Eva-Dry and fan arrangement in Keezer

[ResumeMan]

In the process of assembling the parts for my keezer.

I picked up an Eva-Dry 500, and I have a muffin fan on the way. The main reason I bought the fan was for general air circulation to minimize temperature differential. But I'm seeing that folks are finding that the Eva-dry also works much better in conjunction with a fan.

In this thread by day_trippr, he actually strapped the fan right onto the drying unit. I could do that, but my plan was to have the two in separate parts of the freezer. The air would still be circulating around the interior, including around the Eva-Dry, but not right on it.

I'm just wondering if any folks out there have tried both configurations and whether it made a big difference to stick the fan to blow right at the dryer.

Thanks

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, in addition to the fan on my Eva Dry, I have a 120mm fan for general air circulation in my keezer. I recommend having both...

Cheers!

 

[zachattack]

I have my fan mounted to the collar, directly below the shanks, which happen to be on the right side of the keezer above the hump. It blows down so that when I open the keezer for a sec I don't lose all my cold air. I lay the Eva Dry on it's side on the hump, maybe a foot or so below the fan. While I'm sure it's not as effective as day_trippr's fan strapped directly to the unit, it works pretty well and the one fan serves both purposes.

 

[Mordhaus]

I have not tried the fan strapped to the Eva Dry method. I'm sure that method is very effective, but it did not suit my keezer build. I have a black GE 7.2 with an 8" Red Oak collar. The inside of the collar is insulated with 1" foam board. I used a piece of 1" x 4" stained and cleared Red Oak to mount my manifold, fan, and Eva Dry. I mounted the fan using small stainless L brackets and put a stainless eye screw next to the fan for the Eva Dry to hang. The unit sits just below and to the left of the fan. It's only been functional for a week, but is working very well.

 

[Roadie]

fwiw, in addition to the fan on my Eva Dry, I have a 120mm fan for general air circulation in my keezer. I recommend having both...

Cheers!

I currently have a 120mm fan mounted to the collar in my 14.8 cf GE keezer (blowing down) and have puddles so going to turn to the Eva-Dry solution. Do you think 1 of the 500 models will be enough? Does the 80mm fan blow into the eva-dry unit?

TIA for the help.

 

[day_trippr]

There are many variables involved: the prevailing ambient humidity in your home, how solid all the keezer seals are, how cold you run your keezer. I can't really dial up an appropriate solution - especially given I only have experience with one drier in a 10cf keezer.

The single E-500 I've been running for a bit over a year usually keeps things under control for 10-14 days between drying cycles. I have noticed it has slowly lost holding capacity over time and was having trouble keeping up during the more humid days this summer, and it's down to a week to 10 days before it's time to cook it again. This is likely normal - I'm pretty sure I've read about the same phenomenon with other driers that use silica gel.

I would go with the single and see how it works for you. With that much room you could likely fit a second if you think it would be helpful. And I strongly recommend driving air at the drier - as I noted in that linked thread I started, it didn't do anything worthwhile without pushing air right at (or in my case, literally into) the drier...

Cheers!

 

[Roadie]

Ordered the unit and a fan.