controlling humidity automatically

emarcano

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Hi all,
I wanted to share something I'm experimenting with this past week, and it really looks promising.

My UAS took me to start collecting solid wood ukes and I have already a dozen of them. Maintaining the humidity, in the winter months, for all of them was a pain. Since I keep and play them in one room at home, I decided to just use a room humidifier, instead of individual little humidifiers inside the cases.

The problem of the room humidifier is control. If I leave it on too long, humidity rises above 50% and water condenses in cold windows. If I leave it off too long, humidity drops below 30% very fast. So I had to keep checking on humidity, using an electronic hygrometer. Also, I was having to replenish the water, in the tank of the humidifier, rather frequently. And this was going to be a problem due to an upcoming trip.

I thought that getting a humidifier with a humidistat (built in controller) should do the trick, but they don't seem to work well (really bad reviews), and the sensor can't be positioned in a good place (it's either on the floor with the power cord, or too near the humidifier itself).

I decided to buy a separate humidity controller (search in Amazon for several models). I got the "WILLHI WH1436H 110V Digital Air Humidity Controller". I connect the room humidifier to it and set it to maintain the humidity to between 35% and 40%, and when the moisture reaches 35 it turns on the humidifier, when humidity goes up to 40%, it turns it off.

So far, it's doing a great job. No water condenses in windows, humidity always in the set range, and the water in the tank of the humidifier is lasting much longer than before.

One thing, the humidifier must have a mechanical on/off switch, as the controller cuts off the electricity, if the on/off switch is electronic, it'll stay off forever after the first shut off.

I hope this helps somebody else.

Happy holidays

Eugenio
 
Just so you know, the best humidity levels for string musical instruments are 40-50%, optimal is 42-48%.
 
I bought a digital-controls AirCare humidifier for the bedroom where I keep most of my ukes. It has about a 4 gallon tank base.

It has ranged from low 20s to 46 degrees F in the daytime and 6 to 24 degrees at night this week in Western Wisconsin. The RH has been about 26 percent in the house at 72 degrees without humidifiers going.

In the bedroom, the AirCare is set for 40 percent. It keeps the room between 38 and 41 percent at the top of my highboy dresser.

On the floor, where my instruments stand, the RH is usually at about 41 percent and the temp is normally about 71 degs. So there is about a 2 to 3 percent difference in humidity between the floor level and 5 feet higher. Also a 1 to 2 degree F difference.

My ukes seem to like these settings. Even the oil-rubbed finished ones.

The outside temp usually goes sub zero at some point in the winter. Sometimes for 1 or 2 weeks. A couple of years ago it went down to -50° F! So it will be interesting to see how they do when I reduce the humidity to prevent wood-framed window condensation.

PIA to do 12 in-case humidifiers instead.
 
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