Do you have a garden or a greenhouse you need to attend to? Are you the kind that likes predicting the weather before stepping out of your space? Do you want a nifty environment that gives you the right levels of humidity? Then it would be best if you thought about getting a well-calibrated digital hygrometer.
In essence, digital hygrometers are meant to measure the relative humidity of a particular environment. Digital hygrometers are particularly important among people, like storing their cigars and other objects in the humidor. However, proper calibration of the digital hygrometer is required to ensure that the humidor's humidity levels remain at an accurately constant level.
Why Must You Calibrate Your Digital Hygrometer?
Your hygrometer will come in handy each time you want to check the condition of your humidor. In essence, storing your cigars' ideal condition should present a 70% humidity level and a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. A slight drop or increase in the humidity levels will pose significant dangers to your set of cigars.You’re only set to vet the efficiency of your humidor if you use a calibrated hygrometer. The humidor could retain too much humidity that may harm your cigars if you aren’t using an effectively calibrated hygrometer. A faulty hygrometer equates to a car with a broken speedometer whose functionality is hugely hindered.
Here’s the step-by-step guide on how to calibrate your digital hygrometer like a pro.
What You’ll Need
Gather these things before you embark on the calibration process:
- A cup
- The digital hygrometer
- A releasable plastic bag
- Half cup of salt
- A quarter cup of water
Here, you must try to ensure that the tin (cup) you choose is the smallest you can locate and that its seal is air-tight.
Steps to Follow When Calibrating a Digital Hygrometer
The following stepwise procedure will help you to ensure that your hygrometer operates to its optimal potential:Step 1: Prepare the Salt Solution
You will require a clean plastic, metallic, or porcelain bottle to prepare the salt solution when calibrating the digital hygrometer. Any standard bottle will come in handy in this case. However, you must ensure that the bottle is well cleaned and rinsed out.Add a mixture of water and salt to the cup and stir the components. The moving process should continue until the salt particles are wet and present with a consistent texture.
Step 2: Put the Salt Solution and the Hygrometer inside the Releasable Plastic Bag
The salt solution is still in the cup. This is the perfect time to put it inside the releasable plastic bag. Nonetheless, you must ensure that it maintains an upright position while sitting on a flat surface.Put the hygrometer inside the plastic bag, but be careful to ensure that the salt solution doesn’t spill/ come in contact with the hygrometer. Placing the plastic bag out of reach can help you minimize spillages.
Get a place (a room will work well) with a constant temperature. The best way would be to keep the setup in a closet then leave it unaltered. Keep the setup away from direct sunlight, ventilators, and heaters.
NOTE: Ensure that the releasable plastic bag is tightly sealed after placing the contents inside.
Step 3: Note the Hygrometer Readings
Ensure that the setup remains untouched for 12 hours before taking the readings. That will give it the time to settle and give the right humidity readings while it is inside the replaceable plastic bag. Check if the hygrometer’s screen indicates 75% as the reading on the 12th hour.Nonetheless, there’re tendencies that the reading could deviate by ±3% from the 75% mark. You may proceed to step 4 if the reading deviates as described.
Step 4: Commence with the Calibration Process
Get the hygrometer out of the plastic bag immediately if the reading is below or above 75% and look for the calibration button. Press the button.There are tendencies that the calibration button could be concealed in some digital hygrometer formats. It’s advisable to consult the user manual in this case. Alternatively, the reset button could be used. You’ll only need to press the ‘reset ‘button then wait until the reading reaches 75%.
Step 5: What if the Digital Hygrometer doesn't have Calibration or Reset Button?
You need not panic if your digital hygrometer does not have a reset or calibration button. There’s a way out for this. Just note the difference between the reading you got and 75%. For instance, if the reading was 71, then the difference is 4.You need to note the difference as it will be required for future references. You'll only need to add the difference to the reading you get on your hygrometer in the future to get the actual humidity levels. However, you must wait for two hours before using the hygrometer to take your humidor's humidity readings. The 2-hour lapse allows the hygrometer to stabilize.
The Calibration Process Could Be Accurate But…
Even though this method could come in handy if you want to get an estimated value of the hygrometer’s accuracy, it won’t give you the best results if your objective is to get precise values. For instance, variations in salt compositions could limit the degrees of uniformity in each calibration.Just Before We Close…
It's good to note that calibrating your digital hygrometer will never be a one-time activity, even if it is the most premium in the market. In this case, “set it then forget it for a lifetime” should never cross your list of vocabularies. As a matter of fact, even the manufacturer will recommend that you initiate the re-calibration process once in a while.Just like the car engine, your computer, and musical instruments, the digital hygrometer you spent your hard-earned money on will need to be fine-tuned.
The most significant advantage with your digital hygrometer is its potency to have a longer life cycle between calibrations. Even though you may use your digital hygrometer for years without facing challenges, it is strongly recommended that you initiate the calibration process at least once a year as a routine maintenance operation.
