humidity in gun safe?

926 Views 10 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Rotdorn, Jul 11, 2008

vz58kid

Discussion Starter · Jul 10, 2008

bought a large fire proof safe, it came with a golden-rod for
humidity control, it is a large one and will protect 3x the cubic foot area of safe! however recently i read about people talking about the hum. in their safes and all say to keep it around 45%. the hum. in my safe is 58% and the temp is 80 degrees, do i need something else??

:bigwow:

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56type

· #2 · Jul 10, 2008

How are you checking the humidity level inside the safe ?? Once you open the door the humidity will become the same as the rest of the room. I use a dessicant that can be re-activated in the oven and keep a good coat of Barricade on all my rifles along with RIG grease in the appropriate places. Just my .02

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vz58kid

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 10, 2008

once a month i put a wall therm. with humid. gauge in it overnight, and then check it next day, youre right the level becomes the same as the room but about 5-10 seconds later! the temp in safe is about 5 deg. higher that in the room 80 in safe 75 in room, the hum. in safe is only 5 lower than in room. 58 hum. in safe 63 in room but air. cond. has a de-hum. in it! and i have the rod on the floor but air can circ. inside safe since only have 2 flat shelves that do have openings! before i got safe i used desiccant bags with indicator strips in air tight bags, and those strips
change color at 30-40% which is the danger level. i did find a bunch of extra strips that were 10 yrs. old and dont work anymore and i read somewhere on a post where everybody resp. to same question kept their hum. at 45-50% and i want to be safe! thanks! :roll:

:smileak: :smileak:

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sporter

· #4 · Jul 10, 2008

If you live in a humid environment I would suggest buying a small dehumidifier for your home and you'll be good to go.

AC will only take out so much moisture out of the air but not enough in my opinion.

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56type

· #5 · Jul 10, 2008

Also if your safe is in a basement that can cause higher levels of humidity. A small dehumidifier may help but depending on the climate where your located you will only be able to do so much, do the best you can and keep them lightly oiled and there shouldn't be a problem.

I live in the ohio valley area and the summers here are known for "air you can wear" as far as humidity goes. During summer I take everthing out of the safe at the beginning and give all metal a light coat of Barricade,then check it again about the middle of July and again in Sept.
No problems with any sign of rust. Oil is your friend. :grin:

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Zane Zackerly

· #6 · Jul 10, 2008

I keep all my firearms coated with a good coat of Break Free, then I put the little buckets of Damp Rid (available at Walgreens) in the bottom of the safe.

I've not had a rusting problem in 15+ years, and this is in a home that has a very high humidity level in the summer due to the evaporative cooler.

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scotty57

· #7 · Jul 10, 2008

Here is how!

I am on the board of a large museum, and work with the conservators from time to time. We have a collection of Armor and some swords and matchlocks. Talking to other Museums, we have determined the Ideal humidity is 50% at 75 deg. any lower humidity, wood gets too dry and cracks. The leather connecting straps on armor will dry up and "flake apart if it is any dryer. For long term storage we use high quality past wax apply to all steel parts buff with a cloth LIGHTLY! And least of all we do not examine arms bare handed. Use cotton gloves, handle only the wood. Your hand and fingerprints are highly acidic. I use these methods and have had very good luck. At home I run a de-humidifier, constantly and this helps.

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rj308

· #8 · Jul 10, 2008

humidity

I live in Florida near the coast. I have used a lw wattage heating element (10 watt goldenrod) or at least a low wattage light bulb in my safes foe 25 years and have not had any rust problems. However, I am veral anal about rust so I keep a film of breakfree on all of my guns with bare metal, park or blueing on them.

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Zane Zackerly

· #9 · Jul 10, 2008

Re: Here is how!

scotty57 said:
And least of all we do not examine arms bare handed. Use cotton gloves, handle only the wood. Your hand and fingerprints are highly acidic.

+1. I use latex surgical gloves instead of cotton, though. Make sure you buy the "powder free" gloves or your guns will have talcum powder all over them. Ask me how I know that. :grin:

I like the surgical gloves because they hold in all the perspiration. Your hands can get as sweaty as they want but you'll only notice it when you remove the gloves. One caution: when handling oily parts the gloves become mighty slick and you have to be careful not to drop things.

Change gloves frequently and they work great.

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vz58kid

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 10, 2008

:hail: Gentlemen, first let me say thanks for all youre valuable comments.
i have only had my comp. for 4 months now and just have a lot of questions about a lot of things, and had not bought any new guns in the
last 6 yrs. except in the last yr. have bought 15 new guns and unfortunately about 6 of those had recalls and other problems and some still do, which i did not know about till after i got them!
after doing a bunch of checking, worrying and calling the co. i am glad to say that all of mine were not affected! :hail: and i just bought the safe 6 months ago mainly to protect my guns from rust!
i used to keep them all in sock-ups with a pouch of desiccant and well oiled and then in airtight bags and that has worked fine, but really was a pain in the neck! and i never will forget about a yr. ago went to range with my girlfriend and had a rom. ak and a couple of mil-surp pistols laying on table and while i was at the other end of the 100 yard range changing targets, it rained and all my guns got wet, since girlfriend was more worried about getting her hair wet then the guns! :bigwow: :smileak:
well even though i covered the guns and wiped dry when 8 hrs. later to clean i was shocked the rom. ak had light surface rust all over as well as 2 of my milsurp pistols even though they had been oiled before shoot. etc.. i was able to wipe all clean with grease and oil, but something like this in 8 hrs? :shock:
i live in 2 story house, downstairs have 2 huge rooms and my safe! always in summer keep AC at 75 deg. but downstairs do run a de-hum. which does on many days collect 4-5 gallons in it but it does keep hum.
in those rooms about 8 deg. lower than upstairs! 65 comp. to 72 on avg.
it is just in the safe it always shows (at least right now) 80 temp. and 58 hum. and my golden rod is a large one and will cover 3x the square foot. of my safe! :hail:
on my hum. gauge it shows normal rang is 50-75, but on hum. indicator cards it shows danger level at 30-40% and since my safe is a fire res. type it is pretty air tight!
and like i had stated earlier in a similar post somewhere else i read that
most people kept their hum. levels at 40-50%. so hopefully i will be fine
and i will see what the levels will be in fall and winter!
thank you all again! :allright: :bd: :smileak:

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Rotdorn

· #11 · Jul 11, 2008

I live in a very humid area. I found this product about 15 years ago, use it all the time, and have never had 1 issue.
http://www.theruststore.com/Bull-Frog-Emitter-Cup-P24C12.aspx

It emmits a chemical that adhears to the metal, and rust will not be able to form on it. They use it on off shore oil rigs to keep tools/parts from rusting.

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