Dehumidifier in safe...

[SilentStalker]

I am getting a new safe and am wondering what you guys are running these days in your safe? Eva Dry, Goldenrod, nothing, etc.? What have you had the most luck with. I would like to do this as cheaply as possible. the only thing I have ever used is a Goldenrod and am tempted to try other things as I live in a very humid environment. I have never had a problem but the other safe is upstairs in a climate controlled environment, this one will be in the basement which seems to get rather humid at times.

 

[Red Wind]

What is the size of the new safe? Will you be storing only firearms?

 

[XD 45acp]

I run a golden rod. Been 10 years now on same unit and it's been flawless. My safe is in the basement where humidity level stays about 60-65%. never had no problems inside the safe.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

All a Golden Rod is, is a low-wattage thermostat controlled electric heater. The idea behind it is to keep moisture from condensing on the metal of your firearms. It keeps the interior temperature of your storage container above dewpoint, that's it. It does nothing to de-humidify the enclosed area.

I have one in my safe without any other humidity control medium or device. However, I live in Outer Montana, home of low humidity and the occasional brutal winter. I'm good with using the G.R. as the sole means of rust prevention. For the past nine years the safe was in the unheated garage. Now I've moved (further out in Outer Montana) & the safe is in the climate-controlled interior of the house & I anticipate no problems whatsoever.

900F

 

[herrwalther]

I run a Liberty rod, which is just a Goldenrod knock off in a different color. All it does is slightly warm the interior to prevent moisture from condensing, making rust less likely to occur. I also have 3 desiccant packs, far more than my size safe needs, to soak up any extra. The two work great together and I have no issues with rust in my safe.

 

[bandur60]

My safe is in an unheated but insulated (6" walls) room, it has never frozen in there (also Montana.) I'm still running the original goldenrod that was put in in 2000 or 2001, no sign of problems.That's all I use.

 

[Reloadron]

My safe is indoors and seals well. So the safe sits in a temperature controlled and humidity controlled environment. Average temperature around 68 to 70 degrees F and average humidity around 40 to 45%. I just keep several descant bags in the safe and have never had a problem. Every few months I bake the bags out.

Ron

 

[TRX]

I just bought some stock blanks. They're not even blanks yet; they're paid for, but the lumber mill won't have the logs until the end of October.

This is my first time working with wood stocks, so I've been reading up on proper drying of the lumber. What I've found on the woodworking forums and various Department of Agriculture and forestry sites tells me the wood is correctly dried when its internal water content matches *ambient* humidity. With the stock and environment in equilibrium, everything is fine. When they're mismatched, the wood can warp. Mostly they're talking about things like long, skinny table legs on expensive furniture, but a table leg is close enough to a gun stock for me.

So, if you have the humidity in your safe at 5%, that's great for the metal parts no matter where you live. And for the wood parts, assuming you live in New Mexico, Arizona, or Colorado. But taking the gun out of the safe and exposing it to 80% or higher humidity is about the worst thing you could do to the wood. So when your rifle that you zeroed on a 40% dry summer day patterns like a shotgun on a foggy 90% fall day... maybe there's a connection there/

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I use a Goldenrod knock-off and monitor humidity with a 10 buck digital hygrometer from Walmart.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Now - before you Poo-pooh me for being in Arizona...

it's not always a "dry heat" here. We have pretty significant variations in temperature and humidity. Sometimes the temp shifts are climatic and sometimes relative to shifts in artificial cooling; leaving doors open, A/C shutting down, power outages and the like.

Moving firearms from cool to hot is a common occurrence here and humidities vary wildly with the various (multiple times each year) "monsoons".

So, while we get over more than most in concerns concerning rust - we're not free of them altogether.

To that end, these have performed wonderfully in a marginal humidity environment. Left unattended, they not only do nothing when fully absorbed but risk rereleasing humidity in the worst case scenarios.

Still, based upon the lack of rust and the humidor hygrometers in the safes - I can say they work beautifully for me. When the color indicator says to "recharge" it takes about a half hour to "recharge" or return to a dry state. So far, after 5+ years, I've generally had to recharge 3-5 times each year.

 

[Safetychain]

If you want cheap, just get a light bulb, preferably incandescent if you can find one, fluorescent if not, of the wattage equal to the goldenrod that you need. All you are looking for is heat and a watt is a watt no matter where it comes from. I've done this for the last 20 years. I planned for the eventual light burnout by putting a 35 cent 1 amp diode from Radio Shack in series with the incandescent light bulb and used twice the wattage bulb which results in i/2 the rated wattage of the bulb in output heat. This will extend the life of the incandescent bulb indefinitely.

 

[Impureclient]

ApacheCoTodd, that is nuts about the 3-5X times recharge. I have a goldenrod at the bottom of the safe and one of those rechargeable eva-dry units on the top in my safe here in FL.
Those beads will go from the blue(dry) to pink(wet) in a week easy. I just recharge the thing every two weeks as every week is just getting ridiculous. Dumb Florida.

 

[lxd55]

golden rod for 15 years. no problem.

 

[BigBL87]

I have one of the rechargeable ones, my beads usually need recharging about every 2 weeks in Illinois, and it is in a 5 gun safe in our bedroom closet. Its all I have, and did have one occurance of rust on my Savage Mark II, which was more me forgetting to wipe a fingerprint than the dehumidifier not doing its job. I used to have a DampRid bucket, but the rechargeable one is a much better space wise.

 

[greyghost01]

I use moisture eliminator my wife gets them at the dollar store it traps the moisture when it gets an inch or so of water in it I throw it away and put in a new one, It must work as it does collect water and my guns have never rusted. Cheap at a dollar apiece

 

[Outlaw Man]

I run the rod that came with my Amsec. I think it's exactly the same as the Golden Rod, only black. Seems to work just fine, and I'm in Arkansas (we know humidity!), though it's inside.

 

[dvdcrr]

Raising the air temp does not affect the dewpoint. Dewpoint is solely impacted by absolute moisture present. Raising the temp. of the rifle surface does stop condensation. Also in play however is the fact that for any given absolute amount of moisture present relative humidity will be reduced as air Temp rises.

 

[GBExpat]

I have my gunsafes outfitted with equivalents to the golden rod heaters and, during periods that of higher RH in the basement, Eva-Drys. I also keep a little "desk fan" running in each to move the air ... it also adds a bit of heat to the environment.

 

[heeler]

For a very long time I was using two of the large Eva-Dry 500's but tired of having to recharge them every two weeks.
So I finally ran some 14/3 romex through the safe and made a up a plug and wired the other into a junction box with receptacle and bought an 18 inch Dri-Rod.
Much better actually because now I dont have to recharge anything and I bought the AC adapter and a motion sensor for my LiteTechAuto led lights and the lights come on automatically when I open the Amsec's door.
Lights are actually brighter using electricity over the eight AA batteries I was using previously.

 

[CodeSection]

ApacheCoTodd, Great suggestion!

 

[Dr.Rob]

Goldenrod, no issues for 20+ years. Though I live in low humidity Colorado.