my antietam and its seal

[Rob The Long Island Cowboy]

lol!  i saw the title of this thread and immediately had flashbacks of jim and mark in my living room mocking me for my due diligence on door seals. 

anyways to whit:

the hardware option is nice but won't work for a number of reasons.  the problem lies not with the hardware but with the cabinet and it's construction and layout.  i investigated all sorts of hinges and catches and found that most would either obstruct the trays, would not affix to the cabinet properly, the way the door nests in the cabinet or other reasons that escape my mind at the moment.

so we need to break it down.

step 1.  from skipper's awesome advice to me many moons ago. (i apologize to him in advance if i butcher this at all in paraphrasing it) What you want to do is put a nice calibrated digital hygro in there if you don't already have one.  remove all humidification elements from the antietam.  do not open the cabinet for 3 days.  make note of the humidity change.  as i remember you shouldn't lose more than 2-3%. 

step 1a: contact bargain humidors that the top magnet is failing and see what they suggest.  their customer service is exceptional. also remember that the flange on the antietam door is quite deep even a somewhat less than perfect seal will be a functional seal.

after you do this report back and i'll let you in on the 2,000 other things i did with mine. 

best of luck.

[Rob The Long Island Cowboy]

i'm betting that your magnetic latches are adjustable. Sounds like the issue is what you may think is the one that is ok, the one at the bottom. Try to move it inward helping the door to close more fully. Also try moving the top latch slightly outward.

Usually the part of the latch that is on the cabinet (not the door) can be adjusted by slightly loosening the screws that hold them in place. They are typically mounted with elongated holes for just this purpose. Try smalll adjustments.

If this does not help, I'd say your door warped. Unwarping it may be as simple as twisting it in the opposite direction. Try putting a spacer on the bottom which seems to close too tightly (I like using folded paper that can be adjusted by adding or removing sheets) and them closing the top shut. Get creative in figuring out a way to hold the top shut. Leave it like this for 24 hours. This is a bit radical but may help.

the magnets are glued into dowel holes in the cabinet frame itself so they don't really adjust.  the ones in the are also in dowel holes.  the door is most likely racked if anything with the magnets not touching but i'm hoping this isn't the case.

like you said it can be unracked but this is a last option.  then again i did it to mine with success so ...

[scott81425]

i'll try to remove all my humidification (there is a lot in there!) and leave it be for a couple days to see what happens, and let you know. i was looking at the thing, trying to figure out how to get those magnets to touch. i tried to "pry" one out a little bit, but had no success. even when i push the door closed this extra 1/8th of an inch, they won't catch. but i know the magnets work, because i can stick stuff to them. i guess i'll remove it all, and see what kind of humidity loss i encounter.

[BigDaddyO]

The biggest problem with mine is the door drags on the bottom. I just lift gently to shut. You also might look at where the magnet comes in contact with the door for alignment. BdO

[Jimmie the Mum]

Lots of good advice, keep us posted.

[scott81425]

i sent bargain humidors an email to see what they think i should do. so far, i've removed the humidification, and haven't had any drop in humidity.

[Skipper the cigar aFISHinodo]

what is the humidity outside your box? In the room it lives in?

[fishhound]

what is the humidity outside your box? In the room it lives in?

Good point Skip. Scott if your humidity in the room is close to your humi you won't see a drop. But come winter time you may have big problems.

Have you tried the flash light test. Simple test, put a flash light in the humidor close the door and see if any light comes through the seal of the door, you will know just how bad the seal may be.

[scott81425]

what is the humidity outside your box? In the room it lives in?

Good point Skip. Scott if your humidity in the room is close to your humi you won't see a drop. But come winter time you may have big problems.

Have you tried the flash light test. Simple test, put a flash light in the humidor close the door and see if any light comes through the seal of the door, you will know just how bad the seal may be.

i live in colorado, and it is DRY. however, the humidor sits fairly close to my cooler, which helps a little bit in terms or adding some humidity. but even with that, the humidity in that room is probably 30, tops. if i open the door, in the time it takes me to pick out a stick, i lose close to 10 rh%, and it probably takes a good hour or two to get back up to where it was.

[Skipper the cigar aFISHinodo]

then it sound slike you are golden.

(30% humidity!!! man my skin would crack)