Shop Humidity

[mandomania7923]

Summer coming near with the setup of my new shop, I was wondering what you keep your temperature and humidity levels at. do any of you have large humidifiers/dehumidifiers in your shop? The last thing I want it to be building, and have the humidity crack the top....:disbelief:

[Roger Skipper]

Yeah, good old humidity--or lack thereof. My shop is relatively large (30 x 52), and I long ago gave up on trying to control temp and humidity in the entire thing. My solution was to wall in a smaller sub-shop, 10 x 20, where I do my handwork and store wood (overhead in racks) and instruments in progress. My stationary tools are in the larger area, and I have a separate spray room, with a small temp-and-humidity controlled drying box.

Inside my sub shop, I keep the rh as close to 40% as I can; I'm less concerned with the temperature, although it can be used to help control the humidity--as the temp goes up, keeping the same air within, the rh will decrease, and vice-versa. In the summertime, when western Maryland's humidity hovers around 80%, a small dehumidifier and even smaller air conditioner keep the moisture under control. In the dry, cold part of winter, I drink more coffee, and allow the pot to bubble on the hotpad. As a rule, excessively dry air is more damaging to an instrument than excessively humid air. If you build at 80%, though, 50% can be excessively dry, from the instrument's point of view.

Roger Skipper
www.skipperstrings.com

[mandolinplucker]

As posted earlier I found out the hard way that the combination of a couple of days of freezing weather and the use of a wood burning stove for heat will dry the air out. It cost me a split top on a ukulele that was almost finished. I live in Georgia and the summers are so humid and the winters are usually damp and but I didn't think of how much moisture a wood stove sucks out of the air.

[mandomania7923]

:(ouch....

[pops1]

If the wood is seasoned in a low humidity and you build in very low humidity then the instrument shouldn't crack when it sees it again, if you build in 60-80% and it gets down to 15 in the winter there is more chance of cracking. I use a wood stove in the shop for 100% on the heat, in wisconsin and i use a humidifier to keep it at 40%. i am not building tho, but repairing.

[Capt. E]

Tom Ellis has one humidifier and a de-humidifier running at different times when appropriate. It is not too much of a problem to keep humidity near 45% all the time. One thing that helps is the humidity "load" in the shop. It takes a long time for all the wood, furniture etc to loose anything significant. The presence of 7 people breathing out all that nice moisture helps as well.

[Rolfe]

Humidity control was is the most expensive problem here on the coast of Maine. We had to carefully seal the main part of the shop, add a secondary roof, and buy a humidifier (winter) and dehumidifier (summer). We use a relatively inexpensive console humidifier, but bought a Sante Fe model library dehumidifier which is relatively quiet and has a pump to send the condensed water to a drain. All that to keep things around 42%. Baseboard heat from the house furnace and a through-the-wall air conditioner keep the temperature right. But we have supplemental heat in spots where Jenny likes to work. Room to room fans help distribute the air to rooms off the main shop, and one small room is kept around 80 degrees for glue and finish curing. Whew!