I'll begin with the upgrade I recently performed on my chamber...
First, I transferred all the stuff hanging to my old chamber. The 2 Culatelli where in that chamber, but now that they have been moved to my fermentation trash can at room temperature for the summer fermentation period, my old chamber became available for holding all the projects I had in my large chamber.
After shutting the system down, First thing I did was lower the top LED lights down about 2" so they were below the dehumidifier intake baffle plate. Much better now.
Next, I swapped out the (4) 80mm PWM fans with (4)120mm fans on the cooling radiators. This gives me full contact with the entire surface of the radiator instead of only utilizing an 80mm ring in the middle of the radiator.
Then I installed a second PWM controller so I could set up 2 zones of airflow; right and left sides... one for drying whole muscle Salumi (ultra low air speed ~1-2cm/s) and one for drying Salami (~3-12cm/s air speed). I ran a second control wire into the chamber and plugged the fans into the controller for each zone.
I installed the second smaller Norcini Nirvana sticker that Rick
BGKYSmoker
sent me on the dehumidifier header. I like it...looks really cool!
(120mm fans installed)
I pulled the Humidity sensor out of the chamber through one of the doors and stuck it in a zip-lock bag with a 75% calibration pack to re-calibrate my RH% controller. It had been 6 months so time to check it.
Turned the system on sans power to the dH unit while calibration was being done for 24 hours.
RH% controller was off by +2.5% so adjusted the offset and dialed it back in.
After 24 hours, re-taped the RH% sensor in the chamber.
While the dH system was unplugged, I added a foam board baffle to stream line the airflow to the chamber return fan. This allows the system to be more responsive to lowering the humidity in the chamber. I thought I would have to fill the void space with foam board, but 1 piece did the trick sufficiently. Cool, easy fix.
Now the review....
I am very pleased with the performance of the chamber. I had a TEM chip go out after 3-4 months of operation that I had to change out. But the design of the system allowed me to do that without shutting the entire chamber down. I just unplugged the power supply for that peltier unit and swapped the TEM chip out. Took me less than 20 minutes to do it. The replacement 180W TEM chip was $5 bucks! Awesome! Easy peasy. Other than that, it has been up and running continuously for the last year or so. No way I will ever fill it up unless/until I butcher my own salumi pig. It has more than enough space for my needs. What I love about it is how even the chamber parameters stay. Since the cooling system only drops the cooling water 4-5*F below chamber temp., the cooled air stays above the dew point of the chamber temperature so no condensation on the radiators during the cooling cycle. This allows the humidity to stay very constant. I do not use a humidifier.....at all; the humidity inside the chamber only comes from the introduction of warm humid air from the room when I open the doors, and from the product hanging in the chamber. I like this. No wild RH swings. No ultra low RH drop at the end of the cooling cycle.
I have complete control of airflow speed so no case hardening. The 2 airflow zones will improve this aspect a lot. I can have the perfect airflow for salami, and the perfect airflow for whole muscles....in the same chamber.....AWESOME! I am ready for the fall run of salami now!
First, I transferred all the stuff hanging to my old chamber. The 2 Culatelli where in that chamber, but now that they have been moved to my fermentation trash can at room temperature for the summer fermentation period, my old chamber became available for holding all the projects I had in my large chamber.
After shutting the system down, First thing I did was lower the top LED lights down about 2" so they were below the dehumidifier intake baffle plate. Much better now.
Next, I swapped out the (4) 80mm PWM fans with (4)120mm fans on the cooling radiators. This gives me full contact with the entire surface of the radiator instead of only utilizing an 80mm ring in the middle of the radiator.
Then I installed a second PWM controller so I could set up 2 zones of airflow; right and left sides... one for drying whole muscle Salumi (ultra low air speed ~1-2cm/s) and one for drying Salami (~3-12cm/s air speed). I ran a second control wire into the chamber and plugged the fans into the controller for each zone.
I installed the second smaller Norcini Nirvana sticker that Rick
BGKYSmoker
sent me on the dehumidifier header. I like it...looks really cool!(120mm fans installed)
I pulled the Humidity sensor out of the chamber through one of the doors and stuck it in a zip-lock bag with a 75% calibration pack to re-calibrate my RH% controller. It had been 6 months so time to check it.
Turned the system on sans power to the dH unit while calibration was being done for 24 hours.
RH% controller was off by +2.5% so adjusted the offset and dialed it back in.
After 24 hours, re-taped the RH% sensor in the chamber.
While the dH system was unplugged, I added a foam board baffle to stream line the airflow to the chamber return fan. This allows the system to be more responsive to lowering the humidity in the chamber. I thought I would have to fill the void space with foam board, but 1 piece did the trick sufficiently. Cool, easy fix.
Now the review....
I am very pleased with the performance of the chamber. I had a TEM chip go out after 3-4 months of operation that I had to change out. But the design of the system allowed me to do that without shutting the entire chamber down. I just unplugged the power supply for that peltier unit and swapped the TEM chip out. Took me less than 20 minutes to do it. The replacement 180W TEM chip was $5 bucks! Awesome! Easy peasy. Other than that, it has been up and running continuously for the last year or so. No way I will ever fill it up unless/until I butcher my own salumi pig. It has more than enough space for my needs. What I love about it is how even the chamber parameters stay. Since the cooling system only drops the cooling water 4-5*F below chamber temp., the cooled air stays above the dew point of the chamber temperature so no condensation on the radiators during the cooling cycle. This allows the humidity to stay very constant. I do not use a humidifier.....at all; the humidity inside the chamber only comes from the introduction of warm humid air from the room when I open the doors, and from the product hanging in the chamber. I like this. No wild RH swings. No ultra low RH drop at the end of the cooling cycle.
I have complete control of airflow speed so no case hardening. The 2 airflow zones will improve this aspect a lot. I can have the perfect airflow for salami, and the perfect airflow for whole muscles....in the same chamber.....AWESOME! I am ready for the fall run of salami now!
