Gunroom setup--humidity

[spleenandideal]

Howdy.

I live in a fairly temperate region of the USA.

When the ex and I broke up, I transformed her walk-in closet( 10footx6foot, no windows) into my gunroom. Safes have goldenrods installed as well as dessicant canisters. Installed a GE Room dehumidifier. Room also has a register for the heat-pump, to keep the temperature fairly constant.

Question: What would be the best humidity level for this room? I figured that the lower the better. I velcroed an el cheapo 'barometer' taken from an old cigar humidor to the door of one of the safes. It reads from 0 to 100. I try to keep it below 30%, which varies +/- 5%. If I control the humidity to get a lower level, the room gets a bit hot...I figure extreme temp changes aren't too good for the ammo.

Any better ideas to keep things constant? Should I buy a real barometer? Am I getting a bit too anal??? Wait, is that rust on the CZ grip screw? The horror, the horror....

 

[deej]

The cheap little hygrometers (that's what they're called) in humidors tend to be extremely inaccurate. I would recommend either a Radio Shack or Oregon Scientific unit. OS makes some nice ones that have a remote display, that way you can monitor the humidity (and temperature - they're dual-purpose units) without opening and closing the door constantly. Also, in a room like that get a fan to circulate the air and keep the humidity/temperature constant throughout the area.

One thing: whichever hygrometer you end up with, make SURE you calibrate it yourself. I bought two of the RS units a while back, one was 5% off and the other was 8%!

The FAQ at www.cigargroup.com has some good instructions for calibrating hygrometers.

I would assume that when storing firearms and ammo, the lower the humidity the better. But I think 30% would be fine.

DJ

 

[croyance]

If you have a firearm sit in there for a while check how well oiled it is before taking it to the range. A dehumidifier can suck up oil. Probably only important for something long term.

 

[Dave R]

30% is a pretty low humidity, so I think you're good.

By comparison, I was raised in Houston and it is rarely below 70% there, and often in the 90% range.

OTOH, what is a low humidity reading in Phoenix? 10%?

 

[spleenandideal]

thanks for the heads-up deej, I really meant hygrometer, or was it speedometer, or sphygmomemometer???????

Haven't noticed the gun-oil drying phenomenon yet. I'll run some experiments.

 

[HankL]

Just from personal observation mind you, I have noticed a few things about controling the climate of a room where you intend to store things. Large swings of temperature or humidity are not a good thing , air circulation is a great thing. I live in the South where the humidity is usually pretty high. What would happen if I took a wood stocked rifle stored at 30% relative humidity into the real world?
I have a well stocked 2000+ cu. ft. cigar humidor down here that takes care of all my needs at avg. 70% and 70 degrees.
The only trick is having a return air vent in the humidor and watching the humidity on those great days when you can have the windows in the rest of the house open with no heat or air. (dehumidifier would help here)

I would try to get the humidity in your storage area as close to the average humidity for your local area to save on stock swelling and warpage problems. Golden Rods are great as long as long as the area can breathe, condensing moisture is not fun. HTH

 

[MeekAndMild]

I'd probably call the manufactureres of a couple of the guns and ask their opinion.

Sure you say 30% sounds good, but what if that is low enough to cause drying cracks in some of the stocks? Happened to me the year after I bought the dehumidifier.

 

[Mike Irwin]

30 percent is WAY too low.

50% is MUCH better.

You need to worry about stock shrinkage.