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June 12, 2013
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I recently started wondering what a safe humidity level in gun safes or vaults is? I bought a cheap gauge and shows about 50% for mine.
Also, any recommendation on cheap humidifiers. Preferably the non-electric can type.
April 15, 2005
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Pat,
50% humidity is optimum… no need for a humidifier.
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
June 12, 2013
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Bert H. said
Pat,
50% humidity is optimum… no need for a humidifier.
Bert
Thanks
September 22, 2011
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Does anyone know for sure the implications of keeping a safe in an unheated garage and storing firearms there?
I can’t get a definitive answer, but as long as a warm firearm is not placed in a cold safe and condensation develops, is there still concerns? Obviously, a closed safe is going to warm and cool at a slower rate than does the unheated garage and this also would not be as extreme as the outdoors.
April 30, 2023
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I’ve known several people who’ve done it successfully but it sure scares me. I’m thinking of adding another to my unconditioned shop space and this is what I’d do:
I use a temp/humidity monitor from Amazon in my indoor safe, hovers between 45-55% depending on seasons (drier in winter). You’d need that condensation control for sure (like an oversized Goldenrod or similar) and a stricter regiment of wiping them down. At the least, keep your “lesser” pieces out there or start with a single one and check them often until you gain confidence. If you do it, let us know how it worked out!!!
EDIT: Forgot to add, if you’re going to bolt down to bare concrete, don’t forget to put down a good paint on or other type vapor barrier to stop moisture from wicking up through the floor and bolt holes and rotting the bottom (or your guns).
November 7, 2015
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I suppose that would depend on the garage and the conditions therein. It’s true that most of my collector firearms spent many of their years in non-climate-controlled environments but I won’t subject them to it where I live. High humidity and wide temp swings would at the very least require increased maintenance and at worst irreparable damage. Take a hint from the folks who run museums and have very strict climate control guidelines.
Mike
June 4, 2017
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A Golden Rod is a good thing to add to your safe. It raises the temp and cause the air to circulate by convection preventing condensation. A humidity monitor is a must to keep it around 50%, you may have to use dehydrator crystals. Also use a gun sock, WACA sells some nice ones on the site. Gun safe seals are not air tight, they expand with heat/fire and then seal. I add a second seal with silicone on the door to seal it and prevent smoke damage or air exchange.
Sweating concrete and changing temperatures are the enemy so maybe using a hard wax would help. I would look at my guns monthly. Where you live makes a big difference, Wyoming good, Florida bad. T/R
March 20, 2010
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I think a lot of it has to do with your location and climate. Im down here close to San Antonio, the average humidity is around 65% (a little higher than I like my Rocky Patel’s & Padron’s). It rarely freezes, and temps in the summer may reach triple digits for 2-3 months during the summer. My safe is in the garage and I havent used any humidity control in the safe for 20+ years, wiping down guns 3-4 times a year. Have never noticed any adverse effects to date, even when comparing archived photos and current condition. Temps in the garage rarely reach over 90 degrees or lower than 40 degrees by virtue of the construction (unless the OHD is open).
I just did a little test using an Entech Moisture/Humidity Meter our consultants use.
: Current temp outdoors is 73.8 degrees with relative humidity at 66.9% (its raining outside).
: Current temp inside non-climate-controlled garage is 73.2 degrees with relative humidity of 60.9%. Moisture content reading from gypsum board wall (drywall) is 7.5% used as a control baseline.
: Current temp inside my safe is 72.7 degrees with relative humidity of 55.6%. Moisture content in the gypsum board partition and safe door is 3.4%. A moisture reading at 12% or less would be considered dry, lower than 6-8% would be considered “bone-dry”.
Likely, a lot depends also on the type of safe you have, simple unlined steel safe, steel safe lined with gypsum board, or vault constructed of varying construction types (steel, concrete, etc.). The internal climate will likely vary across all of them subject to the same conditions and depending on how the safe/vault doors are sealed.
Just my take.
CH
1892takedown @sbcglobal.net ......NRA Endowment Life Member.....WACA Member
"God is great.....beer is good.....and people are crazy"... Billy Currington
February 4, 2007
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Go to the drug store and ask for a box of Camphor cakes. They come in a box of twelve I think. They are small cakes around 2 inch square by 1/2 inch thick wrapped in cellophane. Cut the corner of the cellophane and set it in your gun case. Don’t be bashful, they’re cheap, a box of 12 about $4.00. I have used them in my machinist tool box for years and along with my guns, powder and even in my book cabinet. Have yet to lose anything to rust, and they smell good too. RRM
April 30, 2023
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Rat Rod Mac said
Go to the drug store and ask for a box of Camphor cakes. They come in a box of twelve I think. They are small cakes around 2 inch square by 1/2 inch thick wrapped in cellophane. Cut the corner of the cellophane and set it in your gun case. Don’t be bashful, they’re cheap, a box of 12 about $4.00. I have used them in my machinist tool box for years and along with my guns, powder and even in my book cabinet. Have yet to lose anything to rust, and they smell good too. RRM
Camphor oil has a lot of neat uses…I used to put that stuff on the leather pads of a saxophone to preserve them and keep bugs away from eating them!
