How reliable are hygrometers?

Booli said:

Unless she lives in a rainforest or close to a large body of water, where there is constant moisture, with open windows year round, I do not know how she can avoid being concerned about the humidity of her instruments.

Putting one's head in the sand does not make the situation magically disappear.

Maybe she reacts that way because she already has her mind made up and has some solution, but wishes to NOT discuss it with you.

I have found that my 2 sisters do this from time to time, as in CHOSE NOT TO discuss something and pretend to have never heard of it before and therefore have no opinion at that moment, only later to realize that for whatever reason that I was not worthy of conversation on that topic.

It bugs me when they do that, but I tried to stop caring about it, I mean it's their lives, not mine...oh well...

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Well, I don't think that she has her head in the sand, she doesn't think that it is a big concern. In a lot of things, there are levels that go from OCD to I just don't care, and everything in between. Neither of which change my thinking, as we all tend to dismiss anyone who doesn't think along the same lines as we do. But you are right, sometimes it is easier just to pretend that you don't know what the heck someone is talking about in the hopes that you don't get drawn into a long a protracted dissertation on the subject. I find myself on both sides of that situation, especially this time of year, when I am around family members and friends all day long. But, when it comes right down to it, they are just ukuleles.

Rllink said:

Well, I don't think that she has her head in the sand, she doesn't think that it is a big concern. In a lot of things, there are levels that go from OCD to I just don't care, and everything in between. Neither of which change my thinking, as we all tend to dismiss anyone who doesn't think along the same lines as we do. But you are right, sometimes it is easier just to pretend that you don't know what the heck someone is talking about in the hopes that you don't get drawn into a long a protracted dissertation on the subject. I find myself on both sides of that situation, especially this time of year, when I am around family members and friends all day long. But, when it comes right down to it, they are just ukuleles.

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Thank you for what you said here. I have found helpful wisdom in your words.

I realize that sometimes I might be too 'intense' for other people, and yes sometimes also have a sort of OCD about it.

I apologize if my comment came off as judgmental, it was not meant that way, sometimes I need to step back again and put myself in another's shoes, and remember the compassion I would hope others to have for me. So sorry if I have offended anyone.

May you all enjoy and have a wonderful holiday season !

Booli said:

Thank you for what you said here. I have found helpful wisdom in your words.

I realize that sometimes I might be too 'intense' for other people, and yes sometimes also have a sort of OCD about it.

I apologize if my comment came off as judgmental, it was not meant that way, sometimes I need to step back again and put myself in another's shoes, and remember the compassion I would hope others to have for me. So sorry if I have offended anyone.

May you all enjoy and have a wonderful holiday season !

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If you are directing this post at me, you have nothing to worry about, you didn't offend me. We're just all talking here and enjoying each other's company.

Older article...but humidity issues don't change much...

Back in the earlier days of the ukulele's most recent resurgence (read "2007"), an ukulele enthusiast in Arizona (read "it's dry there") contacted me about a study he'd made about humidifiers and their efficacy. I offered to post it on my website. While it is "dated" (read references to "G String ukuleles"--remember those?), perhaps some of the information and the study made by Daniel Yong might be helpful to you.

It's here: http://ukuleletonya.com/files/Humidity_and_your_ukulele.pdf

Rllink said:

If you are directing this post at me, you have nothing to worry about, you didn't offend me. We're just all talking here and enjoying each other's company.

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Hey brother, yes,I was apologizing to you. Thank you. I too have enjoyed this conversation.

Tonya said:

Back in the earlier days of the ukulele's most recent resurgence (read "2007"), an ukulele enthusiast in Arizona (read "it's dry there") contacted me about a study he'd made about humidifiers and their efficacy. I offered to post it on my website. While it is "dated" (read references to "G String ukuleles"--remember those?), perhaps some of the information and the study made by Daniel Yong might be helpful to you.

It's here: http://ukuleletonya.com/files/Humidity_and_your_ukulele.pdf

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That's a great read with lots of data. Must have been at least a few months of work to do those tests and then correlate the data into such an easily understood document.

Thanks for sharing

Ditto Booli. Thanks for sharing and it's clear a lot of work went into it. The one thing that I disagree on is whether or not a whole room or whole house humidifier works. So far my evidence suggests they do and when one has a several or more ukes, it's a lot easier than maintaining an army of case humidifiers.

For what it's worth . . . today I received a Caliber IV hygrometer from David Burgess (mentioned earlier in this discussion), and figured if nothing else it would tell me how far off my $10 Accurite gauges are (see photo - the lower number is the humidity). I will say that the Caliber IV is an easier fit in a case.

