# Maintaining Correct Humidity



## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I'm wondering if other members have troubles maintaining good humidity levels in their homes. I have a friend who lives in West Vancouver and he has to control high humidity, pretty much all year long. I live in central Alberta and the humidity is just about perfect in the summer time. It fluctuates between 40% and 50%. Winter time is a much different story. Humidity drops to about 20% and it can drop below 15% during a cold snap. We have been having late fall type weather (35%) up until a week ago when real winter arrived overnight. I was doing just fine but now it's too dry. Right now I have two fairly big capacity cold mist humidifiers running at full blast 24/7and I can just barely maintain 30%. Full blast means there is always a fair amount of white-ish noise in my home and it's kind of annoying. I fill my tanks 3 times a day and I figure I am pumping between 15 and 20 litres of water into the house every day, depending on how cold it gets overnight, ie: how much the furnace has to work. My acoustics, which spend the summer months leaning back in their floor stands in my living room are stowed in their cases with sound-hole humidifiers. I miss being able to just reach over and grab one. I don't worry as much about my solid body electrics. They are much hardier. They stay out.

I'm just wondering if others have similar problems and what your solutions are.
Do people have any secret weapons?


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## Swervin55 (Oct 30, 2009)

Also from central Alberta I feel your pain. In the winter, I keep all of my guitars (acoustic and electric) in the same general area (room/storage closet - out on stands and in cases accordingly) and humidify with an ultrasonic/mist humidifier that I run at 45% to maintain around 40% in the room. It goes through 6 l/day at the moment; less when warmer out. I also keep a humidistat in the room and another in the closet just to make sure one isn't lying. I also block off the cold air return in the room to prevent it sucking out the humidity. The only downside to this type of humidifier is the cost (~ $35) of the demineralizing filter and the hassle of cleaning the white film off everything when it's no longer doing it's job. I'll go through about 3 of these filters between November and March.The advantage of this approach over sound hole humidifers is that it also prevents fret sprout regardless of whether acoustic or electric and it seems to be effective whether the guitars are on a stand or in their cases.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Humidity here on the shore of Lake Huron is fine for instruments unless the temperature drops below freezing with the corresponding drop in humidity, or the house heat accelerates the drop. A music room (roughly 12' by 22') humidifier that holds a couple of gallons does the job nicely of keeping it above 40-45%, but generally only needed at night if closed off from the rest of the house. It's -1C/92% outside, 20C/50% inside. The lake isn't frozen but the atmosphere gets lots more dry when it is. Humidity monitored daily of course.


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## Smylight (Jun 28, 2016)

I’m in freezing Quebec. We are still into late-autumn weather it seems, with outside around freezing point. But as we have been heating for over a month now, RH has been going down fast.

The only practical way to go with multiple instruments is to dedicate a room to music and then control RH in that room. Close the door.

I know… ;-)


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

Depending on how much you want to spend on maintaining 40%RH. The most effective solution is a furnace mounted unit that is connected to the main water supply through a filter system; they are more efficient than the portable units and do not require filling.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I'm able to maintain 40% to 50% humidity in Alberta during winter. However, my water bill actually goes up in the winter compared to summer.
High efficiency furnace, with the fan running constantly, and a Waite 5000 humidifier attached to the furnace.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

The furnace ones don't last very long. I've been in this house 14 year and have already replaced it twice and it needs replacing again.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

I will search for waite 5000


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## Wardo (Feb 5, 2010)




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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

BMW-KTM said:


> The furnace ones don't last very long. I've been in this house 14 year and have already replaced it twice and it needs replacing again.


it's not a install and forget thing, that's for sure. The element needs to be replaced every second year, and there is some TLC involved

and now that I think about it, I also bypassed the heat sensor that only turns on the water flow when the heat is on. Mine runs all the time, probably explains my high water consumption, but it gets the job done.


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## morepowder (Apr 30, 2020)

My conditions in Southeast BC are identical to the OP’s. As mentioned above, my toy room has a dedicated humidifier and the door is mostly closed. I need to refill the humidifier almost every day.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

morepowder said:


> My conditions in Southeast BC are identical to the OP’s. As mentioned above, my toy room has a dedicated humidifier and the door is mostly closed. I need to refill the humidifier almost every day.


My sister lives in Kimberley. She and her husband primarily heat their home with a pair of wood stoves and they have a gas furnace for backup when there is a sudden drop in temperature. There are a lot of Kootenay peeps who heat this way. Each of their wood stoves has two cast iron kettles sitting atop, which they refill several times a day. Even with four kettles going they still can only maintain about 30%.


