Whole house humidifiers vs. humidified display cabinets

[SteveYem]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Another idea I've seen implemented by forum members is to make use of a spare clothes closet (if you have one), replace the doors with glass ones (nice visual), and put a small evaporative humidifier in there. Much less expensive than the humidified cases I've seen. Something like this, for example:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...=658449&page=2

My wife wants, very badly, to convert the closet in our music room into a humidity controlled display case like this. It would be pretty awesome, except that there is a bathtub and a shower directly above that closer and, as I told her, someday that will be a very expensive and devastating water leak.

[Dreadward]

This Wisconsinite's experience mirrors the Canadians above: our whole-house system (in a ~100 year old house) is enough to keep things reasonably comfortable and protect our wood floors, but 40-50% relative humidity is not realistic in the winter in our application. The condensation alone would cause problems, and with our hard water we would be replacing humidifier pads monthly. Even with the whole-house system, my solid wood instruments stay in their cases in furnace season.

[dilver]

Whole house humidifier vs glass cases seem like extremes… wouldn’t a simple single room humidifier be easier and cheaper? I use a simple Vornado Evap3 in a 14 x 14’ and keep the door closed. Works fine.

[The Bard Rocks]

Originally Posted by SteveYem

My wife wants, very badly, to convert the closet in our music room into a humidity controlled display case like this. It would be pretty awesome, except that there is a bathtub and a shower directly above that closer and, as I told her, someday that will be a very expensive and devastating water leak.

Maybe moving the closet location would work. Then you could have it exactly how you want instead of having to adapt to the closet. ... OR.. install an impervious shield over the top so if the dreaded leak ever manifested itself, the water would go around instead of through.

[Tony Burns]

i cant see the logic to humidifying each guitar separately , if you miss just one of them with the device -you have a headache
-plus you need proper humidity for yourself and family - and your furniture etc. Get a whole house humidifier
or a smaller unit if you have a small apartment . ive had times when my house humidifier runs constantly
( i use to have a secondary one ) thats gone - so im looking myself for another humidifier as a backup -
My Bemis home humidifer is very old and ive repaired it a couple of times ( mine is simple and it works -they dont make this model anymore )
So even thou i like the idea of cabinet display case that are humidified , I like the whole house idea better!




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[musical123]

I live in Chicago and too have a whole house humidifier that I try to keep at 45%. Like others have mentioned that when the temperature drops below 25 I turn down the house humidifier to 30% otherwise ice will form on the windows. I use stand alone ultrasonic humidifiers for my family room and separate guitar room which keeps the humidity at around 45 %.

I use distilled water in the humidifiers which keeps them clean, but still clean them every 3-4 weeks. Distilled water help keep the bust dry.

[gmel555]

Originally Posted by Markcarl

I explained this to a friend in town and he said there are whole house humidifiers available that would allow me to set the humidity to 40-45% during the winter months. Is this correct? It sounds almost too good to be true. If so, how much maintenance is there for these humidifiers? Are there drawbacks to using them?

That is correct and they are great IMHO... I had a whole house humidifier added to our HVAC system 7 weeks ago, and this is the second home I've had one in. They work. Aprilaire and Honeywell are two good options. I do live in a more moderate climate than you, but the heat is on most of the time Nov-Mar. They are turned off in summer. The only maintenance is a simple, inexpensive filter change once a year! I have multiple guitars and until installing the Honeywell in December I had quite a collection of in-case humidifiers "on duty" all winter. They are now packed away and I may have an "AGF Give Away" soon.. (PS: In addition to the guitars, your sinuses, breathing, furniture, wood floors, etc. will also thank you.