Ukulele Eddie said:

Ditto Booli. Thanks for sharing and it's clear a lot of work went into it. The one thing that I disagree on is whether or not a whole room or whole house humidifier works. So far my evidence suggests they do and when one has a several or more ukes, it's a lot easier than maintaining an army of case humidifiers.

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The past few days the outside humidity here in NJ has been 98%, and today 86%, and with my utrasonic cool mist room humidifier running full blast, AND something else I rigged up sort of a ghetto-style humidifier to supplement the ultrasonic one, was a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot, filled with water, with the handle propped up vertically, suspending a standard cotton bandana which extents about 18" into the bucket, and a 12" desk fan blowing down full blast on the surface of the water and also the bandana. If I turn off the fan, with the bandana's exposed part dry, it wicks water nearly up to the top, and when I put on the fan, even at the lowest setting, the bandana is dry to the touch in about 10 mins, but oddly enough the water level has only gone down about an inch per day, so it's not really efficient at dispersing moisture into the room like the ultrasonic unit, which you can see a fine mist of water vapor streaming from the top...

However, the past 2 days with this setup, my ambient RH in the room as per my own David Burgess calibrated Caliber IV hygrometer is up to 57% RH during the day, and now at 8PM it is at 48% RH and 66.6 degrees F...

Not sure if the boost in the indoor RH% is from the fact that outside humidity is higher past 2 days (and 56 F here in NJ in DECEMBER, which almost never happens) or from the added ghetto-contraption I rigged up, which seems to be very slow at transmitting moisture.

[edit] I also tried individually: a thick cotton hand towel, some hemp mesh (think burlap) as well as cotton coil rope strands (comes in 20ft lengths, like a really LONG cotton ball, but I cut them to fit the bucket), and all of them remained fully wet even with the same fan on full blast, so methinks that I need some other way to agitate the water if I am going to use a thicker or denser material than a thin cotton bandana - I may have to end this experiment, but I'm going to give it another day.

DaveY said:

For what it's worth . . . today I received a Caliber IV hygrometer from David Burgess (mentioned earlier in this discussion), and figured if nothing else it would tell me how far off my $10 Accurite gauges are (see photo - the lower number is the humidity). I will say that the Caliber IV is an easier fit in a case.

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I have a few hygrometers like that in your photo as well that we got from Amazon ~$10 and keep in the basement and cellar, with a DE-humidifier in the warmer months to control mold and mildew growth in the damp basement...I thought since basement humidity causing mold growth is not an issue in the winter when the furnace is running a lot, I might 'borrow' one of those units and keep it next to my Caliber IV for a few days and see how far apart the readings are....

Just thought I'd mention that I purchased this small round HygrosetII hygrometer from Amazon a year ago for ~$17, and calibrated it to 43% using the potassium carbonate method. I just rechecked the unit overnight using the same method, and it still read exactly 43% - no drifting over a whole year. Fits easily in your case too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000H6CZQE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks, Steve (@besley). I have ordered one of these and will be interested to see how it compares to the Caliber IV which was well off the mark of what most people report. I tried to email Cigar Oasis (distributor of Caliber IV) but their email bounced. I will try to call next week.

Ukulele Eddie said:

Thanks, Steve (@besley). I have ordered one of these and will be interested to see how it compares to the Caliber IV which was well off the mark of what most people report. I tried to email Cigar Oasis (distributor of Caliber IV) but their email bounced. I will try to call next week.

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I'll be interested too in how it does right out of the box, since I really don't remember how far off it was when I received it. But since you can adjust the calibration during the salt test, and it doesn't seem to drift, I would say it's a winner.

I bought one of the round Boveda hygrometers linked by besley about five months ago. I wanted to be absolutely sure of the readings (two MBUs and one LoPrinzi) so I also purchased the multi-use hygrometer test setup here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A3UBLA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (available for 75% or 32% tests). The original Boveda was within 1 percent (high); after calibration adjustment it held at the test for one week so I purchased two more of the Boveda units. I calibrated the other two units (one was spot-on, one was 2% low) and I've used them in my cases with the three instruments since then. I have a to-do checklist which reminds me to add *distilled* water to the Oasis between-the-strings humidifiers and check them at least every 14 days. This is working well for me...'wish I had the capability of storing in a humidity-controlled room but I guess this is the next best thing.

I *do* have a question, though, about how different types of cases hold the humidity levels, but I think I'll start that in another post...

