humidity control question for 120-unit wine refrigerator

Hi,
I have a 120 unit, upright wine refrigerator that I purchased about a year ago. It's made by Avanti. I wasn't ready for (nor could I afford) a better wine cabinet with built in humidity control. My question concerns humidity control. On its own, the unit maintains about 35% humidity, so I have resorted to placing a small bowl of water in the bottom of the unit. My problem is that this is imprecise at best, causing humidity to fluctuate between 60-80%, though it usually stays at the upper end of that. (I have placed a digital hygrometer/temp unit in the middle of the unit, amongst my better wines to monitor).

Does anyone know of a passive humidifier that would work better for this job, perhaps similar in concept to the humidifiers in cigar humidors? Would it be better for me to place some type of foam in the bowl of water, and should I be treating it with something to prevent bacteria and mold? IF so, what type.

As an aside, for anyone else who is using a unit like this, I have found that the digital temperature setting for the unit does not match the temperature on my digital thermometer placed in the middle of the unit. To maintain a celler temp of about 57-58 degrees, I have to set my unit's temperature setting (it's digital) to 49 degrees.

Any insight into how anyone else has addressed this issue is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Steven, I've owned Avanti, Vinotemp and (now) Vintage Keeper - all of them needed to be set lower in order to maintain the proper temperature. In addition to setting the temperature lower, I’ve done two things that seemed to have helped the cooling unit from working too hard. The first thing I did was form a crescent-shaped shield out of tinfoil and placed it behind the port of the cooling unit, thus ensuring that the cooling unit wasn't struggling to reuse warm air. Second, I filled the empty spaces in my 500-bottle unit with empty wine bottles. These empties displace dead air space and the glass conducts a bit of temperature.

As far as humidity, I don't know of anyone who has used a separate humidity unit within one of these freestanding cellars. The typical fix is a dish with a sponge. Too much humidity or mold is only a problem for labels and can't hurt the wines, AFAIK... I mean, look at Tokaji cellars.

Best,
Joe

Joe,
Thanks for the info. I guess I never realized that too much humidity isn't a problem, but I guess it makes sense compared with too little. I'll stop worrying and just keep my water bowl filled.

Thanks,
Steve