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Room Humidifier
Need some advice. I set up a guitar room in my finished basement. I have a dehumidifier for summer months that works well. Now looking for a humidifier for (Michigan) winter months. Any recommendations for large room (700 sq ft). Would appreciate your input.
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13 Replies
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I don’t use a room humidifier, my space seems to stay in the 45 – 50% range mostly. But for peace of mind I use an Oasis+ unit that perches on my guitar strings inside the sound hole, and just needs refilling with distilled water about once a week. Of course, I only have 3 acoustics so far, so if your collection is bigger then a room humidifier would be more cost efficient. If you’re on the JMG site (Just Music Geeks), there are a few threads there with folks talking about their setups.
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Thanks. I take steps to maintain appropriate humidity in each case, but it would be nice to control the entire room and be able to leave them out or hang on the wall.
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Mine are always hanging on the wall – I like being able to look at them and have them easily accessible. But I don’t worry much as our climate here in eastern Ontario isn’t so dry (even though we do have a wood stove as a partial heat source). The Oasis units work either in or out of the case, and are easy to slip in and out of the soundhole. It probably helps that my music room is next to a bathroom with shower that provides humidity to spare.
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I use the evaporative type of humidifier. They come in all sizes it is a matter of SqFt of the room or house you are humidifying. I like these because they are simple and easy to operate, not too much to go wrong. I have had mine for 7 years and all is well. They are also the most energy efficient so low cost operation is a nice benefit. Cheaper to humidify than to dehumidify.
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That’s good to know. I’ve been researching some online. Do you mind sharing the brand you have and the size of the room? Also, how often do you need to refill, change the filter? How about noise level?
Thanks,
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@David_Leo the brand I have is Idyls. It is designed to humidify 3000 sqFt. It does not have a filter but rather it has wicks, paper wicks that should be changed. They get gunky and stop wicking. I have used a roll of paper towels in a pinch and it seems to work fine too. I go about 3 months or when I notice a decrease in performance of the humidifier. Frequency is totally dependent on your conditions. When I was in the dessert (ambient humidity in the low teens) I would fill it up daily. The one I have is 4 gallons.
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It is noisy when it is on full blast. I would turn it off or down if I were playing. You could have a conversation no problem but you know something in whirrrring. Way less loud than a vacuum cleaner for sure. More like the sound of a quiet clothes drier.
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@David_Leo ,I use an ‘AirCare mini’. It’s the same kind my guitar store has in their store. The brand doesn’t matter thou, get for the room size. I prefer a mist free, with an antibacterial filter. Right now, my guitars are scattered around the house so I don’t have a designated Guitar Room to put them in now. I’m a Michigander myself and it’s tough to fight the ups and downs of the humidity here. One week it’s in the 50s then drops to 10. I tend to think @GerryB56 has the best idea of the units that set inside your guitar and keeping them in the case. Even just keeping them in the case is better than nothing. Good luck.
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Right now I do keep them in cases with humidistats and humidifiers, but the cloth sided cases don’t maintain humidity as well as HSCs. Also, I thought it would be good if I could keep the room constant and be able to leave them out sometimes. I’ve been looking online at an AirCare. Are you happy with yours? How’s the noise level?
Thanks,
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@David_Leo The mid range is fine (F2), really no noise at all. Once you set it on F3, it’s a little too noisy. it’s a little bigger than I thought it would be. But I am really happy with it. I like the idea of a filter too. Also you can use an anti bacterial solution if you like. Right now….. I fill it up on average twice a day. And it holds a lot of water. Easy to use. I think you’ll like it.
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Hi @David_Leo i go for overkill in my house. First, I have radiant (oil) heat for most of the house with electric baseboards in additions at the front and back of the house. Don’t believe what you hear about radiant heat being the most comfortable – it gets extremely dry and uncomfortable without humidifiers.
I have 2 Aircare Space Saver (Large) dehumidifiers – one downstairs and one upstairs (ahem – situated in my guitar room). They advertise that they’re for houses 2200 sq feet, but I find that having 2 of them in my 1680 sq ft. house work the best for me. I keep them at 50% humidity. The downstairs unit never hits 50% humidity. I’d say it averages 40%, but the upstairs tends to reach 50% more often. Upstairs is where the majority of my instruments are found. The humidifiers have lasted me several years and work great.
I keep all but 3 guitars in their cases with Humidipaks. The 3 I leave out are my electric, my 12 string and the current 6 string I’m playing. They’re humidified by the room humidifier, and I haven’t had any problems.
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Based on several recommendations from the crowd on the Acoustic Guitar Forum, I went with the Vornado Evap40 4-Gallon Evaporative Humidifier with Adjustable Humidistat and 3 Speeds. My “Guitar Room” is about 250 square feet, but there is an open doorway to the shop side of the basement which is another 250 square feet. It works really good and has a 4 gallon capacity.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by ChuckS.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 2 months ago by
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Thanks everyone, lots of great information!
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