Too Much Humidity?

Kyle23

Kyle23

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Is there such a thing when talking about a safe environment for a ukulele? I always hear about buying a humidifier if the humidity is too low, but can there be a time when it's too high? The humidity here is always hovering in the 70s and 80s. Is this ok? And if not, what can I do to prevent damage to my Uke?
 
Yes, too much RH is also not recommended. Use a dehumidifier, if you can.
 
RH ranges widely where I live. I use humidifiers in the winter and run a dehumidifier in the winter. Dehumidifiers can be expensive, though. As a less expensive alternative, and presuming you use a case, get some packets of desiccant for the case and an in-case hygrometer to monitor the RH.
 
Hi Kyle, you need to check the humidity inside your house. A furnace really sucks the moisture out of the air.
 
I see your location is Buffalo, NY-- as a Buffalo native, I find it very unlikely that your humidity is always at 70-80%. Those are tropical levels, and unlikely for an area like Buffalo that has cold winters and mild summers. You might find that in a damp basement in the summer, but very doubtful in side a heated home in the winter.
 
live in FL, no problems, but house has AC. Play outside some, no problems either. Long term storage in humid conditions has led to mold and/or mildew, especially inside.
 
Kyle23 said:
Is there such a thing when talking about a safe environment for a ukulele? I always hear about buying a humidifier if the humidity is too low, but can there be a time when it's too high? The humidity here is always hovering in the 70s and 80s. Is this ok? And if not, what can I do to prevent damage to my Uke?
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I think we're both safe as long as we avoid 'shocking' the instrument, i.e. don't repeatedly carry the uke without it's case from your heated home outside to the freeeeezing cold! I would just keep your ukuleles in their cases when you're not playing them, if they're solid wood, and then maybe put a humidifier in the cases during the winter months. I just put a little homemade humidifier in with my Martin Style 0 for now. I'll probably take it out once late spring hits, because it certainly gets humid enough around here.
 
RichM said:
I see your location is Buffalo, NY-- as a Buffalo native, I find it very unlikely that your humidity is always at 70-80%. Those are tropical levels, and unlikely for an area like Buffalo that has cold winters and mild summers. You might find that in a damp basement in the summer, but very doubtful in side a heated home in the winter.
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On all of the websites I've viewed, the averages for each month are between 70-80. On my weather app, the humidity at this very moment is 87%. Not sure how that translates over to humidity in my house though.
 
Kyle23 said:
On all of the websites I've viewed, the averages for each month are between 70-80. On my weather app, the humidity at this very moment is 87%. Not sure how that translates over to humidity in my house though.
Click to expand...

That 87% is outside humidity. Here in lower Michigan the outside humidity today is 80%. In my house now it is 36%. I bet your indoor humidity is less than 40% in the winter with your heat running and near 50% in summer with air conditioning on.
 
If the humidity in your house gets much higher than 87%, it'll be raining in your living room.
 
I've been talking about the outside humidity lol I don't have anything to check the humidity indoors. I know every house is different, but I was wondering what it MIGHT be inside if that's what it was outdoors. So as someone said, around 40 inside? Is that bad for an instrument?
 
I've never understood humidity, CK1, but that's helped me work it out. :p
 
As HBolte pointed out, the outside humidity is relatively unimportant (unless you are keeping your uke in the attic or garage or you live in one of those areas where heat and AC are rarely used). Right now the outside humidity here is 66% but the digital hygrometer in my office indicates the humidity inside is 31%. That's pretty typical.

During the summer the AC dries out the air, during the winter the furnace dries it out. The more the heat or AC has to run the dryer the air will be (relative to outdoors).

That said it is possible to over-humidify. However, I would rather err in that direction than the other. Typically, an over-humidified instrument will swell and the action will go high but these conditions are usually temporary (return the ukulele to ~50% humidity for a few weeks and it will usually return to normal). Going too dry can cause cracks, fretboards to shrink exposing sharp fret ends, and even cause hide glue to dry out. Only the fretboard shrinkage will repair itself with application of humidity - the other damage is permanent and requires careful repair.

I use humidifiers in my cases year-round. They are clear so I can easily see how much water is in them. During the mild spring and fall I only need to fill the humidifiers every two or even three weeks. In winter and summer when heat and AC are running a lot they will go bone dry in less than a week.

John
 
Oh, and as for "shocking" an instrument with rapid changes in environment - that applies more to temperature than to humidity and even then is more hazardous to the finish than the structure. You have to have really severe changes (warm car to arctic cold, for example) to damage structure but some finishes can be damaged by much smaller changes.

It takes a relatively long time for moisture to migrate in either direction between wood and air. So, even "natural" extremes of humidity can be tolerated for short periods of a few hours to a few days with little lasting effect. I.e., don't be afraid to play your uke on a covered porch while it's raining, or to leave your uke out of its case for a few hours in a dry house. (By "natural" I mean don't put it in an oven or a sauna. :) )

Of course, none of the above applies to a really poorly constructed uke. Some of the really cheap stuff you see on eBay is so green it can crack in a week or two of ordinary use. For any decent quality ukes, though, a week or two of fairly dry conditions shouldn't permanently hurt them though it is, of course, best to keep them in cases with humidifiers as needed when they aren't be played.


John
 
Kyle23 said:
I've been talking about the outside humidity lol I don't have anything to check the humidity indoors. I know every house is different, but I was wondering what it MIGHT be inside if that's what it was outdoors. So as someone said, around 40 inside? Is that bad for an instrument?
Click to expand...

If you don't have something to measure the humidity inside your instrument case(s) you should get one, or better, two in order to compare readings. Search here for "hygrometer" and you'll get reviews on those readily available that side of the border.
 
Kayak Jim said:
If you don't have something to measure the humidity inside your instrument case(s) you should get one, or better, two in order to compare readings. Search here for "hygrometer" and you'll get reviews on those readily available that side of the border.
Click to expand...

Going to have to do this. Thanks a lot guys.
 
I just posted this on the other humidity post.

I recently moved my six ukes from cases to a shelf to be able to control the humidity for all of them at once. It's very low tech, I just put a couple of trays of water below them and keep track with an analog hygrometer I got on Amazon for $15 (on the back panel behind the ukes). Works pretty well so far, stays between 35 to 50%, but if I find that the humidity goes too low consistently, I'll put glass doors on the front. If the humidity gets too high, I just put covers over the water trays.

Uke shelf 2.jpg
 
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Kyle - Ive been wondering the same thing so I ended up purchasing a Hygroset II digital hygrometer. This is a small hygrometer that displays the temp & humidity %. Its small enough to fit in a uke case. I live in Central NY and my indoor humidity currently seems to be running around 52% at 68' F. I have hot water baseboard heating. I suspect if I had hot air heating that the humidity level would be lower. During the recent short cold spell when the temp went down into the teens it was reading in the low to mid 40s%, then the temp warmed and the humidity rose too. Go Bills!!
 
Yup, hot water-based heat does not dry the air the way forced air heat does. In my old house, with hot water heat, my room humidifier could go 2-3 days without needing to be refilled. In my current house, with forced air, I sometimes don't even get a full 24 hours before I need to refill.
 
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