Author Topic: Fridge Cave - Changing Relative Humidity  (Read 1399 times)

catdance62

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Fridge Cave - Changing Relative Humidity
« on: June 10, 2012, 12:57:54 PM »
As like many home cheesemakers I am having a humidity problem in my little cheese fridge. I noticed that earlier this spring when my fridge was inside my house and I had the windows open (before we turned the AC on), the humidity was really pretty good, even without a wicking towel set-up. As soon as we turned on the AC (we live in the South--early heat, high humidity), the humidity went right down. I assume it is because the AC sucks all the humdiity out of the air. Anyways, I decided to go on and put the fridge outside on the porch on a furniture dolly so I could take advantage of the humdiity outside. It seems to be working, but the humidity seems to be fluctuating quite wildly (I have a thermometer/hygrometer in the fridge). Is there a reason for this? Any suggestions? Do you think this will work on the long term?

Annie

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Re: Fridge Cave - Changing Relative Humidity
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2012, 02:26:49 PM »
As like many home cheesemakers I am having a humidity problem in my little cheese fridge. I noticed that earlier this spring when my fridge was inside my house and I had the windows open (before we turned the AC on), the humidity was really pretty good, even without a wicking towel set-up. As soon as we turned on the AC (we live in the South--early heat, high humidity), the humidity went right down. I assume it is because the AC sucks all the humdiity out of the air. Anyways, I decided to go on and put the fridge outside on the porch on a furniture dolly so I could take advantage of the humdiity outside. It seems to be working, but the humidity seems to be fluctuating quite wildly (I have a thermometer/hygrometer in the fridge). Is there a reason for this? Any suggestions? Do you think this will work on the long term?
Hmm, this seems mysterious. Are you checking the humidity more often since you put it outside; or did you open it more often when it was inside?

I ask because the fridge itself will de-humidify the air as well, just like the a/c does. In addition, (according to my husband) the heat in the surrounding air will make the fridge have to work harder to maintain its temp (iow, if the fridge was in a 50 degree environment, it wouldn't have to work as hard as if it were in a 90 degree environment).

So... if it were me (who is a rank beginner!!!), I would put the fridge back where it had been more stable and humidify it by wicking.

catdance62

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Re: Fridge Cave - Changing Relative Humidity
« Reply #2 on: June 12, 2012, 12:41:06 PM »
I rarely open it, maybe once a day to check the cheese prior to waxing it. I have a thermometer/hygrometer that is on the outside of the fridge with the
detector inside (they sell it on cheesemaking.com). I worried abotu it working too hard because where we live it routinely gets over 100 in late July/early August,
but we have a couple of deep freezers outside on the porch and they seem to do OK.