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## crann (May 10, 2014)

I've installed this powered unit in my last two houses. Works great, keeps the house nicely humidified. I'm in London Ontario for context.



https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/honeywell-humidifier-power-kit-0643132p.html#srp


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

I bought my first humidifier this summer to keep the guitar corner around 55%. It's currently at 54% without anything going on, been hovering between 50-55 since I'd say November. We'll see if it actually gets colder and how it goes.


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## Chewie5150 (Dec 12, 2021)

I'm almost embarrassed to say that in all my years playing, I have never bothered with a humidifier for any of my guitars (elec & acoustic) ...


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Chewie5150 said:


> I'm almost embarrassed to say that in all my years playing, I have never bothered with a humidifier for any of my guitars (elec & acoustic) ...


I never did either until I moved into my current house, which is quite old, built in 1908 and isn't as well insulated as newer houses so the furnace runs more than typical. In my first year here my expensive Taylor developed a small crack in the back. Repair tech did an amazing job that you have to know is there before you can see it and he said it was due to low humidity. That woke me up and now I pay attention and I try to keep a minimum of 35% whenever possible and preferably 40%.


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## Sketchy Jeff (Jan 12, 2019)

i live in an old house in manitoba
when it's -40 outside it is snap crackle pop dry inside even if you cook soup all day
i know some people who humidify to 40% through the winter - a cloud billows out the door as you enter or leave - and the condensation can be a problem even with well built new houses especially in closets or any area with poor air flow but high air flow also leads to more dry so it's a bit of chasing your tail that way
my tele sprouts frets in the winter and is fine in the summer. this winter at peak dry I'm going to dress them down and let them be a bit recessed when it's more humid.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Humidity in the Quebec city area varies from over 80% in Summer to lower than 30% in Winter though St-Laurent river is never allowed to get frozen.

So, two climatizer units are used in Summer to keep humidity below 60% while I still hang a wet hand towell in my music room as soon as humidity falls below 50%.

I used to put Oasis sponges in cases but stopped that boring habit some four years ago since a simple wet hand towell hung in the music room does the job.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

All of my instruments are in my music room, which is where the larger of my two fairly big humidifiers lives. That room is is actually the dining room so it can't be blocked off from the rest of the house but the hygrometer assures me it is about 5% - 7% more humid in that room than the rest of the house. Right now it is at 36% in there so I'm not terribly concerned just yet about my electrics but it's also only about -20 around here lately (-17 at this very moment). I will very likely have to put a dutch oven of water on the stove once it drops to -30, which is typical around here for January and into February.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Being this close to Christmas I've been singing to myself.

🎼
Oh, the weather outside can bite me
And my car won't start to spite me
And I can't even feel my nose
Winter blows
Winter blows
Winter blows


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## alphasports (Jul 14, 2008)

Am in Montreal, my house has forced air which is basically the best way to get your RH down to about 3% in winter as fast as possible (then in summer it's about 80%!!) I have humidipaks in all my cases and these maintain about 48%, and for my 2 acoustics I add soundhole donkey-dick dampits all winter to boost the in-case RH up to about 55 or more.


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## JethroTech (Dec 8, 2015)

Chewie5150 said:


> I'm almost embarrassed to say that in all my years playing, I have never bothered with a humidifier for any of my guitars (elec & acoustic) ...


Me too. And fortunately I've never had any issues out here in dry, frigid Alberta. I was at the home of @Swervin55 a couple of weeks ago and he gave me a quick lesson on humidifiers and now all my guitars are enjoying the sweet life down in Humidity City. Actually, I'm only 24 hours into this new life and the RH in my basement (2 rooms) has gone from 33% to 46% according to the readout on the humidifier and it still has half a tank of water. Does anyone know how accurate the digital readout on these things is?


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Think of it like a furnace thermostat that tells you what the temp is at that particular spot on the wall in that particular room. There's no guarantee of its accuracy and it doesn't necessarily reflect the conditions in the rest of the house. The hygrometer on your humidifier works kind of the same way. There's no guarantee of its accuracy and it is measuring RH right at the humidifier, not across the room or across the house.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

My RH has plummeted since this cold snap began. I'm pumping more water into the air than I ever thought possible and I'm struggling to keep above 20%. I moved the humidifier that was in my living room and put it into my studio where the big humidifier is and which is where all of my solid body guitars live. The studio is now about 26%. The rest of the house is well below 20%. Both of my acoustics are snug in their cases with in-hole humidifiers.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

This probably isn't useful to some in this thread and it's not meant to sniff at all the good advice here or dismiss these concerns either. My MIJ 49 year old Epiphone acoustic has been in a bone dry environment - almost desert conditions - for as long as it's been alive. I'd be remiss if I didn't admit it hadn't been affected by this over the years, I know it has. But if humidity or lack thereof affects:

My tuning, I'll intonate it
My guitar's neck, I'll adjust it
My fretboard, I'll hydrate it
Fret sprout, I'll perform a fret dressing
Any metal or plastic parts, I'll repair them
The binding or finish, well it never has in almost 50 years
If I can't perform any of those tasks above to restore the guitar's playability, I sell it. So far, so good. We'll see how the next half century goes.


