Another Oasis humidifier user question.

mikelz777

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For those of you who use an Oasis humidifier, do you use it alone or with another humidifier(s)?

I'm not sure what to think on the whole humidity/case situation. I tried a little experiment. I have a Humistat humidifier which I placed in a lidded plastic bowl next to a hygrometer. The reading was 57% RH. I placed the Oasis humidifier in the lidded bowl with the hygrometer and got a reading of 67% RH. This was to get an idea of output, there was nothing there to absorb humidity and the humidifier was right next to the hygrometer.

I have one of those canvas covered, styrofoam hard cases which shuts with a zipper. I put the Oasis humidifier in the body of the uke as it was intended to be used and I put the Humistat humidifier on top of the the little accessory compartment in the neck area of the case. I rested the hygrometer on top of my uke near the saddle. Hours later I checked on it and it only had a reading of 37% RH. I then placed the hygrometer in an area between the sound hole and the accessory compartment and got a reading of 47% RH. I'm kind of surprised at the the wide differences in the readings. I'm guessing that a hard case with latches would probably hold and keep more stable humidity levels?
 
I bought a used uke that has a hygrometer (mechanical) in the case and two Oasis humidifiers, one in the ukulele body and one next to the neck on the outside of the lid of the accessory compartment. The hygrometer in the neck area read very consistently 60% RH. The Oasis humidifiers are a pain to refill so I decided to see how my own homemade ones that I've been making from glitter tubes (see other Oasis thread for pictures) would stack up. With two of my homemade humidifiers in the same places as the Oasis ones the case consistently reads 50% RH.

I don't know if this helps you with your question or not. Actually, probably not as I just reread your post.

I think most cases do not move air (and thus humidity) well at all between the body area of the uke and the headstock where most hygrometers are located. I know on the uke I mentioned above, the case fits down tightly enough over the neck that the plush interior is lined from the strings - obviously there isn't going to be a lot of air movement.

On my other ukes I've always used just one humidifier in the body (with the exception of baritones, I use two in those). However, after seeing how little air gets to the headstock I may start putting two humidifiers in all the cases to preclude fretboard shrinkage.

Back to your question - I would think that if anything the foam and canvas cases probably allow more air movement from the body cavity to the headstock cavity than hard cases do. At least, the foam and canvas cases I have are a much looser fit over the fret board than my hard cases are.

John
 
I'm kinda with John on this.

I always have 2 of my homemade humidifiers in my case. One by the headstock and one next to the body. With my hygrometer on the top of the ip side compartment. I keep the one near the headstock as a preventative measure so the frets themselves don't get all wonky.
 
I use an oasis in the sound hole and a violin damp-it in the neck area. I don't bother to check the RH inside the case.
 
I've been using an oasis in the soundhole inside a hard case for the past 8 months and never checked the RH and the uke is fine. And Arizona humidity is the driest of anywhere. Oldephart...oasis come new with a little syringe to fill them, it works great!
 
I keep an Oasis humidifier (or use my homemade humidifiers) in the case around the headstock. The water vapor in the case's air will equilibrate throughout the case. I only use 1. Never had a problem. But then I live in GA. Humidity only gets to 30% RH on extreme cold days like last Tuesday.
 
I,too,find that there is a difference in humidity in my UkeCrazy hard case with built-in hygrometer. I place an Oasis humidifier in the soundhole and a basic rectangular cigar humidifier in the headstock area.

I doubt the accuracy of the case hygrometer. I look for a drop in the reading to know that I need to fill the humidifiers. Also, I know that humidity is lacking when I can feel the fret ends. I try not to let it get to that state.
 
My experiments with both an empty case and well as when there was a uke in it show me that the humidity is not equal throughout the case and that it can vary significantly. The lid has a concave channel that runs the length of the case and I thought that it would allow air flow which would help equalize RH but it doesn't seem to work that way. I'm guessing a significant amount of humidity is lost through the zipper. The case I got for an anticipated uke is even tighter, I don't think I'll even have room for a hygrometer in the body area. To be safe, I guess the best approach would be to treat the case as two different zones as several of you have noted. Place the Oasis humidifier in the body where the humidity is most needed and another humidifier in the neck/headstock area.

All I know for sure is that humidification is vital where I live. So far this winter, our house humidity has ranged from 11% to 45%. I do have a whole house humidifier on my furnace but can't run high humidity when the weather is really cold because it can cause condensation/freeze in the interior walls. I go by the following chart for safe indoor humidity levels:

outdoor temp / indoor humidity
20-40° / 40%
10-20° / 35%
0-10° / 30%
-10-0° / 25%
 
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Because of this and the number of ukes in my collection... I chose an alternative method.

I hang all my ukes in a humidity room that keeps it at round 50%

The humidifier cost me around $100 and it has been running without issues for about 3 years. I change the filter twice a year and fill it up as needed....
 
The only way I'd feel comfortable running a humidity room would be if it had no exterior walls and I have no such room in my house. I'd be too worried about condensation and freezing inside of the walls. I read some articles about indoor humidity in very cold weather climes (like MN) and got the chart above (post #8) for safe humidity levels to avoid the possibility of condensation and freezing in interior walls. A 50% RH would be way too high in freezing temperatures.
 
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You don't need to keep a whole room at 50% humidity, just a cupboard with doors. I've been keeping my three solid ukes in their cases in a cupboard with a couple of damp sponges for the past month or so. House humidity runs 25-35% while the cupboard is steady at 50-55%.
 
for those of you who have problems with the oasis falling into the sound hole. A friend recently showed me a solution. She places a small dishtowel/handkerchief or similar piece of fabric over the strings and slides the oasis to the bottom of the sound hole and closes the case, the cloth keeps the oasis from slipping down and into the sound hole. You can find a cloth that will provide the appropriate spacing you need in your case. I used a paper towel to illustrate, since I have no problems with my concert.
towel.jpg
 
I hang all my ukes in a humidity room that keeps it at round 50%

The humidifier cost me around $100 and it has been running without issues for about 3 years. I change the filter twice a year and fill it up as needed....

Here in SoCal we are experiencing some serious Santa Anna conditions, which has it running +10 degrees above normal and dropped our humidity to 20%. Although I case my ukes with a humidifier when not in use during these conditions, I bought a Vornado Whole Room humidifier for $80 from Amazon. It arrived today and has been running about 3 hours and has the humidity up to 41% already. It will be nice to maintain it at 45-55% and leave the ukes out for easier access!
 
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