Dehumidifier

[hso]

Goldenrod and similar "dehumidifiers" are resistance heaters to keep the enclosure and contents above the temp moisture might condense on your items.



A real safe dehumidifier has to pull moisture out of the space and trap or remove it. I've used silica gel bags for years, but you have to rotate them through your oven on a schedule for several hours to drive the moisture out of the silica. I switched to the plug in Eva-Dry because I can pull one out of the safe and plug it in overnight right there and replace it in the morning. With two like I have (well, 3 in my case) you can just rotate them on a schedule and the silica will keep up with the moisture in the safe.



Newer technology to moisture and temperature management is anti-corrosion products like WD40 Specialist an anti corrosion spray you apply to your guns/knives or anti-corrosion vapor emitter products like Zrust that you leave in the safe for months. Not oil, but specially formulated product. I keep a zerust capsule in the safe and I spay my guns "living" in the safe before they go in.

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If you're fortunate to have a room for storage you can run a standard dehumidifier and snake a drain out. We put one up on a wall mount and ran the tube through the wall to drain. With the hole sealed the dehumidifier runs continuously draining out of the room.

A lot of "tried and true" products have worked for us for decades, but not in all environments. Some of these new products fill those gaps.

 

[bassjam]

I used Eva-dry for years but you NEED to get on a schedule because they fill up fast. I found too often I wasn't opening my safe often enough to recharge it, rendering it basically useless. I switched to a golden rod several years ago. With most of my guns I never had much of an issue with corrosion anyway, but I notice with the golden rod that my 870 express stays more rust free than it used to. My safe is in my basement office, one hydrometer on the wall is reading 52% and the other above my monitors is reading 54%.

 

[hso]

you NEED to get on a schedule

Yep. You have to be on a schedule with desiccants and you need to have enough to rotate through that schedule.

I keep my safe in an HVAC constant temp & humidity controlled space, spray everything in it with the WD Specialist, keep Zrust capsules in it, and desiccant. .

 

[The Night Rider]

I have a Sportsman's Warehouse version of a Goldenrod and an Evadry and I keep a barometer in my safe.

The humidity level in my safe rarely gets above 25%

 

[W.E.G.]

It has been non-stop raining in Virginia and North Carolina recently.

I found rust on some reloading dies I recently acquired, but have yet to use.




Everything gets a CLP enema!



I got drowned during an Excellence in Competition (leg match) at Camp Butner last week.
The only thing I was "EXCELLENT" at was getting me and all my gear 100% soaked.

I bought a new dehumidifier on the way home.
Figured it would be a bad idea to let the expensive shooting jacket, and everything else mildew.
I pretty much got everything stacked by the dehumidifier, and box fan. I think I did a good job drying out the important stuff.

Then I found my EARPLUGS that I'd left in the garage in a little Sierra Bullets cardboard box.
I don't even want to know what is that RED STUFF growing on them.

 

[balin]

I have used a goldenrod, couple Eva-drys and a hygrometer in each of my gun safes I have in my garage. And in almost 20 years I have had no issues with corrosion.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

X2 in using a hygrometer. It takes the guess work humidity control.

 

[GBExpat]

I have used a goldenrod, couple Eva-drys and a hygrometer in each of my gun safes I have in my garage. And in almost 20 years I have had no issues with corrosion.

Parallels my experience except that mine are in the basement. I also added a small 24/7 "desk" fan to each safe to maintain some air movement ... with a side benefit of a little extra heat to help minimize the possibility of condensation.

BTW, my 70pint Dehumidifier "lives" in the basement and I start cycling it nightly ... just about NOW (last night was 1st time this season) when I see that the RH down there is advancing past 55%.

 

[HEAVY METAL 1]

OP, How did you get your goldenrod to mount vertically?

I have those also + old tube socks filled with silica cat litter that can be recharged in the oven.

 

[Wildfan99]

OP, How did you get your goldenrod to mount vertically?

They have 2 plastic "feet" that you can screw to the wall of your safe with course thread drywall screws.

 

[HEAVY METAL 1]

Thank you

 

[Frulk]

I’ve been fortunate to live in a low humidity climate out west so I’ve not had problems with trying to mitigate firearm rust/condensation. That was a big change from San Antonio years back.

I bought this Hornady safe humidifier/temp monitor when I installed the vault. Receiver station is magnetic and on the outside of the vault door. I’d recommend one for anyone that has a safe if humidity/temp swings are a concern. Particularly in non-climate controlled settings such as an unheated garage. Relatively cheap. Think I bought it from Midway USA.

Note the readings of the various monitors/gauges.

This unit goes through batteries pretty quick and both the receiver and sender need batteries.



Sensor. Placed in middle of vault.



This cheap set up I put in there because it had a humidity gauge as a point of reference.




This is a high quality German manufactured hygrometer that came out of a surgical sterilization suite in 1995. My friend calibrated it at the time. It has not been calibrated since then.



Lastly. I found a lot of varying info on humidifiers on the net. Even expensive units seemed to have some issues. For me the footprint of the unit was as important as its primary purpose. I decided to go cheap and small first to see just how much water was being removed and then upscale from there if needed.



Reading this thread just now reminded me to go down and check the water level.



That’s roughly 3-3.5 cups in a month. The unit does have an auto shut off float in case it overfills.
It is small enough that in a decent sized safe you could probably shoe horn it in there. If you didn’t need every square inch for gun storage. Bonus is it has a light with a couple of color options you can choose or turn off.

Lastly…again…note the difference in some of the humidity readings between the noted gauges. This is our in-house weather station which I believe to be pretty accurate.



I’m pretty comfortable with averaging the humidity readings and coming up with something under 40% and probably closer to 30-35%.

Addendum: Forgot to add. The new furnace/blower we had installed has a humidifier on it and the wife has it set to 33% on the Ecobee because of our dry climate. I don’t want to go too low as then I’ll start having concerns about wood stocks drying out. I’ve had zero rust issues since installing the vault.