Humidifiers

[jackpax]

I just began researching small humidifiers and I'm not finding many that have a set feature for maintaining a target humidity percentage. They're mostly either on or off. I was surprised because *all* de-humidifiers cycle on and off based on a chosen humidity level. It seems weird to me that that machines that do the opposite are mostly blunt on/off instruments. I haven't worried too much about this in the past but I just bought a brand new acoustic and I want to care for it properly.

I'm curious to hear how others approach this problem and reviews of any humidifiers you like.

The room I'll be controlling is about 12'6" by 13'6". All my guitars are hanging on the wall. 4 electrics, 2 acoustics, and a mandolin. The new acoustic is by far the most precious one and I want to do right by it. Ideally I'd like the room to maintain at ~55% humidity. My house has forced air heat and right now the furnace is running a lot (I'm in North Jersey). The room hovers between about 38% and 44%. Which I'm pretty sure is no bueno for guitars.

Thanks for any input/opinions!

For the curious, this is the new guitar: https://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/acoustic/712ce-0

 

[Logrinn]

I’m also interested in this.
Here up north, the humidity is ok, sometimes a bit high, during the warmer period of the year, but now that it’s getting cold the humidity drops to sometimes really low levels.
Many of my guitars start sprouting frets during these times, which is no fun.

I’ve researched this a bit but haven’t found a solution that’s not extremely expensive.

Anyone have any good ideas about how to tackle this?

 

[Cronald]

A humidity controller such as the one linked below is the ticket!  You plug it into the wall, set your target humidity, and plug your dumb on/off humidifier into it.

When the humidity falls below your set value, humidifier goes on, when it reaches that value, the controller will cut power to the humidifier.

Source: I use one of these for my reptiles, and a temperature controller from the same maker for aquariums

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Digital-Pre-Wired-Humidity-Controller/dp/B01FQKXRXA/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?crid=Y8TEFJOYWBJJ&dchild=1&keywords=inkbird+humidity+controller&qid=1607464427&sprefix=inkbird+hum%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-4-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyQldSQUxHOVpZWTNBJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMDk5NDIwUU01Q0JFNFNSSjVBJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2MTY0MTAyQU01Wk4yTk1LV0RJJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

This one can control both the temperature and the humidity (you could hook up an electric heater and a humidifier):
https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Temperature-Controller-Pre-Wired-Thermostat/dp/B07GQWY9HM/ref=sr_1_7?crid=Y8TEFJOYWBJJ&dchild=1&keywords=inkbird+humidity+controller&qid=1607464960&sprefix=inkbird+hum%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-7

 

[TBurst Std]

Bookmarked as be leaving the land of constant humidity within 6 months

 

[Rick]

I use two.  This is what you do ... Get a hygrometer .  get a baseline.  If needed go to Costco and buy a humidifier.  The other one is in my bedroom.  My nose thanks me.  Also at Christmas I put mineral oil on my fretboards.  This year we turned the heat on in September.  Cheers.  :rock-on:

 

[BroccoliRob]

my friend todd used to work at BBB (bed bath beyond) and would get a discount on returned merchandise. over the course of several years he accumluated 17 humidifiers and 16 dehumidifiers. evntually he set them up in a small spare room and was going to shoot a video of the war that was about to ensue. he was even going to yell "at my signal, unleash moisture!" like in that movie gladiator when he clicked on all the power. but as it turns out all he did was trip teh circuit breaker or something and the whole buildng lost power briefly, probably cause of old wiring that wasn't up to code (it was a very old building), and the owner came in yelling and did not seem amused by the premise of a groundbreaking youtube channel "humanity's machines: at war". that was just a working title, i bet if we had a catchier one he would've been more chill.

so anyway whatever you do, don't get that many of them and don't daisy-chain 7 power strips off each other to a single wall outlet.

 

[Rick]

That's pretty funny Rob ...
Your guitars will like being at the same temperature and humidity levels as humans, though when in a house they are more prone to damage when the humidity is too low.  I keep the humidity at 55% when the heat is in on.  When the heat is off I don't bother.  Depending on the size of the space, one humidifier per floor will work and remember humid air rises.  That's why we have clouds.

