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Semi-climate controlled storage

bigbeefdog

bigbeefdog

Who let the dogs in?
Jul 7, 2003
1,187
9
Mandeville, LA
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#1
Hi, gang. I seek counsel of the experts. I'm dropping this in the Amps forum, because amps & electronics are my main concern with this, but I'm hoping the mods will allow the question & answers to go a little bit beyond just amps.

I have a ~600 sq. ft. poolhouse behind my house. It's a separate structure, well insulated, and it has an AC/heat unit similar to what you'd see in a hotel room or a school classroom. For the foreseeable future, the band and I are using it as a rehearsal space, and much of the gear is parked in a large closet.

Trouble is, when life gets hectic, we may go a few days at a time without getting out there. Presently I have a tube head, bass cab, PA powered mixer and speakers, a couple of mics, and the drummer's drum kit in the closet out there (I'm not leaving basses or guitars for humidity reasons). If the temp. gets cold outside, it can get down in the vicinity of 50 deg. F inside the poolhouse, and if the temp. gets hot, maybe in the neighborhood of 85 deg. F. On the days we practice, I do make sure to get the temp. up to normal at least a few hours before - but I'm not sure that's enough.

So the question - any concerns you guys know of / issues you have had with storing gear at these temps? Amp heads and cabs, of course, but also drums, mics, etc?
 
#2
Putting drum heads through excessive amounts of heat variation will shorten their life. However, I don't really think 50 to 85 temp range is all that massive. I know that some mics can also be sensitive to high temps, but once again at a max of 85 degrees I think you are OK. Plus most mic's that are overly temp sensitive seem to be usually those that are more studio and less live application mics.
 
#3
i think those temp extremes are allright for amps. are you sure that it's not going to get hotter than 85 at times? or will you have the ac always set to kick in at a temp around there?
i would be more concerned with humidity. Depending upon where you are, expose to sea air would be the worst. i hear from some TB members who play cruise ships that the amps tend to have a limited life in thast environment.
 
#4
I don't want to sound like a jerk, or a know it all, but iseeing as how you live in Mandeville, I'd say unless you've got the A/C set to come on at 85 degrees, there's no way your going to stay under about 90-100 degrees during the summer. And being North of the Lake, I'd think you'd be getting colder than 50 degrees in the winter. That's again assuming that you don't have the heat set to come on or something.

Though, with that being said, I've never had a problem with any of my equipment due to the temperature around here. But I thihnk you're doing the right thing by taking instruments out of there. I honestly think everything else will be fine, there's just too much temperature and humidity changing for instruments.

Craig
 
#5
Craigle said:
I don't want to sound like a jerk, or a know it all, but iseeing as how you live in Mandeville, I'd say unless you've got the A/C set to come on at 85 degrees, there's no way your going to stay under about 90-100 degrees during the summer. And being North of the Lake, I'd think you'd be getting colder than 50 degrees in the winter. That's again assuming that you don't have the heat set to come on or something.

Though, with that being said, I've never had a problem with any of my equipment due to the temperature around here. But I thihnk you're doing the right thing by taking instruments out of there. I honestly think everything else will be fine, there's just too much temperature and humidity changing for instruments.

Craig
Click to expand...

You don't sound like a jerk at all, Craig, and yes, those are the extremes of the outside temps we can see here. But this building is, as I said, *very* well insulated, and is never left unattended for too very long. Even when we don't have time to spend in there, we do get outside to run the heat or AC for a few minutes each day (I feed the dogs out there). And the insulation keeps that heat or AC for a good while inside.

The temps I listed are actually about the extremes I've witnessed on the thermometer I have mounted on an inside wall. And I can set the AC/heat to cycle in the worst part of summer or winter, yes.

Thanks, guys. Good point IvanMike; I was thinking of adding a dehumidifier as well.... forgot to mention that in the opening post.
 
#7
bigbeefdog said:
You don't sound like a jerk at all, Craig, and yes, those are the extremes of the outside temps we can see here. But this building is, as I said, *very* well insulated, and is never left unattended for too very long. Even when we don't have time to spend in there, we do get outside to run the heat or AC for a few minutes each day (I feed the dogs out there). And the insulation keeps that heat or AC for a good while inside.

The temps I listed are actually about the extremes I've witnessed on the thermometer I have mounted on an inside wall. And I can set the AC/heat to cycle in the worst part of summer or winter, yes.

Thanks, guys. Good point IvanMike; I was thinking of adding a dehumidifier as well.... forgot to mention that in the opening post.
Click to expand...



Oh, ok, I didn't realize that you'd be in there everyday. Then I think that temperature wise, you'd be fine leaving everything in there. And as has been said, a de-humidifier definitely wouldn't hurt either.

Craig
 
#8
If its not a humidity controlled space then don't leave any of your condenser type microphones out there. Regardless if they are studio or stage type if you expose condensor microphones to humidity they will corode and degrade.

-Rav
 
#9
Rav said:
If its not a humidity controlled space then don't leave any of your condenser type microphones out there. Regardless if they are studio or stage type if you expose condensor microphones to humidity they will corode and degrade.

-Rav
Click to expand...

Thanks Rav. That's the kind of info I need; this is an example of the stuff I'm not sure about. The kind of info most people aren't aware of until they start losing equipment.

Those mics will come in the main house tonight.
 
#11
bigbeefdog said:
Hi, gang. I seek counsel of the experts. I'm dropping this in the Amps forum, because amps & electronics are my main concern with this, but I'm hoping the mods will allow the question & answers to go a little bit beyond just amps.

I have a ~600 sq. ft. poolhouse behind my house. It's a separate structure, well insulated, and it has an AC/heat unit similar to what you'd see in a hotel room or a school classroom. For the foreseeable future, the band and I are using it as a rehearsal space, and much of the gear is parked in a large closet.

Trouble is, when life gets hectic, we may go a few days at a time without getting out there. Presently I have a tube head, bass cab, PA powered mixer and speakers, a couple of mics, and the drummer's drum kit in the closet out there (I'm not leaving basses or guitars for humidity reasons). If the temp. gets cold outside, it can get down in the vicinity of 50 deg. F inside the poolhouse, and if the temp. gets hot, maybe in the neighborhood of 85 deg. F. On the days we practice, I do make sure to get the temp. up to normal at least a few hours before - but I'm not sure that's enough.

So the question - any concerns you guys know of / issues you have had with storing gear at these temps? Amp heads and cabs, of course, but also drums, mics, etc?
Click to expand...


No problems, if you keep playing the gear every few days. The conditions you're talking about aren't really "extreme". The only thing I'd worry about in that kind of a situation, is if I had any real good microphones lying around. Those you should probably box up and stick in a humidor or something. But I'm not talking about 57's, I'd only worry about it if I had a two thousand dollar Neumann, or a vintage AKG, or something like that. For the tube amps, as long as you keep playing them every few days, you'll be fine. Don't leave them sitting around unplayed for a year though, the caps will start to go bad and you'd be well advised to take it to a tech before powering it up again. :)
 

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