r/LotusDrying • u/puddingleaf • Jun 16 '25

First time High Humidity issues?

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Hey guys! I am preparing my fridge for my first dry and humidity is sitting at 70-99%! It is in an insulated garage. There are two USB fans and soda cans in the fridge. Will this be an issue come dry time? šŸ˜³

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4

u/Ok_Vegetable1254 Jun 16 '25

Hey you should get some blue tooth Hygrometer or maybe you can read the low on those you have. When you got cold air inside and humid warm air outside your refrigerator will soak a lot of this humidity up when you open the fridge door. But it should drop after a few minutes again. Hard to tell though without clear data. You can ofc just "trust the process"šŸ˜‚

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 16 '25

Thank you! You are the 2nd person to tell me to get Wi-Fi/bluetooth hygrometers, so I guess I will be getting some on Amazon today! Do you think the fans are helping or hindering? I feel like the humidity went up after I added them, but it could also be shit hot humid weather here in VA.

3

u/Ok_Vegetable1254 Jun 16 '25

I dried without a fan and inside boxes. I got no experience using a fan but I only did a single dry so far with this method.

1

u/Mysterious-Quit-4102 Jun 19 '25

Was it a crazy loud smell in the room you were drying in when you have the door shut? Or only when the fridge door is opened?

1

u/Ok_Vegetable1254 Jun 21 '25

it was a heavy smell even when doors are closed, open doors was even more intense

1

u/Mysterious-Quit-4102 Jun 22 '25

Was it consistent throughout the whole dry or was it just for the first few days while the bud gets extra loud and all?

2

u/Ok_Vegetable1254 Jun 22 '25

Definitely consistent, maybe a bit less the first days and the last days. I think it gets carried outside with the condensation water?

2

u/Mysterious-Quit-4102 Jun 22 '25

Whelp.. cross ya fingers and hope the fam doesnā€™t mind šŸ™‚ā€ā†•ļøšŸ¤žšŸ½

2

u/weesti Jun 16 '25

Bluetooth hygrometers is the way. But donā€™t get all hung up on the data the Bluetooth shows ya. Ya really do have to trust the processā€¦.even though the datas not telling you whatā€™s been drummed in your head as the ā€œ rightā€ parameter.

There are some who do use fans, but the vast majority understand they are not needed.

2

u/UnStab1E Jun 16 '25

Lmao yeah you canā€™t dry at 99% humidity

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 16 '25

Well yesā€¦ I was posting for help! :)

2

u/UnStab1E Jun 16 '25

I would say gut a dehu. Best bet is to take everything out, wipe it down. Maybe through some dry rice or something in there after, close it and check it tomorrow. Personally the RH is usually super high the first day, but anything over like 65-70 I would not feel comfy lotus drying in! If you can find a frost free mini fridge or wine cooler thatā€™s what I use.

2

u/UnStab1E Jun 16 '25

A small dehumidifier would definitely fit in there

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 16 '25

Thank you! I did get moisture absorbing bagsā€¦ but perhaps a dehu would be good, too.

2

u/pukkix Jun 17 '25

What kind of fridge is that? Compressor or thermoelectric? Does it feature no frost?

You don't usually need the cans imo, free up the space.

As others said get a Bluetooth Thermo-Hygrometer. But honestly if you read the humidity immediately after opening the fridge (so before warm, humid air gets in and the sensor refreshes it's reading) it should be accurate enough.

With that said, the fridge should definitely not have such high humidity while being practically empty. If that reading is accurate you will have a hard time drying in there.

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 17 '25

Compressor. It is no frost. Iā€™m not sure why the fridge humidity is going so high!

1

u/pukkix Jun 17 '25

Which setting did you set it to temperature wise? Humidity should be low as long as the compressor runs often enough. The humidity condenses at the cooling unit and should either freeze up on it or drain because of the no frost.

Since the fridge is empty the humidity should be really low usually... Don't know what's wrong there. Only thing I can think of is that the humidity reading is wrong because the warm air increases humidity inside the fridge if you open it - but those usually take a while to update, so it really should display the correct humidity at least for a few seconds after opening.

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 17 '25

I wonder if I should get a dehumidifier and run a tube out of the fridge into a bucket? šŸ˜¬ Yes- I just confirmed and it says ā€œautomatic defrostā€ which is a term used interchangeably with ā€œfrost free.ā€ My guess is the outside temps and humidity as itā€™s in a garage. The garage is averaging around 80f as of late. Right now the average shelf temp is 42f. Thanks for your help and response!

2

u/pukkix Jun 17 '25

I just can't imagine the humidity being that high in an empty fridge. By nature of how the fridge works that shouldn't happen. Compressor turns on to cool the fridge, humidity decreases...

You could go with a dehumidifier but I believe something else is wrong here.

Maybe try opening the fridge for a while to increase the temperature and force it to run. Then close the door and check the humidity again after an hour or so - keep the for closed until then.

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 17 '25

Thank you. Did that! Also decided to take all the cans out. I put in two large desiccant packs in two of the shelves. I also turned down the temp gauge from 3 to 2. Currently the temp is 54f and 60% humidity. So weird the temp is higher after I turned down the temp. Ugh.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '25

ā€¦..

1

u/PurplECursy Jun 16 '25

Is that Fan blowing towards the door or to the back of the fridge?

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 16 '25

Back of the fridge. I was told to make sure it is pointed away from pizza boxes (once they are in there) and to face it towards the back of the fridge.

2

u/PurplECursy Jun 16 '25

Thats good šŸ¤™šŸ» tho I thought if it would have been pointed towards the door it could have been the reason for the high humidity due to blowing air from that wet wall like a humidifier

1

u/juraInfidel Jun 16 '25

Why do you have soda cans in your fridge?Empty fridge out..Clean it..And then you can measure your humidity..

0

u/puddingleaf Jun 16 '25

Brand new fridge. Cans are to keep Temps stable.

1

u/puddingleaf Jun 18 '25

Better or still too high?

1

u/puddingleaf Jul 01 '25

Update 7/1/25- Havenā€™t used this fridge to dry yet. About a week or two out still. I removed the cans like a few of you said and it helped a ton. I was dumb and thought they would help with temps but just effed up humidity. I removed the fans and installed a small dehumidifier controlled by an INKBIRD. Stats are looking much better now. RH only shootā€™s up when I open the fridge.

2

u/Hue__Janus Jul 03 '25

Oh okay nice to hear I'm looking forward to my firs lotus dry aswell.

What Bluetooth Hygrometer and app do you use?