Condensation question

[lizfromizz]

is it safe to store my medication in a wine cooler at 66F? My room temperature is 80F. I am worried about condensation forming on my meds.

 

My medication (benzos) is vacuum sealed in a glass jar so there shouldn't be any moisture problems. However, I've heard that storing medication in refrigerators is a bad idea because taking your 40F medication out into room temperature of 80F will allow condensation to form on your pills.

 

But since a wine cooler is warmer (66F/19C) than a refrigerator, would it still condense or is it safe?

 

Would simply allowing the vacuum sealed medication to return to room temperature before opening the vacuum seal and taking out the meds, fix this problem? (I've heard that vacuum sealing will block any condensation from happening, is this correct?)

[swansont]

is it safe to store my medication in a wine cooler at 66F? My room temperature is 80F. I am worried about condensation forming on my meds.

 

My medication (benzos) is vacuum sealed in a glass jar so there shouldn't be any moisture problems. However, I've heard that storing medication in refrigerators is a bad idea because taking your 40F medication out into room temperature of 80F will allow condensation to form on your pills.

 

But since a wine cooler is warmer (66F/19C) than a refrigerator, would it still condense or is it safe?

 

Would simply allowing the vacuum sealed medication to return to room temperature before opening the vacuum seal and taking out the meds, fix this problem? (I've heard that vacuum sealing will block any condensation from happening, is this correct?)

The degree of the problem is going to depend on the ambient relative humidity, but you will get more moisture condensation if you store them at a lower temperature and open the container while below room temperature. A wine cooler probably has minimal effect unless humidity is very high. If a glass of ice water (or similarly cold beverage) does not get noticeable condensation on the outside, I'd suspect that the humidity is low enough that you're fine.

 

Letting the bottle come up to room temperature will indeed eliminate the problem of additional condensation; you'll only have the effect of whatever humidity is in the air. The vacuum seal does indeed block condensation as long as the seal is in place. There will be essentially no water in a vacuum-sealed container. (I've also seen desiccant packets in some pill bottles, if the meds were susceptible to moisture)

[lizfromizz]

The degree of the problem is going to depend on the ambient relative humidity, but you will get more moisture condensation if you store them at a lower temperature and open the container while below room temperature. A wine cooler probably has minimal effect unless humidity is very high. If a glass of ice water (or similarly cold beverage) does not get noticeable condensation on the outside, I'd suspect that the humidity is low enough that you're fine.

 

Letting the bottle come up to room temperature will indeed eliminate the problem of additional condensation; you'll only have the effect of whatever humidity is in the air. The vacuum seal does indeed block condensation as long as the seal is in place. There will be essentially no water in a vacuum-sealed container. (I've also seen desiccant packets in some pill bottles, if the meds were susceptible to moisture)

 

Thank you for your suggestion Swansont, and it seemed to work but I am not sure. I just used two different water bottles, placed one in the refrigerator at 40F and one in the wine cooler at 66F and waited for the water to drop in temperature. I then took them out to room temperature to measure if any condensation would occur.

 

The 40F water bottle started to condense outside while the 66F water bottle did not condense any moisture at all (or at least this is what it appeared- microscopic moisture?), which I believe means that the wine cooler temperatures are not low enough for condensation to occur. (Please correct me if I am wrong). (I used a brown paper towel to wipe both bottles to test for condensation/moisture).

 

I also found this from your experiment suggestion: middleschoolchemistry.com/lessonplans/chapter2/lesson3

 

This illustration also seems to confirms about what you said that the vacuum sealing does in deed blocks condensation from occuring which is also great... so I still believe the best way is to allow the meds to return to room temperature before opening them up. Although I wonder if the constant temperature fluctuation (I use my meds about once or twice a month) from 66F to 80F would affect the meds in any way.