Calibrating a built-in hygrometer

www4

Can you calibrate a built in hygrometer? If so how do you do it?

jlmarta

1

Russ55

If I was going to do it, and I'm assuming you don't want to remove the built in from the humi, I would do it by placing a calibrated digital hygro close inside and then comparing the two.

ENFIDL

Russ55:

If I was going to do it, and I'm assuming you don't want to remove the built in from the humi, I would do it by placing a calibrated digital hygro close inside and then comparing the two.

^this!

boydmcgowan

ENFIDL:

Russ55:

If I was going to do it, and I'm assuming you don't want to remove the built in from the humi, I would do it by placing a calibrated digital hygro close inside and then comparing the two.

^this!

Best idea, I’ve heard. Also if you do this, remember that the analog ones, even though calibrated correctly, can become inaccurate over time and you'll need to adjust every so often.

If you can’t get your hands on a digital one to calibrate it, I’m pretty sure there are only two main methods of calibrating hygrometers. The best method is the salt test, which you won't be able to do, because you can't take the hygrometer out without risking your humidor's seal. The other method, is messy, but you can use a hot steaming washcloth and hold it up against the backside of it to get it up to 95%-100%. This method isn’t real accurate, it’s useless if your hygro is reading too high, and its hard to do without soaking the inside of your humidor. But theoretically it can be done without a digital hygro and without removing from your lid.

I actually have a humi with a build in analog hygro that I've had for probably 5 years. I used the analog until last month when I upgraded to digital which is awesome. I actually calibrated it this way, and even though it was sort of a disaster it actually turned out ok in the end for me. Though I didn’t trust its accuracy and didn’t want to risk calibrating it again becuase of all the excess water, i felt like it was clsoe enough to not stress about it. And ironically enough, now tha tI have a digital hygro that I salt tested, my analog one is actually spot on, but I think that’s just luck.

Anyway, the moral of the story is to either calibrate it and check consistently (once a quarter probably) against a digital hygro or just buy a digital and drop it in there and use the analog one for show, because the warm washcloth method is not as good. Seriously, man, a digital hygro was the best $20 I've ever spent in my cigar journey. Think of it as insurance to protect your investment in your cigars or your humidor itself.

MKraszewski

Only one of my humi's has a built in hygro mounted in the front of the Humidor. I think the only time that one actually read anything close to what it should was when I was seasoning it. I had a feeling from the beginning I wasn't going to be able to rely on the built in hygrometer so I just have one placed inside the humi and it reads 70% while the built in one reads 55%. Maybe it needs to be calibrated or its just broke (its not a super expensive Humi, so maybe that's why it messed up), but I figured placing one inside would do the job and would be much less of a hassel than figuring out its problem.

AQUADGIO1200

I have a 100ct humi for my overflow.....and my built in Hygro is way off....i have just used a digital inside that bad boy. But i never thought of this...but can you do the salt test (with no cigars in humi) and just seal the humidor lid with tape so its air tight. Will that work? Has anyone ever tried that?

docbp87

www4:

Can you calibrate a built in hygrometer? If so how do you do it?

Don't bother. Get a 15$ digital hygrometer. Keep the analog one for good looks, but beyond looks, it's worthless.