I've read that with the Newair products, if there is a power outage, the thermostat defaults to the minimum setting of 55°. I don't know what happens with other brands.
If I'm away for a few days, would this cause a problem for the cigars?
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I've read that with the Newair products, if there is a power outage, the thermostat defaults to the minimum setting of 55°. I don't know what happens with other brands.
If I'm away for a few days, would this cause a problem for the cigars?
As long as you catch it and reset it in a short time, no its not a problem. The overall issue is that you want to keep your sticks at a constant temp for best long-term storage.
I would put it on a battery backup. That way it can run during an outage. Then you only have to worry if power is out for longer than an hour or two.
BBU isn't a bad idea but even a few days at 55 deg isn't going to hurt your sticks. A lot of guys freeze their sticks for days to avoid beetles. Just make sure you get them back up to temp before you smoke em.
You can also install a secondary temp controller that will basically override the stock unit.
I have mine on a UPS. yeah a few hours at 55 degrees won't hurt anything but in Florida during the summer we get daily storms so power loss happens constantly. I didnt want mine resetting every day.
If you are interested in a good one, I picked this one up, works great:
Johnson Controls Digital Thermostat Control
It's an annoying feature on the New Air. I unplug mine when I'm away in winter, since my heat is set in the low 60s when I 'm away. I haven't been through a summer with the wineador yet, so guess I'll need some sort of back-up...my house will get to 80F+ when we go away in the summer...way to warm for cigars (beetles).
Thanks for everyone's input. I'm not pulling the trigger for a while, but when I do, I want to make an informed decision. I already have an external thermostat from a Keezer project that never got off the ground, so may go that route when the time comes.
My cigars are kept at a constant 58 degrees year round ( lowest setting) worth no issues.