from anyone?
I tried an aquarium heater pad for snakes but it doesn't give off enough heat. Hrm... maybe I should just start a small fire in my curing box. ;-)
~EZ
EZ, you can buy terrarium heater bulbs that emit heat but no light. I've nbeem thinking of trying one:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752658&lmdn=Reptile+Heating
for example. That's exactly what you're looking for. It uses a bulb socket.
Oh, i've also questioned the reality of light degrading the fat...i've never had a problem using a bulb...but maybe my stuff would be even better without the bulb:)
Jason,
Thanks! By chance I'm heading to PetSmart today anyway so I'll check out that ceramic bulb.
I've been reading Toldra's books ("Handbook of Fermented Meat and Poultry" and "Dry-Cured Meat Products") and cross-linking/oxidation of the lipids due to light is mentioned but, like you, I wonder how much a light bulb will affect it. Oxidation is also driven by... oxygen in the air. I also wonder what wavelengths drive the cross-linking. A regular lightbulb has only a limited spectrum and I suspect (but don't know) the cross-linking is driven more by wavelengths closer the to UV spectrum.
Also, I was wrong about my humidifier being a sunbeam - it's a Sunpentown:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O3I26M/ref=s9_simp_gw_s0_p364_t5?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_r=1E3YQ8QWK81VF8GVSQK0&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846
I have thought that if you wanted to "play" you could take the ultrasonic disk out of a smaller/cheaper humidifier and put it in a tub of water. Then you'd have something similar to what Tom built above.
~EZ
EZ that's a great idea about scavenging the ultrasonic disk. I might do that to see if my current humidifier disk is broken of if it's something else. That will give me a spare!
Good points about the fat oxidation and the wavelengths causing oxidation.
Jason,
As a follow-up, thanks for the suggestion for the ceramic bulb! I built a small controller for it by using two outdoor outlet boxes - one for the light fixture and a second for a rheostat and an indicator LED (to tell if it's on or not). Works great keeping the box cycling and, this weekend I did a test to see if it'll get the box warm enough to ferment (80-85 degrees) and it's working well.
~EZ
Good idea on the LED to know it's on!
This looks interesting: http://www.mainlandmart.com/foggers.html
Thanks Marc. Someone had previously mentioned using a pond fogger, and i think it would work well, as long as there was some circulation of the air with a fan or something.
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