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## Smylight (Jun 28, 2016)

FatStrat2 said:


> This probably isn't useful to some in this thread and it's not meant to sniff at all the good advice here or dismiss these concerns either. My MIJ 49 year old Epiphone acoustic has been in a bone dry environment - almost desert conditions - for as long as it's been alive. I'd be remiss if I didn't admit it hadn't been affected by this over the years, I know it has. But if humidity or lack thereof affects:
> 
> My tuning, I'll intonate it
> My guitar's neck, I'll adjust it
> ...


Your Epi is most likely made of plywood, or else the top (at the very least) would have burst open a long time ago. Maintaining adequate RH is absolutely critical to the well-being of a solid-wood instrument. 


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

I don't really care what it's made of, it plays great and sounds fine too. My 36 year old Ibanez RS-140 in the same environment is also just fine.


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

Smylight said:


> Your Epi is most likely made of plywood, or else the top (at the very least) would have burst open a long time ago...


The ad from '73 states:

Natural spruce top
Mahogany rims & back
Rosewood fingerboard


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## Smylight (Jun 28, 2016)

FatStrat2 said:


> I don't really care what it's made of, it plays great and sounds fine too. My 36 year old Ibanez RS-140 in the same environment is also just fine.


Just saying solid woods and plywoods have different RH issues. Plywood does not move as much and water retention is less of a problem as with solid woods. Sounds vastly different, too.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse


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## Smylight (Jun 28, 2016)

FatStrat2 said:


> The ad from '73 states:
> 
> Natural spruce top
> Mahogany rims & back
> Rosewood fingerboard


Exactly. Plywood. Else the description would use the word "solid" before each species. This is why your guitar stayed intact despite the excessive dryness.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

I have the Honeywell humidifier on the furnace as well as a room humidifier in my music room, keep the door closed and also have two humidifiers in the cases of two of my acoustics. The room one needs to be refilled daily, the four cases ones weekly. All this and I can barely maintain 40% if I'm lucky. I keep an old Yamaha beater on the wall for easy access and it is surprisingly solid and non changing no matter what the conditions.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Like yours, my Honeywell with a 2 gallon tank needs to be refilled daily but I also have a bigger one made by Air-Care with a 3.8 gallon tank and it needs to be refilled every 8 hours. That thing pumps a lot of water. I fill it around 4 PM or so and again before bed and again first thing in the morning. Sometimes in the morning the humidifier has shut off because the tray is empty so then I fill it twice because the tray takes almost a full tank to fill it up. I wait until it stops glug-glug-glugging to fill the tray and then I refill the tank again.


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

I have started using a humidifier in the basement for about 2 years now as i had one acoustic give me problems. Its a CTC type that i replenish once a day. Can only get it to about 40% right now so its better than nothing. I was thinking maybe you could store your guitars in a closet and put the humidifier in it. Wonder if that would do the trick?


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Floor space being at a premium, this year I put the room humidifier on the upright piano, 55" high, instead of on the floor. (There's a towel under it to protect the piano.) It seems to work more efficiently raised. Maybe it gives the vapour more time to be absorbed and/or be spread through the room. Whatever the case, I haven't had to crank it up as much, for as long, to get to 50%.


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## butterscotchmusic (11 mo ago)

BMW-KTM said:


> I'm wondering if other members have troubles maintaining good humidity levels in their homes. I have a friend who lives in West Vancouver and he has to control high humidity, pretty much all year long. I live in central Alberta and the humidity is just about perfect in the summer time. It fluctuates between 40% and 50%. Winter time is a much different story. Humidity drops to about 20% and it can drop below 15% during a cold snap. We have been having late fall type weather (35%) up until a week ago when real winter arrived overnight. I was doing just fine but now it's too dry. Right now I have two fairly big capacity cold mist humidifiers running at full blast 24/7and I can just barely maintain 30%. Full blast means there is always a fair amount of white-ish noise in my home and it's kind of annoying. I fill my tanks 3 times a day and I figure I am pumping between 15 and 20 litres of water into the house every day, depending on how cold it gets overnight, ie: how much the furnace has to work. My acoustics, which spend the summer months leaning back in their floor stands in my living room are stowed in their cases with sound-hole humidifiers. I miss being able to just reach over and grab one. I don't worry as much about my solid body electrics. They are much hardier. They stay out.
> 
> I'm just wondering if others have similar problems and what your solutions are.
> Do people have any secret weapons?


