Gun Safe Dehumidifying Choices

[welldriller]

Why waist power on a heater, I put my security DVR inside of the safe to keep it warm. And to keep the DVR!

[jben]

I live a couple hundred yards from the beach in northern California. EVERYthing in my yard rusts. Nobody lives in a more humid/rustzone area in California than me.
I have 2 safes both protected by Goldenrods. My guns have never shown any rust.

[naimad]

Goldenrod

[ShooterMcFly]

...my safe consistently stays at 39-40 on the hygrometer, pretty dry.

Is that a "good" moisture reading? Can it get drier than that? Should I keep it as dry as possible inside?

[kylednf]

I got a dehumidifier off eBay a while ago where you put it in the oven to recharge the beads after they turn green. I have to do bake it every 5 days for two hours. I'll be getting a plug in one next.

[delta9]

Is that a "good" moisture reading? Can it get drier than that? Should I keep it as dry as possible inside?

Anything below 55% will prohibit rust. If it's too low (25%) you can actually leach the moisture out of a wooded stock and cause it to shrink

[ShooterMcFly]

Anything below 55% will prohibit rust. If it's too low (25%) you can actually leach the moisture out of a wooded stock and cause it to shrink

Good to know. Thanx much delta9!

[bassbones]

Make friends with someone that works at a clothing or shoe store. I get HUNDREDS of silica packets for free when ever I need .. I put them in my ammo cans , and just throw a handful on the bottom of the safe. It holds a 40/45% humidity ...

[Vepr 54R]

If you live near the ocean, those smaller ones will be overwhelmed I use a bucket of damprid

http://www.damprid.com/

[Californio]

GoldenRod

I know the history of the product. It was originally developed by a piano tuner to keep the instrument in tune.

Purchased by the current owners and marketed for all kinds of applications such as boats, house closets on the beach, firearms storage etc.

Great little product.

[DrewN]

I have a ton of non functional C&R project/parts rifles that I keep in a cabinet in my garage. A bucket of damprid works just fine and I live a mile from the beach in Costa Mesa. I'd be perfectly comfortable storing anything I owned (security considerations aside, natch) if I added a Gunsock or Borestore along with the damprid.

[sholling]

I use Eva-Dry E-500 high capacity renewable dehumidifiers. Once the beads turn color you just plug it in over night and it's ready to go again. What you want to avoid is DampRid because it's corrosive if you spill any.

http://www.amazon.com/E-500-Capacity-Renewable-Wireless-Dehumidifier/dp/B0046W0CGA

[Agent 0range]

A while back, I found quite a bit of surface rust on my 870, but luckily it came right off with a little oil. I started using the 280 gram disposable silica containers, but still felt compelled to inspect everything at least once a week. That got real old real quick. After about 2 weeks of the Eva-dry E-500 and the disposable silica container, I'm averaging between 44% - 52% humidity. Love the hygrometer with daily highs/lows. Now, i just check the meter once a day at most, and as long as my high reading is <60%, I just lock the safe back up and don't give it a second thought. If I had access to an outlet near my safe, I'd run a goldenrod as well, but I don't, and also don't mind the fact that I don't have to drill a hole in my safe to run power to it.

[DrewN]

What you want to avoid is DampRid because it's corrosive if you spill any.

The new style non-refillable buckets are permanently sealed so are impossible to spill. $10 bucks each and they last for months.

[made2order]

Why waist power on a heater, I put my security DVR inside of the safe to keep it warm. And to keep the DVR!

Yeah but your heat build up in the safe is not going to be good for the DVR. It will certainly shorten its life span.