Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi everyone!

As you know, the air is pretty dry in montreal houses during the winter. Yesterday it was -25 outside, so the heating was at his max, and it drops the RH dramatically. I have a humidifier that works pretty well, but it don't have a very big reservoir, so I have to fill it up really often. This is not a problem when I'm home, but If I leave for too long, and if it's really dry, It comes empty and then the RH drop under 40, even under 35.

I was first keeping the RH at 50, but I dropped it to 45 to diminish the problem, but still... So, my question is, should I keep it down to 40%, wich is dry but, at lease it would remain more constant?

...and during the summer, it's just the opposite

Thanks!
Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

Hi Francis .. for building, I like it best at 38-42%, so if I were you I would drop it another 5%, and if your room still has trouble staying there, get another humidifier.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Thanks a lot Tony! I'll drop it to 40, and it probably OK to keep it stable, the humidifier itself works pretty well.

Thanks again
Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

I am from mtl. The humidity can be from 40-50%. Same problem here in KC 30-35% rh

One way to ease the load on your humidifier would be to hang poly sheet around your working area to limit the area that your humidifier has to control. I did this to control sanding dust (wives don't like sanding dust.) and found that it helped control humidity as a bonus.

A quick and cheap solution.

Bob

Is there any way to add a home made auxillary tank to the existing tank? Not knowing the design of your humidifier its hard to speculate. But if it was similar to mine(which has a plastic tank on each side of the humidifier, easy to access) you could find some sort of spicket from the local hardware store that seals a hole in the plastic tank on both sides with a rubber grommet. A little bit of rubber hose, a 5 gallon bucket, and anouther spicket and you have added anouther 5 gallons to the run time of your humidifier. Crude but cheaper then buying anouther humidifier if you find its neccesary.

David