humidity

[meyers]

what are yall using for humidifyers and to monitor room humidity

[bjc]

I am using an inexpensive model tha I bought on line...it montors itself...I set the level...it seems to work pretty well...it keeps the house warmer and moist...

[John Flynn]

There have been multiple threads on this with a lot of good advice. Hopefully, a site search on "humidity" will bring them up.

I have a whole-house humidifier mounted on my furnace. It helps, but not as much as I hoped it would. I also have a Hunter room unit in the room I practice in and I keep my instruments in thier cases, with multiple humidifiers in each one, when I am not playing them. It is still a struggle to keep them at 45% RH.

[doanepoole]

I have a small Hunter for humidification in my instrument room, and a common hydrometor to monitor the relative humidity.

Mine stays pretty even at 43% with a 65-70 degree F temperature. It is hard to get it above that 43%, but I figure that is not too bad. I've read that the warmer the room, the easier it holds humidity...i.e. don't expect to maintain a humid environment at 50 degrees.

I use Dampits as well to keep on the safe side.

[John Flynn]

I've read that the warmer the room, the easier it holds humidity

It depends on how the room gets and stays warm. If it does it through forced air heating, there will be little humidity to hold.

[Chris Baird]

Relative humidity is a measurement of how much water vapor is in the air compared with how much could be. As the air warms up it can take on more water vapor. At near freezing and below the air can hold very little moisture so that even at 100% relative humidity at 32F you would still have very little moisture in the air. Conversely a house that was kept at 80F could have too much moisture in the air at 45% RH. One has to keep in mind that the moisture content of the air is different than the relative humidity. At 70F an R.H. of 35-55% should be fine for most instruments.

[Lee]

After MAS, I only have enough cash to keep the house temp hovering around 60 F. Where should I aim to keep my hydrometer, and what's the danger mark?

[Tom C]

I have a humidifier in my case but I do not think it does anything. So I fell back to my original one -A film container punched full of holes with a sponge inside.

[bluegrassjack2]

Hey Tom C, how big are the holes in the film container?

[Chris Baird]

Lee957, I don't know the exact math but the lower the temp the higher you want your RH and the opposite for higher temps.

[meyers]

anyone using a venta?

[John Bertotti]

Wouldn't tracking the dew point help in making the decision of where to keep the humidity relative to temperature? John

[64lusso]

We had humidifiers built into our heating system when we built our house about 7 years ago. Hopefully what's on the market now is better but both of ours rusted a bunch of stuff in the system that had to be replaced and one actually caused some mold to start growing in the system.
I have appropriated a mostly unused basement bathroom as my winter humid room, I tried leaving a bathtub full of water but that did little if anything to keep the humidity at acceptable levels. I now just use a small humidifier set on low, and leave the door open a little and leave most of my casese slighty open. I have to check the water level every day but I don't have a backup for when I am out of town so hopefully a few days of dryness over the course of each winter won't be a big problem?

[Tom C]

I just punch a lot of holes with a nail. As much as I can so I feel water will not drip out -20?

[Lee]

I went to Sears Hardware/Appliance store and bought a Hunter brand 3.5 gallon for $69.99. I swayed towards this brand because it doen't need a filter. Filters aren't cheap to replace. Obviously, the cold/dry spell snapped last night.

[Eric F.]

I put a little device called Mr. Misty just behind the shower head. You turn on the water _ it doesn't use much _ and that's it. Nothing to change, clean or refill. The bedrooms near the bathroom stay at about 45% humidity and my instruments seem happy.

[bluegrassjack2]

Lee957 - I also bought a Hunter 3.5 gal. First bought the 2.5 gal and it wasnt enough for my 1700 sq ft music room so I took it back to Lowes and got the $69 one. Works great and has a humidifier guage already on it.
They are rated highly in the consumer report too.

[John Bertotti]

I bought a 10 gallon humidifier that needs refilled every one to three days depending on how much the furnace runs. In south Dakota this time of year that is a lot. I wish I had seen the mr misty sooner that looks real practical. John

[mandoman4807]

I am using the large Venta. It goes through about 2 gallons of water a day, to keep my room at 45% relative humidity. This is in Charlotte, NC, mild winters, but using gas heat that is very dry. The room is the size of the three car garage that it sits above.


Darrell

[meyers]

i just got the venta 44 . do you like yours would you fork out the cash again? how long have you had yours?

[earthsave]

IMHO, I'd use 40% as the low limit to shoot for. You can get a decent hygrometer for about $25. I got a Western Digital Caliber II (they now have a III which is smaller) and a Radio Shack $19.99 model, when they had an online $10 off coupon... so it was only $10... both are within 1-2% of each other.

You can get the Caliber III here for $19.99... plus some cigars if you dig that kinda thing and other humidification devices.... http://www.bargainhumidors.com/bh/ Mainly geared around cigars, but they are pickier than instruments when it comes to temp and humidity levels.

[fiddle5]

I use a standard humidifier attatched to the forced air furnace. I think the ideal humidity is somewhere between 45% and 55%. but thats only ideal. I try to find a happy medium between the house and everywhere else. If the humidity is seasonally low, I will lower my humidifier so I don't have such an extreme change when I take the instrument out of the house for the day, to a place where the humidity is not controlled. If the instrument never leaves the house, you can set it anywhere you want. The idea in my opinion is to regulate the humidity to avoid excessive and extreme changes. Having a home humidity of 55% but taking the instrument to a jam where its only 10% seems harsh. Like I say, I try to find a happy medium.


mike

[Pattroglyph]

I dedicated a small closet to humidify my instruments. The Northeast is brutial on instruments with our dry indoor enviroments. The closet has byfold doors so it is not totally sealed. I'm using a small $20 drug store humidifier on low. humidity is 45% to 55% I am very happy! I have 7 cases in there and I check it twice a day.

[fatt-dad]

(fatt-dad joins late.)

Well, the new house has a whole house "April Air" humidifier that mainlines water into the ductwork. The old house (80 year old radiators) had two warm mist humidifiers in operation.

Never had a problem (knock on wood).

f-d