Constant battle.....I try for 50% all year round but it's a challenge. I'm down east so we get wet winters. I know never to trust the humidistat reading on the humidifier. Never trust stand alone versions either, i've learned. There are home calibration tests to measure whether your humidity meter (humidistat) is providing accurate readings. Salt test in a zip loc bag does the trick and measures exactly 75% if calibrated properly. Very simple test. I like to hang my guitars on the wall as well....I like to see them and tend to play them more as well, rather than in cases.


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## BMW-KTM (Apr 7, 2015)

Swervin55 said:


> I'll go through about 3 of these filters between November and March.


I intended to respond to your filter problem when I first read your post but it looks like I forgot.

I re-use my filters by cleaning the deposits off them. What I do is run about 3" of water into the kitchen sink and add 2 cups of white vinegar and stir it until well blended. White vinegar is really cheap. You can get a 4L jug of no-name for about 3 bucks at Wally-World. I soak the used filters in the solution overnight using a dinner plate to weight them down so they don't float up out of the water. I can see the chemical reaction taking place immediately. They start bubbling and if the deposits are heavy enough I can even sometimes see tiny pieces breaking off and floating around within a minute or two. In the morning the water is brown from the minerals. Then I use the sink sprayer and rinse them generously and squeeze the water out and repeat the rinsing/squeezing process until they no longer smell like vinegar. Then I give them a final squeeze out and lay them flat on a drying rack until fully dry. When it's time to replace the filter I install the cleaned one and then clean the second one. I don't have a demineralizer so I just use tap water in my humidifiers so I have to clean them about once a week. Rotating them like this means I get a couple of years out of two filters even with the frequent cleaning. After a few cleanings the filters will become slightly yellow stained but they still work like new and they don't put any smell into the air.

This same process can be used to clean deposits off of kettles and coffee makers. Just make sure you rinse them until you can't smell the vinegar anymore. For a slow running drip coffee maker I fill the carafe with solution, remove the charcoal filter in the tank and run the same pot of solution through 4 or 5 cycles and then switch to clean water for another 3 or 4 cycles, each cycle with a fresh pot of clean water. For Keurig I fill the tank with solution and run through the cycles until the tank needs filling. Then I fill the tank with clean water and run through the cycles until the tank needs filling. Done. Of course, like the drip machine, remove the charcoal filter before adding the solution to the tank. For kettles I just let them soak overnight and rinse in the morning.

You can also soak the humidifier tray overnight if it becomes too crudded up inside.

The solution ratio I use is 2 cups for every gallon of water, which I pro-rate for smaller jobs


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## Smylight (Jun 28, 2016)

BMW-KTM said:


> I intended to respond to your filter problem when I first read your post but it looks like I forgot.
> 
> I re-use my filters by cleaning the deposits off them. What I do is run about 3" of water into the kitchen sink and add 2 cups of white vinegar and stir it until well blended. White vinegar is really cheap. You can get a 4L jug of no-name for about 3 bucks at Wally-World. I soak the used filters in the solution overnight using a dinner plate to weight them down so they don't float up out of the water. I can see the chemical reaction taking place immediately. They start bubbling and if the deposits are heavy enough I can even sometimes see tiny pieces breaking off and floating around within a minute or two. In the morning the water is brown from the minerals. Then I use the sink sprayer and rinse them generously and squeeze the water out and repeat the rinsing/squeezing process until they no longer smell like vinegar. Then I give them a final squeeze out and lay them flat on a drying rack until fully dry. When it's time to replace the filter I install the cleaned one and then clean the second one. I don't have a demineralizer so I just use tap water in my humidifiers so I have to clean them about once a week. Rotating them like this means I get a couple of years out of two filters even with the frequent cleaning. After a few cleanings the filters will become slightly yellow stained but they still work like new and they don't put any smell into the air.
> 
> ...


This is what I do as well. Pumping a gallon of demineralized water from each of my 2 machines every day would get costly fast. That means less guitar money gets spent on guitars. Vinegar works great for this.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse


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## butterscotchmusic (11 mo ago)

A lot of great suggestions here.....thanks everyone.


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