December 21, 2006
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There are lots of anti – humidity products out there like Damp-Rid , Bamboo packs ,etc., but why on earth would Youwant to keep Your guns in the garage.
W.A.C.A. life member, Marlin Collectors Assn. charter and life member, C,S.S.A. member and general gun nut.
June 12, 2013
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I decided to add the Hornaday gun safe crystals to my safes. I also wipe down every time I have one out with Snake Oil. Thanks for all the advice.
June 1, 2023
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mrcvs said
Does anyone know for sure the implications of keeping a safe in an unheated garage and storing firearms there?
I can’t get a definitive answer, but as long as a warm firearm is not placed in a cold safe and condensation develops, is there still concerns? Obviously, a closed safe is going to warm and cool at a slower rate than does the unheated garage and this also would not be as extreme as the outdoors.
Once, I went quail hunting with a friend in Virginia. As arranged, I stopped to pick him up at his house. He went out to the garage and opened up his gun safe— and took out a (once) beautiful over and under shotgun that was a rusty mess from end to end. By my friend’s telling, it had been in there about six months. Apparently no one had ever told him that putting the safe out there would expose guns to temperature swings guaranteed to have the humidity condense on the guns.
BRP
September 22, 2011
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Blue Ridge Parson said
mrcvs said
Does anyone know for sure the implications of keeping a safe in an unheated garage and storing firearms there?
I can’t get a definitive answer, but as long as a warm firearm is not placed in a cold safe and condensation develops, is there still concerns? Obviously, a closed safe is going to warm and cool at a slower rate than does the unheated garage and this also would not be as extreme as the outdoors.
Once, I went quail hunting with a friend in Virginia. As arranged, I stopped to pick him up at his house. He went out to the garage and opened up his gun safe— and took out a (once) beautiful over and under shotgun that was a rusty mess from end to end. By my friend’s telling, it had been in there about six months. Apparently no one had ever told him that putting the safe out there would expose guns to temperature swings guaranteed to have the humidity condense on the guns.
BRP
Well, there’s the answer! What I suspected, but not what was hoped for.
September 22, 2011
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Henry Mero said
There are lots of anti – humidity products out there like Damp-Rid , Bamboo packs ,etc., but why on earth would Youwant to keep Your guns in the garage.
The safe in the basement could flood, that’s why I’ve explored the garage idea. Flooding from within and not from outside. Even a pinhole leak from PEX tubing left unchecked could be disastrous. They HAVE happened before but I have caught them in time.
June 1, 2023
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SW Virginia has very high humidity, and the temperatures can be in the 90’s in the Spring and Summer, and in the low single digits in the Winter. A garage in that part of the world is no place for any firearm you value. The laws of thermodynamics are pretty inflexible.
BRP
November 7, 2015
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mrcvs said
Henry Mero said
There are lots of anti – humidity products out there like Damp-Rid , Bamboo packs ,etc., but why on earth would Youwant to keep Your guns in the garage.
The safe in the basement could flood, that’s why I’ve explored the garage idea. Flooding from within and not from outside. Even a pinhole leak from PEX tubing left unchecked could be disastrous. They HAVE happened before but I have caught them in time.
Another problem with a gun safe in the basement is in the event of a fire the water used to extinguish the fire will find its way to the basement. In more extreme cases the gun safe will wind up in the basement but most safes will not protect their contents in this category of fire. If I had a house with a basement I’d give serious thought to a climate-controlled garage. Tools and other toys seem to appreciate moderate environments just as our blue steel and walnut treasures do.
Mike
January 20, 2023
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You can keep a gunsafe in the garage as long as you can keep the ambient air inside the safe at least a couple of degrees warmer than the ambient air temperature in the garage. That means a heater of some sort and Goldenrods are designed just for that purpose.
Power failures are a risk and it doesn’t have to last for days before damage to occur. Placing a safe against a poorly insulated outside wall can create humid spots in the safe, even with a Goldenrod.
My safe is in an HVAC temp controlled room but I still have a Goldenrod making sure it is warmer in the safe than in the room. North Texas is fairly humid year round. If I lived up on the Panhandle caprock, it would be less humid most of the time but they have serious Winters and impressive snow and ice storms.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
March 31, 2009
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“My safe is in an HVAC temp controlled room but I still have a Goldenrod making sure it is warmer in the safe than in the room.”
Mine too.
June 4, 2017
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Any safe I ever bought had a hard thin seal that did not seal until the fire gets hot enough to expand it, buy that time your guns will be subject to very corrosive smoke. My brother Bob is very inventive and per his advice I added the second cheap soft seal with silicone seal and used the same sealer on any air gaps. Very cheap protection and quick to install. Round soft foam sealer outside your hard seal.
I fortunately do not have first hand experience with a fire but I know a good idea when I see it. T/R
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