While we suggest you also review our FAQ page for other useful information about our products and the beads we use, some quick information is provided below about how to get the most life and reach from our pre-filled products and beads.
CHARGING:
First, and most importantly, we recommend using only distilled water to charge our bead filled devices and our beads. And while you “can” submerge a device with our beads installed to charge it quickly, unless you are not concerned with how long the beads will last and are committed to replacing them a bit more frequently, we DO NOT RECOMMEND “submerging” any device with our beads in any water baths. Submerging any device using our beads or the beads alone can cause the beads to swell too quickly and crack, leading to a shortening of their useful life.
Instead, we recommend charging all our devices using a fine mist hand sprayer bottle filled with distilled water as follows: over a sink or catch pan, hold the spray bottle nozzle a few inches away from the device, and, as you rotate the device cupped in your hand, spray the water mist through the perforations over the entire face to lightly saturate all beads beneath the surface of the device walls.
Once a majority of the beads (60% to 70%) seem wetted and turning from opaque white to clear, we suggest you then wait a couple of minutes to give the beads a chance to soak up the available water and then repeat the spraying method as needed until most all of the beads have changed from the opaque white to clear - signifying they are charged. Then, please let the device lay horizontally in a sink or pan about 10 minutes so excess water can drain out.
For all tube style devices, and as common-sense dictates for other devices, after charging with water and waiting 10 minutes for it to absorb, some excess water may remain between the beads. This is normal. However, to clear any unabsorbed, surplus water, we advise everyone to first empty the end caps by tilting the tubes so the end caps are upside down, allowing any trapped water to drain out, and, ALSO, to give every newly charged device a few light shakes over the sink to remove the rest of the unabsorbed, surplus water to clear the device for use. It’s important for you to follow these steps, and to repeat steps as needed until the device is clear of excess water so no surplus water can leak out into your storage container. It only takes a minute or two. These easy steps to clear all devices of excess water after charging them are highly recommended to avoid any excess water draining out of a device after you set the device inside your humidity container. Some people even lay the device in a small tray inside their containers to avoid any water migration/contact to the material in there.
HOW TO GET THE MAXIMUM COVERAGE STATED PER DEVICE:
After the installation of a correctly and fully “charged” RH Shield device into an appropriately sized aging container that is consistent with the device’s rating, any given size of device will rapidly support the recommended minimum rated weight of the material and the minimum rated cubic foot volume of space, as stated for each device, at the rated RH% level of our beads installed in the device (assuming an appropriate, non-porous humidifier container is used).
With a full and correctly “charged” RH Shield device, the device will support the recommended minimum rated weight of the material and the minimum rated cubic foot volume of the container space, as each is stated for each device size, at the rated RH% level of our beads installed in the device (assuming an appropriate, non-porous humidifier container is used).
However, if you need to humidify up to the maximum rated weight of the material and/or maximum rated cubic foot volume for any respective device, you CAN do this, but to do so will require a bit more time and attention from you to visually check the device’s ongoing charge level (by the color change of the beads) inside the storage container every week for the first few weeks. To reach the maximum rated weights and space volumes for any of our pre-filled devices, you will likely need to check and recharge the device(s) several times over several weeks until any dry material (compressed or otherwise) has fully absorb the desired relative humidification % all the way through to its core, and both the material and the overall environmental volume of the container are holding the desired RH % at a steady stasis matching the rating of RH% of the beads used in the device. You can purchase a variety of RH meters to better keep track of actual humidity levels, and we find them very helpful.
For materials that are highly compressed, it can take many weeks/months to get the desired moisture fully into the center of any bricks/cakes up to the desired RH % because there is virtually no air space for vapor to enter between the material.
Once 100% of the per device maximum rated weight and/or volume of the container is fully saturated and humidified in relative parity with the RH % humidity level that can be supplied per the beads in the device, provided:
- the container does not exceed the respective stated maximum recommended weight or cubic foot volume
- the container has an appropriate seal for your use case
- is not made of porous materials that will dissipate moisture
- is not left open for more than a couple of minutes at a time per day, and
- the ambient room temperature remains constant
Then, a fully charged device of a given size and RH % rating can last between a month, and up to several months depending on your storage circumstances, before needing recharging.
And provided you exercise the additional care recommended to check on, recharge and correctly install the device in an appropriate container, any RH Shield device will continue to “support” the rated maximum weight and volume limits stated for a respective device at the stated relative humidity level % of the RH Shield beads installed in the device with longer, but still regular recharging, internals.
To be able to successfully take advantage of the maximum weight and/or maximum volume specifications per device, the device will require a little more time and attention from you to charge it more frequently for the first couple of weeks/months to get all the material to the desired, fully humidified stasis throughout, and then, generally, less frequent attention will be needed, but some attention will always be required.
However, if environment factors change, you need to humidify more material than the recommended maximum weight, or if your container volume exceeds the recommended maximum, respective stated volume for any device filled with our beads, and the relative humidity of your material and container environment doesn’t hold a relative humidity stasis well for as long as you would like, you should consider adding another one or more of our RH devices filled with our beads to that same container: you can use more than one of our devices per container to achieve your desired results. They work well together, but we recommend for any one container, the devices should all be of the same RH % level beads (so they don’t compete with each other for moisture).
Provided you charge our specialized beads per our use and care instructions, you need not fear your material will get over-saturated with moisture, because, unlike our competitors’ products, whose devices and “jelly” type beads merely “push” humidity all the time, all of our pre-filled RH Shield devices and our hard silica beads (sold separately) by design, not only push humidity but also can remove humidity as needed to maintain a stasis at the respective relative humidity level at the RH % rating of the respective beads used (see our FAQ page).
Provided our pre-filled devices are used within each of their respective rating limits for the material weights and useable container space volumes, they will maintain the most stable relative humidity climate for your material at the selected RH % level rating of our beads. There is no better solution available today for any product of their kind, size, simplicity and price point.
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