Roughly 1600 sqft concrete walled room thats going to be about one-third taken up with guns and other valuables.

For those with big collections in big rooms, what do you guys do?

I run a dehumidifier in the summer. In the winter it naturally stays about 40%. The de-humi is a pain the the _ _ _ to keep empty.

Might want to talk to people that own cigar stores. I was in one the other day and they had a system that showed temp and humidity.

Anybody know the best humidity level to have it at? I am sure that in areas that are dry the opposite problem of too little moisture can be havoc.

Red

I also use a dehumidifier in the basement where my guns are in the summer.

I've also got those dehumidifying cannisters that midway sells in the cabinets witht the guns.

Steve

i run a dehumidier with a hose to the drain so i don't have to empty it all the time( But you gotta have a drain)

quote:

Originally posted by Dago Red:
Might want to talk to people that own cigar stores. I was in one the other day and they had a system that showed temp and humidity.

Anybody know the best humidity level to have it at? I am sure that in areas that are dry the opposite problem of too little moisture can be havoc.

Red

Storing cigars and rifles are about as opposite as you can get. Humidity is the friend of one and the enemy of the other.

I run a small GE Dehumidfier I bought at SAMs club for about $100 but use it in a much smaller space--perhaps 300 sq feet. As mentioned draining the pan every day was a chore so I simply connected a garden hose to it on the supplied outlet and ran the hose the my basement drain...never have had a problem since.

The amount of humidity you will be able to get rid of depends on where you live, how open the room is to outside air, and other factors. When its about 60-70% relative humidity here in the summer I can keep my gun room around 30-40%. In the winter the furnace does a nice job of keeping it in the 30% range so the dehumidifier turns itself off since it can't go below 32%

You'll need a bigger unit than I have for 1600 SQ/Ft but they are readily available and I'd imagine you could buy one for around $300. You also might want to investigate buying humidity control equipment for your HVAC setup if you have one of the newer high efficiency furnaces. This might be a better cheaper option if you have a dedicated HVAC system.

What KY says if you are going to have HVAC for that space, there is some great condensing heating stuff now, and of course a godd AC system can pull out the humidity when cooling is needed.

Good Luck

Is that 1600 sq. ft., ( a 40'x40' room) or 1600 cu. ft. (14'x14'x8')

1600 sq. feet you're gonna have to go industrial.

OTOH I have a Sears 100 pint unit that keeps my basement (about 3200cu. ft.) at 40% year round, no problem. It runs a bit more in the summer, in the winter the furnace drops the humidity.