 

[PhilHill]

That's pretty funny Rob ...
Your guitars will like being at the same temperature and humidity levels as humans, though when in a house they are more prone to damage when the humidity is too low.  I keep the humidity at 55% when the heat is in on.  When the heat is off I don't bother.  Depending on the size of the space, one humidifier per floor will work and remember humid air rises.  That's why we have clouds.

Is that where clouds came from ? I thought Joni Mitchell invented them.............. :dontknow:

 

[swarfrat]

On a more serious note - power to the music room is nothing to sneeze at.
Despite having 37 breakers, my house appears to have all GFCI's in the entire house off the one in the master bath.
And I consider 1985 to be sorta modernish construction.  Maybe not 1/2" gapped double pane windows like the pricey ones now but it's not knob and tube wiring either.

Seriously - the master bath GFCI is the only reset button I've found, except for the front porch ones (which never worked at all until I burned one up pressure washing - guess they were live after all). This one GFCI goes to the back porch, the upstairs hall bath, and the garage - which pretty much covers the entire floor plan. It's not like - oh it's nearby.

When I burned up the non-working GFCI on the porch, I went and rewired them correctly with new outlets (I'd never found the circuit they were on before.) I still have switches that don't appear to control anything. My wife was like "We should call an electrician" and I'm like "It was probably an 'electrician' who did this in the first place. 

But seriously - your average house has one breaker per room max, and more likely all the upstairs or downstairs bedrooms are on the same 15A breaker. I bet most of us have about 12-13A worth of PC, amps, lights and networking on the breaker in your spare bedroom where all our music gear lives.

 

[TBurst Std]

I run all my gear through a power conditioner that displays amperage draw.

With my amp, pedalboard, laptop, and PA/speakers all powered up, 3.4 amps. And thats putting out at a level above 110 db.

 

[drewfx]

Seriously - the master bath GFCI is the only reset button I've found, except for the front porch ones (which never worked at all until I burned one up pressure washing - guess they were live after all). This one GFCI goes to the back porch, the upstairs hall bath, and the garage - which pretty much covers the entire floor plan. It's not like - oh it's nearby.

This sounds like it might be a GFCI wired backwards somewhere. They do not work (or protect!!!) correctly if not wired correctly and affect the downstream wiring because they are "monitoring" the wrong side of the circuit.

 

[Cagey]

I just went through all this last winter, as it gets bone dry here during that period.

Even if it seems too pricey, the thing to do is put one on your furnace (if possible). Room humidifiers tend to have to work too hard, and require constant maintenance. You'll be refilling the reservoir 3 times a day or better and if you don't, you may as well not have one.

One of the things that happens is the house itself will want to absorb lotta moisture. It'll do that by pulling the air from the humidified room out via the cold air returns. So, the humidifier runs 24/7 and keeps running out of water while the humidity doesn't seem to rise. The furnace units will have a small water feed that keeps them wet on demand, so you don't have that problem. Another benefit is you may be able to turn the temp down a degree or 3 and still be confortable. Dry houses feel cooler, even when they're not.

If you still want to go the room unit route, the one I had the most success with was this unit from Amazon. Works just as described, and I was very happy with it. That, along with covering the cold air returns in that room seemed to get me right where I needed to be, although it still ran 24/7 during the winter.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I may have to consider a room type as I use my pellet stove to heat my 1290 sq ft house.  The stove/fireplace is located on the far end of the house from my master bedroom, with the studio in the center.

 

[Rick]

This is the one I picked up at Costco.
https://www.costco.com/homedics-total-comfort-ultrasonic-humidifier.product.100662444.html

After about two weeks, it's not too troublesome, maybe fill every three or four days.  I heat with gas and hot water, radiators.  My house was built in 1929 so these babies throw off impressive heat.  The humidifier'll cover 800 square feet despite saying it only does 600.  Highly recommended.  That's why the hygrometer is important because you can test all the rooms on a particular floor.