Gun safe humidity

[patrioticmarine]

Before you go to that expense and time, start with the quickest bang for the buck, seriously just order the things I linked on Amazon. They're $20 and you can return them if you don't see a big gain. There is no risk

The Eva-Dry things do not work nearly as well as they claim from my experience. I tossed mine.

Thanks liquid, I'll try those other dehumidifiers. I'm willing to try almost anything right now. I appreciate you adding the link, it saved me time from Googling it myself.

 

[RK600]

It is my understanding that temperature is a large part of this too. Temperature should be around 10 degrees higher than the outside air to prevent moisture from condensing in the safe or on the firearms. As long as the fire arms are oiled and there is no condensing moisture, the relative humidity shouldn't matter much as there will not be water on the fire arm to cause rust. I highly doubt you will have fog (condensing moisture) in your garage.

The steel plate test is representative of condensing moisture. Prevent the condensing moisture and prevent a large part of the rust. Right?

 

[SPHBS]

I had a single 750 gram canister (rated for 57 cu ft), for my 36 cu ft interior volume safe. It would only last about a month in the winter. I slowly started adding more desiccant and now have about 2200 grams. I can get through the year with 2 recharges now. My cheap hygrometer shows about 50% when fully recharged and I recharge at 60%

 

[Ironbar]

I have a Golden Rod on the bottom and an Eva-Dry on top, and my safe holds between 50-55% Rh year round. No rust on any of my weapons.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

It is my understanding that temperature is a large part of this too. Temperature should be around 10 degrees higher than the outside air to prevent moisture from condensing in the safe or on the firearms. As long as the fire arms are oiled and there is no condensing moisture, the relative humidity shouldn't matter much as there will not be water on the fire arm to cause rust. I highly doubt you will have fog (condensing moisture) in your garage.

The steel plate test is representative of condensing moisture. Prevent the condensing moisture and prevent a large part of the rust. Right?

That's my understanding too. Just finished a "gun storage" project in an unheated part of the house. For some reason the humidity was high and the temp 5 lower than ambient temp in the rest of the unheated space.
Just installed a light fixture and a 40 watt incandescent bulb and keep it on all the time.
It's working well and I have light. I might go to a 25 watt.

What's the advantage of a goldenrod over a bulb? No chance of fire? Doesn't burn out while you're wintering in Miami Beach?

 

[jb11]

I just bought a revere 30 from liberty , and I installed a peet dryer and it seems to work well.I also threw 450 grams of silica gel in there for good measure. This will be my first fall/winter with this set up so we'll see how it works. Seem's like you cant go wrong with a golden rod or some type of electronic humidity control.

Good thread topic btw

 

[patrioticmarine]

Well I purchased those Cannon dessicants to replace the Eva Dry ones as recommended by liquids us and things are way better, those Cannon dessicants work amazingly well. Because I'm anal I bought 2 and them humidity dropped to below 48% and bought another one and now it runs at 42% when they're fully charged.

Ilmy entire set up may be overkill, but given that I have a detached, uninsulated and non-heated garage I rather be safe than sorry. I recharge the things every 1-2 months during the Winter and Spring (When it gets past 55%, I recharge) and about 2 times total in the Summer and Fall. The temperature is about 4-5 degrees warmer than the exterior temperature as well on average.

Thanks for your help everyone.

 

[OLDNEWBIE]

Happy to report my 40 watt light bulb is keeping everything warm and dry even through some recent fog.
Unheated location/space I'm using has been damp and cold. Anyone else use a light bulb?