Humidity control

[Dannibal Corpse]

I need to control the humidity of my bedroom. Just moved into a new house and within a week the relief on my jackson has increased. Winter is nigh, so I need some good equipment/methods for keeping humidity in an ideal range. What do you guys do?

[shreddermon]

Have a whole-house humidifier installed on your furnace. I had this done a couple of years ago, and it has made a world of difference. Well worth the money, only a few hundred bucks. And benefits your health and home, not just your guitars.

[Dannibal Corpse]

Hmm. So does that have a hydrometer that keeps the humidity within a certain range? Cost a lot?

[Dannibal Corpse]

Ok just read up a bit. One thing I didn't see was cost. I'll look into it, but for now, any suggestions for a really good humidifier that is auto controlled for just a single room would be great.

[decadence5423]

I run a dehumidifier and I have a hygrometer that I use to watch the humidity. You have to be careful with hygrometers, though. For whatever reason they are almost never calibrated correctly and can be off by more than 10%. If you're lucky it will be off by maybe 5%. The last thing you want to do is set a device to 50% humidity when it's off by 20%.

[shreddermon]

Hmm. So does that have a hydrometer that keeps the humidity within a certain range? Cost a lot?

Yes. There's a couple of different routes you can take, depending on how much you want to spend. All typically have an on/off sensor, which reads the incoming humidity and gets triggered "on" when the reading is too dry. Some just have a manual knob on them to adjust the humidity level up or down, depending on where you want it set. (You'll set this higher in winter, lower in spring/fall. So you'll need to buy a small portable hydrometer, which is pretty cheap.) Other more sophisticated models will tie right into a programmable thermostat, if it supports hydrometer readings. With that, you can program the humidity just like your temperature settings.

Don't remember exactly how much I spent but, IIRC, all-in it was under $500-ish. Give your local heating/plumbing outfits a call for some quick and dirty ballpark quotes.

[Dannibal Corpse]

Ok I have one cheapie hygrometer and I may buy a second plus a cheap little humidifier to get me through winter. Thanks for the help.

[j2379]

even good hydrometers have a +- of 5%, Aprilaire and honeywell make nice inexpensive humidifier nortec and neptronics make higher end units, as does dristeam and reensaire, but those are not cheap $2-3000 with all of the controls and safeties. I do high end HVAC in NYC, and install these units all the time. honestly in my guitar room i use a simple room humidifier with no problems, anywhere in the 30-45% RH range is good.

[Musician78]

I run a humidifier. I only have to use it in the Winter time. Anytime it gets below 45%.

[Musician78]

I run a humidifier. I only have to use it in the Winter time. Anytime it gets below 40-45%.

[Cygnus X1]

I just wipe lemon oil all over my axes when winter hits.
Works great and smells fresh.

[JACKSONFREAK]

My electrics are fine, My acoustics i use the Planet waves humidipack. they work fantastic. Other ideas are fish tanks. Even a fish tank with just water in it with an air stone to make the water evaporate. Keep the room warm and it will raise the humidity level. Get a hydrometer and keep it near the guitars to make ssure they are around 50%. especially for acoustics, A ten gallon fish tank is about 10 bucks, an air pump is about 10-20 bucks and airline tubing and an air stone is about 5 bucks. So for less than 50 bucks you can have a small room humidifier. If you need the moisture to travel farther put a fan behind the tank blowing towards the guitars.
Gil

[ginsambo]

If you have dry air, just leave your soaking wet work boots, pants, jacket, socks, hat, underpants and towel lying in you guiitar room after a days work. Wet towel and not opening the windows or staying inside alot also help. Here I have the reverse problem, finally got the humidity down to 50-60 with the central heating on now its starting to get frosty outside, it's been 80% inside and raining all year, a few days of frost are something to look forward to, before it starts raining again next year.

If it's a new house, was anybody living there before? All vacant houses get very humid with no windows open/air con/radiators, it's normal, it'll dry out with use fairly rapidly. Hell, the timber in houses for sale over here is rotten if they having sold within 6 months, luckily you still have a brick shell on a plot the size of a postage stamp that is still worth £700,000, no matter what condition the house is in.

Do the rust test, go down the dollar sore and buy something metal with cheap chrome on it. Over here it lasts about 2 days before the rust starts to appear, in 4 months there is no chrome left, it is all pitted, same with electrical equipment, wrecks it. You wouldn't believe would you, like the bloody tropics or something. Of course I could spend $3000 on gas a year, but it seems like such a waste of money.