Dehumidifier

[SCTiger]

Last month I bought a Whirlpool, 50 Pint dehumdifier for my room. At first I bought it to control the mold and to get a few nights of good rest sleeping in dry air. The air in Mississippi is really thick with moisture and everything from papers to clothing felt like a wet noodle.

Since using the dehumidifier, I have noticed a drop in my maintenance of both my modern and Civil War gear. Weapons stayed clean and the clothing was less musty. My old books and photos feel dryer; and my keyboard on my computer works better. I also bought another dehum for my collections and gear in SC. The first week, I emptied the collector 4-5 times per day at 50 pints per pour. My carpet went from a dark green to a light green, also there was no mold in the shower. After four weeks I have to empty the collector only twice a day.

With the long term storage of wool, leather, cotton and wood. I can't help but to think that the dehum will help my gear last longer. With some of my gear I may only use it once or twice per year, some of my stuff may go years between use. Considering the amount of money we invest in quality equipment, I believe the $180 I invested was well worth it.

My only concern lies with re-exposing the very dry gear to high humidity at events.
Would there be any adverse effects? Should I gradually raise the humidity level?

I believe one of the main reasons that ACW equipment wore out quickly was due to rot and exposure to high levels of moisture, particularly here in the deep south.

Anyhow the old photos and books seem to relish the dryer air. I also have went a month without having to remove rust from my weapons and bayonets.

[Mike N]

Re: Dehumidifier

I've had a dehumidifier humming away in my basement for quite awhile but I only need to empty it out every couple of days. Like you though, after I started using it I noticed there was no musty smell at all downstairs and a big improvement in the seasonal clothing, camping gear etc. stored there. No rust on tools etc.

I'd just be guessing but I think your gear will be much better off for using the dehumidifier. Being constantly exposed to high humidity would seem to be a lot tougher on things than getting an occasional dose at an event. I think that storing stuff in a drier environment will help it last.

Regards,

Mike Nugent

[1st Maine Trooper]

Re: Dehumidifier

It is a well known fact that low humidity levels reduce the deterioration of wood, leather, textile and fabrics. Water among other good things is also a solvent. Any serious museum does not have a air conditioning system, rather a climate control system which works to maintain a constant temperature and humidity level. Also too dry of an environment will accelerate the deterioration as well due to natural oils evaporating. The ideal humidity level for conservation is 45% relative humidity. Rather than purchasing dehumidification equipment for every room in your house, a high end thermostat can be had that will maintain the humidity in your entire home.

Dave Myrick

[edgeinwi]

Re: Dehumidifier

Up here in Wisconsin, we go from very humid during the summer to very dry in the winter (so dry that we rub our stocking feet on a carpet and shock people with static electricity for fun). I use a dehumidifier during the summer. I see no ill effects on my gear with the occasional changes in humidity. I do preventative work on my metal items (oiling) before I take them out or put them away, but everything else has survived for years without anything done to them. The key is to put them into storage dry. I let my clothing and gear hang in the room with the dehumidifier (or outside in the sun on less humid days) for a day or so less prior to putting them in storage.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Dehumidifier

Hallo!

I live in the "North," but have used a dehumidifer for the basement and gun storage room to reduce humidity that leads to rusting, molds, and fungus.
However, my house is air-conditioned and also has an "April Air" humidfier system for for the Winter when interior humidity hereabouts can drop to 10-14% which lower than many deserts.
Adding humidity in Winter also decreases the heating bills as drier air is "colder." :)

Curt

[1stMaine]

Re: Dehumidifier

Curt,

Living in Maine means oil heat, and that means dry heat. very dry. So dry that furniture can crack if you are not careful.

We used to use a humidifier in the wintertime, but I found a much better idea. I have a dozen small steel bowl that I fill half-way with ater and set each one on a radiator. They heat up as the radiator warms, and I only have to refill them every few days. No muss, no fuss, and no electricity either :)

PS: for an added "luxury" you can add a tablespoon of lemon juice to the water in each bowl. It kills anything that might think about setting up shop in the water, and leaves a pleasant smell in the air.

Respects,

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Dehumidifier

Hallo!

