Humidity in your house?

[Big Heavy Bass]

there are times in Florida where the humidity is so high that it feels like it is raining even when it isn't...haha. I saw a band at an outdoor stage once where the singer said to the crowd..."Well..the humidity is at 100 percent so it can't get any hotter" to which someone from the crowd yelled..."This is Florida...it can always get hotter"...haha.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Being on a Bangkok sidewalk in April, where it's 105F/40C outside is really something.

 

[MobileHolmes]

Pastor at my church has a high quality Martin acoustic. The other week he pulled a long rubber tube out of the body. When I asked him what it was he said a home made HUMIDIFIER!!! I thought I misunderstood him and asked again.... Seems he fills the tube with water and it slowly leeches out as moisture thru slits in the tube.... I was like you in my thinking that moisture was bad for my instrument.

I had something like that for my upright. For acoustic instruments, if they dry out too much, they can crack. That is less likely on an electric, but in general, I think somewhere around 50% is probably a pretty safe bet.

 

[smogg]

Being on a Bangkok sidewalk in April, where it's 105F/40C outside is really something.

Yes that would be Florida in June; July, August, September and sometimes the first half October. Over 100F with humidity pushing way up on the percentile scale. It's our hurricane season. Rains every day and the humidity is brutal. The rest of the year it's really nice. Just regular hot and sticky (ala Ronnie Montrose)

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Wow, no wonder I loved Southern California weather, LOL.

 

[smogg]

Wow, no wonder I loved Southern California weather, LOL.

LOL, Yeah, I'm originally from San Diego so I get you. It's a "dry heat" in SoCal.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

The nudists out on Black Beach used to say it's the best weather in the world.

 

[smogg]

The nudists out on Black Beach used to say it's the best weather in the world.

Haven't heard Blacks Beach mentioned in decades and would have to agree about the weather there. I do sometimes miss that rugged CA coastline. The cliffs are spectacular at sunset.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I miss riding the trolley home after getting falling down drunk on Mission Beach.

 

[Ric5]

Are you folks as particular as me when it comes to humidity in your home?

I keep mine around 45-55%....this seems the most comfortable to me.

I have a basement where there are 3, yes 3 dehumidifiers....one is always on for the most part and the other 2 are backups.......my basement would be 70% or above humidity if not for the dehumidifiers.

Is 45 to 55% humidity a good range overall for music gear?

High humidity will not hurt your basses ... unless you let mold grow on them ... 70% humidity will not hurt your bass at all ... What can hurt your bass is low humidity. When wood dries out then it cracks and can be permanently damaged by low humidity. The perfect humidity for a bass is 35%

 

[Ric5]

Thanks sharing the museum info.....45 to 55% is what I had gathered....I have arthritis and asthma so absolutely no mold is a must.

You WILL have mold where I live in many homes... but my house is on a hill so its not prone to mold like those in the bottoms where its very damp...otoh, it was built in 1960, hence I need dehumidifiers....WAY less musty smell at 50% humidity too.

My mom lived in Phoenix where humidity can get to single digits and she still had mold in her house ... You don't need a dehumidifier for your basses they will do fine even in 90% humidity

 

[JimmyM]

Yeah but in your house?

If that were true it would be raining 24/7.

Yeah, sorry...my comedy was not pure.

 

[bassbenj]

Thanks sharing the museum info.....45 to 55% is what I had gathered....I have arthritis and asthma so absolutely no mold is a must.

You WILL have mold where I live in many homes... but my house is on a hill so its not prone to mold like those in the bottoms where its very damp...otoh, it was built in 1960, hence I need dehumidifiers....WAY less musty smell at 50% humidity too.

My problem seems to be too much moisture. The old house had forced air heat and was VERY dry in winter, so I used to hang clothes in the basement as a humidifier in winter. In summer I ran a dehumidifier down there to dry it out. The new place has hot water heat and doesn't seem to have the drying problem. But this summer I noticed some mold growing on gigbags and leather things stored in basement. I bought a humidity meter and it read about 60%. So I turned on a dehumidifier and it ran it down to about 45-55 % and the molding problem stopped. Even at 60% I didn't notice any metal rusting. The old place would always rust metal in the basement if you didn't run the dehumidifier.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

My mom lived in Phoenix where humidity can get to single digits and she still had mold in her house ... You don't need a dehumidifier for your basses they will do fine even in 90% humidity

The issue with 90% humidity isn't the wood, its the electronics in general.

Where I live rust is very common on amplifiers....I mean BAD corrosion.

Fortunately my house humidity never gets below 45% under any circumstances, even in the winter.

If you have lots of humidity where I live (Midwest), you will also have lots of bugs....yet another reason to keep the humidity at 45 to 55%.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

My problem seems to be too much moisture. The old house had forced air heat and was VERY dry in winter, so I used to hang clothes in the basement as a humidifier in winter. In summer I ran a dehumidifier down there to dry it out. The new place has hot water heat and doesn't seem to have the drying problem. But this summer I noticed some mold growing on gigbags and leather things stored in basement. I bought a humidity meter and it read about 60%. So I turned on a dehumidifier and it ran it down to about 45-55 % and the molding problem stopped. Even at 60% I didn't notice any metal rusting. The old place would always rust metal in the basement if you didn't run the dehumidifier.

I agree...I think 45 to 50% is about ideal humidity....once it ever gets above 55% my other dehumidifiers kick on and it stabilizes in less than an hour to 45 to 50%.

I have lots of electronics in my basement and other things that need to be on the dry side....otoh, I don't want it to get drier than 45% EVER....that seems to be the point where the line must be drawn.

Unless we have an extended drought during the summer at which case I do have some small humidifiers if need be to add a bit of moisture...only had to do that once in 15 years that I recall.

 

[okcrum]

It would take heroic measures to get the humidity above 40% here. Year round indoor average is 20-30% or so.

 

[Gazman]

I moved from a dry climate to a humid one, and over the last couple of year, the foam roll on all my hifi speakers has disintegrated.

 

[Basically Bob]

Pastor at my church has a high quality Martin acoustic. The other week he pulled a long rubber tube out of the body. When I asked him what it was he said a home made HUMIDIFIER!!! I thought I misunderstood him and asked again.... Seems he fills the tube with water and it slowly leeches out as moisture thru slits in the tube.... I was like you in my thinking that moisture was bad for my instrument.

Here's a link to some interesting reading on humidity off of the Taylor website.
Applies primarily to acoustic insteuments.


[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Ox Boris]

I live in Townsville, Australia. For three weeks of the year, in the dead of winter, we get: Sticky.
For the rest of the time we get: Soup.

My bass will never dry out, but it may become spinach.

 

[ChefKen]

I keep all my gear in my home office where I spend most of my time. In CT the winters are crazy dry from heating the house.....in the summer the dryness is from AC......My solution is a 120 gallon aquarium. The tank loses 10 gallons a week into the air....always very comfy and looks awesome. The fish dont seem to notice when the room shakes.