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How dry is dry enough?

So basically, this is your house?

Burning House Burn GIF by Halloween
 
Good point. I will put a bottle of lotion on my reloading table. And a ground strap, or two.
My safes are already grounded, as is my reloading explosive cabinet.
I used to always carry a ground strap before I was retired.

Our humidity runs low teens or single digits in the summer. A couple days ago, 98%, today low 40% with 42℉.
Mile high San Bernardino, Ca. mountains.
When the clouds go by, it is more humid than monsoon season when I lived in the desert.
I used to live in Running Springs.
 
Gotcha. You have a heat pump anyway, so forget the gas furnace theory lol.
Any heating of air with a set volume of water in it will reduce the humidity. % humidity is relative. It's relative to the air temperature. For example, 100% humidity at 0F is a lot less water then 40% humidity at 100F.

If you have 50% humidity while the temp is 25F, and you raise the temperature to 72F without adding any water to the air, the humidity is now 8.5%. The amount of water the air can hold is dependent on the temperature of the air. This is why most people have a humidifier on their hvac or run a consumer appliance grade one 24/7. It doesn't really matter how you heat the air, if you're heating the air and not increasing the amount of water in the air, you're reducing the relative humidity.
 
Any heating of air with a set volume of water in it will reduce the humidity. % humidity is relative. It's relative to the air temperature. For example, 100% humidity at 0F is a lot less water then 40% humidity at 100F.

If you have 50% humidity while the temp is 25F, and you raise the temperature to 72F without adding any water to the air, the humidity is now 8.5%. The amount of water the air can hold is dependent on the temperature of the air. This is why most people have a humidifier on their hvac or run a consumer appliance grade one 24/7. It doesn't really matter how you heat the air, if you're heating the air and not increasing the amount of water in the air, you're reducing the relative humidity.
Thanks for the info. I thought it was just really low at 1%. Never saw it that low before.
 
I wipe down my powder funnel with used dryer sheets. And gently wipe the inside of my powder dispenser reservoir. Don't use new ones, only used ones. It works great and prevents powder cling well.
I ordered aluminum case specific powder funnels from Creedmoor Sports took care of that problem.
 
Here in Albuquerque, I've never seen humidity that low. We've created a micro climate with all the lawns and trees and the humidity is much higher than when I was a kid.

I just replaced a motel style heat pump last week. It needs to be installed angled down to the outside to let the moisture drain outdoors.

The WWII military rifles I grew up with had stocks that were soaked in oil. It was to prevent POI shift with humidity changes.
 
When we lived in Michigan my son would put a wet sponge in his Cello to keep enough moisture in the wood to prevent cracking in the winter. Otherwise the humid summer followed my dry winter would crack the wood. Idaho doesn't have that problem so much.

Consider putting a wet sponge in your gun case.
 
It's been pretty dry around here lately with the heater blowing pretty much full time. No rain or snow at all. I walked by my safe the other day and saw my temperature/humidity indicator for my safe reading really low humidity. Can't remember it ever being that low.

So, how low is too low? Or is there such a thing?

(The Outdoor section is the inside safe reading and the Indoor section is the reading from inside the building.)

View attachment 537102
Humidity gets that low in a gun safe when the firearms are not be shot enough. Common problem, easy resolution...
 
If you have wood stocks on your guns, they can and will shrink. I had a Jack Daniel's barrel in my man cave, also used a Woodburner. The barrel shrunk so much that you can see light thru all the staves. It was even painted with a polyurethane. Cant figure out how the wood still dryed out. I am also a gunsmith. I have had to replace a few stocks for customers that split between the action screws. If I finish a wood stock I always put 2 coats of tung oil on EVERY surface, including under the buttplate, barrel channel, and where the action sits. It helps keep it from drying or swelling to much. But extended time in a dry environment will still mess with the wood.
 
Wood is pretty stable once it's kiln dried the first time. I would think your ok.
I have been building things out of wood as my day job the last 15 years, and unfortunately this is not true. Kiln dried wood does move with moisture changes. There are charts that tell you how much each species of wood will grow or shrink based on the moisture content of the wood, and I have found them to be pretty accurate. The same species will also move differently depending on if it is quarter sawn or flat sawn.

I like to test things for myself, so I have a few ~18" wide solid wood panels (flat sawn) sitting around in my shop that I measure and record a few times a year. Most of the time they are sitting at 18-1/4" wide, but the extreme spreads are from 18-1/8" wide in the winter to 18-3/8" wide when it gets really humid here in the summer. Quarter sawn seems to move about half that amount. They don't move much at all lengthwise.
 
Humidity gets that low in a gun safe when the firearms are not be shot enough. Common problem, easy resolution...
Just to be clear, shooting the guns has nothing to do with humidity. The environmental factors do. Inside and outside humidity combined with the heater running almost full time and a good heat rod in the safe drys everything out.

Oh, you were kidding right???
 
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