Yes, my wife's late grandparents used to live in an 1870's farmhouse whose sole heat source was a coal burning stove that was piped into the closed off living room fireplace's chimney.
They always had a tea kettle or two of water set on top of it in the Winter to "humidify" the small house.
(They received electricity in 1947 and telephone service in 1955.)

Curt

[SCTiger]

Re: Dehumidifier

I did have one pair of Richmond Trouser's (second hand sale) that literally fell apart back in May, the cotton and linen threads felt like wet spaghetti. The jean wool also became loose. The trousers were made accurately, but I don't think they were designed for long term exposure to 100 percent humidity. Currently I estimate that I have around $4000 in gear and that probably doesn't hold a candle to most people :). Unlike the CW soldier, I can't look forward to a resupply or a box from home with new uniforms every 6 months. I have to keep it accurate, but I have to keep it.

I also notice at the museums like the SC Confederate Relic Rooms, that they have special doors for the bathrooms to keep the moisture in. The deep South presents different challenges but, I will get a humidity monitor. One end dry rot, the other end mold and jungle rot. Kind of makes one appreciate the constant worry that museums have.

Thanks for the feedback. Learned a lot.

[shmhistorylive]

Re: Dehumidifier

As a museum curator, I would like to add something to the already well expounded on thread on dehumidification. One of the things that collections managers try to avoid is swings in the temperature and humidity level. For a lot of objects, this can be as destructive in the long run as overly high humidity or low humidity. That said, I would think that the average living history person would be well off to keep the humidity down in their home and not worry about what happens when they take their gear out in the field. After all, did you buy it as a museum piece or to use? Gradual re-humidification would require a special room to do just that unless you wanted to expose your storage area or entire home to an increase in humidity. You would then gradually have to de-humidify it when you returned home. I think that presents more work than it is worth. Just food for thought. Since I live in Arizona I don't have a high humidity problem, but a low one.

[Todd Watts]

Re: Dehumidifier

I don't know about the wool and paper stuff, but a dehumidifier is great to have for long-term gun storage because it slows the progression of rust on steel. However, over time, it works to dry wood stocks and this causes them to splinter easier. A good coat of linseed oil on the wood will help it hold moisture in the wood longer, but about every year or so you will need to reapply a coat of linseed to replace the moisture content of the wood surface. A little trick in the more modern gunsmithing is to seal the wood with clear "Varathane" oil finish instead of linseed or the other "gun stock finishes". "Varathane" is a DEEP penetrating oil. The clear type reacts much like linseed in that it doesn't apply a fake color to the wood, but lets the wood's natural tones darken only as much as the oil will allow. When dry, it is a hard surface but not shiny. You can get "Varathane" at hardware stores, but it comes in gallon paint cans so it is wasteful to get unless you have a lot to do. It is primarily used to finish hardwood floors, so that is why it is not sold in smaller amounts. When I was at gunsmithing school, we had an upright PVC pipe that was filled with this oil, probably 10-15 gallons, and when we made a stock we submerged it in the tank for several minutes to an hour or more. Ain't no moisture getting into or out of a stock soaked like that!:D

[redleggeddevil]

Re: Dehumidifier

I was a museum curator/director for many years and humidity was our constant nemesis in all historic structures I administered (I took care of a collection housed in a basement in Seattle, so you can imagine).

What I was taught in all my training, and what was borne out in my experience, was that humidity by itself is not the main threat, but rather abrupt and significant changes in humidity. Organic materials like leather and wood especially suffer from damage from expansion and contraction, swelling and drying, and it is actually better to have a constant "bad" environment rather than swing wildly between "good" and "bad".

Metal, of course, is another problem entirely.

I live in Florida now, so I fight a constant battle to keep all my gear in decent condition. I am probably the major consumer of beeswax in North America.

[Rob Weaver]

Re: Dehumidifier

When my inlaws moved from the Republic of Panama to Alexandria, VA, everything they owned experienced the effects of changing levels of humidity. It was especially hard on furniture, which continued to be unstable for months after the move was over. It was very perplexing for my mother-in-law to watch the dining room table, which she'd protected from both the extreme humidity of Panama, and from nibbling insects for twenty years warp and buckle into a tobaggan-like shape after a couple months in the States. (Sorry, OT, but the effects of changes in humidity are indeed awesome to observe.)

I also store my reenacting gear in a room with a dehumidifier. Keeps my leather from growing green stuff.