Tonya said:

I bought one of the round Boveda hygrometers linked by besley about five months ago. I wanted to be absolutely sure of the readings (two MBUs and one LoPrinzi) so I also purchased the multi-use hygrometer test setup here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000A3UBLA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (available for 75% or 32% tests). The original Boveda was within 1 percent (high); after calibration adjustment it held at the test for one week so I purchased two more of the Boveda units. I calibrated the other two units (one was spot-on, one was 2% low) and I've used them in my cases with the three instruments since then. I have a to-do checklist which reminds me to add *distilled* water to the Oasis between-the-strings humidifiers and check them at least every 14 days. This is working well for me...'wish I had the capability of storing in a humidity-controlled room but I guess this is the next best thing.

I *do* have a question, though, about how different types of cases hold the humidity levels, but I think I'll start that in another post...

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Wow. I rarely go longer than a week.

PereBourik said:

Wow. I rarely go longer than a week.

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We heat our home by woodstove only and have no water on the stove or a humidifier...but at 14 days the humidity is constant and the little Oasis thingies are still plump and full of water. I was even thinking of setting the schedule to three weeks...maybe not, huh? Note: All of them are in an ABS case or the wooden Oasis cases; I'm guessing that's a factor in keeping the humidity up?

Ukulele Eddie said:

Thanks, Steve (@besley). I have ordered one of these and will be interested to see how it compares to the Caliber IV which was well off the mark of what most people report. I tried to email Cigar Oasis (distributor of Caliber IV) but their email bounced. I will try to call next week.

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A bit delayed in my update, but here it goes. I remained concerned that something wasn't right with the potassium carbonate calibration test I did despite that bag indicating it had no other ingredients. Why? Well, when I tested my Caliber IV it was significantly off (as noted earlier in this thread), despite several different calibration attempts. So I ordered one of the 32% calibration kits from Boveda:



I removed my prior calibration adjustment and re-tested the Calibration IV. It was spot-on:



These Boveda calibration kits are super convenient and last for two months once opened.

Thanks for the update, and good to see that it's right on the money. I use the caliber IV exclusively - I've got one for each of my 3 ukes, one for my acoustic guitar, and one in my music room with all the classroom ukes. Has been good to me so far!

Just a word on accuracy of cheap hygrometers. I have 5 identical $10.00 hygrometers I bought from Home Depot, they all read the same. I assumed that because of this they were reliable. I recently purchased 3 Caliber IV hygrometers and at 40% humidity the cheap ones where reading 43% so I thought they were good.

We had a cold spell and the furnace was running full bore. The cheap ones never registered below 36% while all three Caliber IV's showed a reading of 23%. Needless to say the cheap ones are no longer trusted or used. I keep all my ukes in hardcases with humidification devices in the case. The Caliber IV's are great because you can place them in the body section of the case to get a reading of the environment that your uke is stored in.

Interesting thread. A some points to keep in mind when verifying instrument accuracy;

1. Comparing the readings of several instruments can tell you if they agree with each other, not how accurate they are unless at least one of them has recently been calibrated to a national standard.
2. Calibrating to only one measurement tests your instruments accuracy at only one point in its range. (I once had a clock that was 100% accurate twice a day.)
3. The tolerable error of the instrument should align with the intended use of the instrument. For example, most of us won't need a home thermostat capable of maintaining the temperature setting at plus or minus one degree.

So the bottom line to me is, what degree of humidity accuracy does a ukulele environment require? Is plus or minus 10% adequate for a humidity intended to monitor our ukuleles? Does it matter how accurate the reading is after it drops below say 40%? In other words, would a "car dashboard" style warning light suffice?

kkimura said:

Interesting thread. A some points to keep in mind when verifying instrument accuracy;

1. Comparing the readings of several instruments can tell you if they agree with each other, not how accurate they are unless at least one of them has recently been calibrated to a national standard.
2. Calibrating to only one measurement tests your instruments accuracy at only one point in its range. (I once had a clock that was 100% accurate twice a day.)
3. The tolerable error of the instrument should align with the intended use of the instrument. For example, most of us won't need a home thermostat capable of maintaining the temperature setting at plus or minus one degree.

So the bottom line to me is, what degree of humidity accuracy does a ukulele environment require? Is plus or minus 10% adequate for a humidity intended to monitor our ukuleles? Does it matter how accurate the reading is after it drops below say 40%? In other words, would a "car dashboard" style warning light suffice?

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On 1 & 2, I agree and think these were covered earlier.

On 3, I would think within +/- 5% in the 35-50% range is probably sufficient.