been worrying about my banjos all winter, I heat with a coal fired stove, Most every day the humidity in the house is around 20%, Things always dry out
so I was going to humidify my cases, then I thought to humidify a room , then wanted to buy an instrument cabinet, they are nice ,but cost over 12 g
then I had this idea. Bought a cedar hope chest off FB market place. there are a lot of them on there
usually, cost $70. three scraps of oak 8" x 14", and one cross brace 6" x 19"
just rounded over all the exposed edges and used some left over 5200 to bond them in place
some left over fabric from a sewing project , some staples in the corners
an old plastic drawer and an old car washing sponge
amazon is bringing a humidistat this week.
may have to upgrade the humidifier, right now it's better than before
and when I kick off, my relatives can sell the instruments and shove me in there and
dig a big hole LOL
so this new contraption seems to be working
after a week I pulled one of the banjos out that I wasn't playing and it was sharp
so I had to detune it a little
so it's working, they are gathering some moisture inside the box.expanding, the box has been at 45% humidity for a week
hopefully the end result is a stabilization at 45 % and no further movement , and a good space to store the instruments
quote:
Originally posted by TFLbeen worrying about my banjos all winter, I heat with a coal fired stove, Most every day the humidity in the house is around 20%, Things always dry out
It is important to realize that the heating system you use has little to do with the humidity you will see in your home. I see a lot of people who blame the dryness on some particular heating method. But the real cause of low humidity is the air exchange between the home and the outside. The cold air when drawn inside will have low absolute humidity since cold air can't hold much water, and when heated will have a low relative humidity. Sealing the air leaks in your home and making sure that your stove is using the minimum amount of air possible (or using outside air for combustion) will go a long way towards increasing and stabilizing your inside humidity. My home is heated in part with a wood fired stove, and the humidity hovers around 50% RH, which is comfortable for humans and banjos. Care should be taken however to ensure that adequate ventilation is provided to humans, so consider a heat recovery ventilation system when you start getting you home airtight. Consult an energy auditor if you are uncertain.
Thank you kindly.
Edited by - Corwyn on 03/24/2025 12:58:02
good point, the house did much better when I used to heat with wood
the wood stove was equipped with an outside air intake
no real way to do that with my current stove and heat source
the house is pretty tight, and still humidity is normally 10-15 points under the outside humidity level even this morning outside was at 39 and inside still around 23
That’s the coolest humidor I’ve ever seen. Storing banjos! I’m so impressed you even had the idea!
quote:
Originally posted by Corwynquote:
Originally posted by TFLbeen worrying about my banjos all winter, I heat with a coal fired stove, Most every day the humidity in the house is around 20%, Things always dry out
It is important to realize that the heating system you use has little to do with the humidity you will see in your home. I see a lot of people who blame the dryness on some particular heating method. But the real cause of low humidity is the air exchange between the home and the outside. The cold air when drawn inside will have low absolute humidity since cold air can't hold much water, and when heated will have a low relative humidity. Sealing the air leaks in your home and making sure that your stove is using the minimum amount of air possible (or using outside air for combustion) will go a long way towards increasing and stabilizing your inside humidity. My home is heated in part with a wood fired stove, and the humidity hovers around 50% RH, which is comfortable for humans and banjos. Care should be taken however to ensure that adequate ventilation is provided to humans, so consider a heat recovery ventilation system when you start getting you home airtight. Consult an energy auditor if you are uncertain.
Thank you kindly.
I've always been confused by these issues. We switched over to geothermal, and because there wasn't combustion going on in the house, I closed off the outside air vent to the furnace, plus kept plugging up air leaks in the house. It is easy to keep allergens out in the summertime but it can also get "stuffy" in the winter. On the other hand, even with minimal humidification, it's easy to keep the house at 40% humidity in the winter. I don't go higher, because the windows will frost up if it gets below zero. It's a good house for storing instruments.
However, I think the cedar chest idea is an incredibly useful idea. I have a guitar and banjo I keep up north at the cabin, and always worry about how they will make it through the winter (my mom wrecked her expensive viola up there). I will now be looking for a similar chest at the second hand shops.
quote:
Originally posted by banjowannabeI've always been confused by these issues. We switched over to geothermal, and because there wasn't combustion going on in the house, I closed off the outside air vent to the furnace, plus kept plugging up air leaks in the house. It is easy to keep allergens out in the summertime but it can also get "stuffy" in the winter. On the other hand, even with minimal humidification, it's easy to keep the house at 40% humidity in the winter. I don't go higher, because the windows will frost up if it gets below zero. It's a good house for storing instruments.
However, I think the cedar chest idea is an incredibly useful idea. I have a guitar and banjo I keep up north at the cabin, and always worry about how they will make it through the winter (my mom wrecked her expensive viola up there). I will now be looking for a similar chest at the second hand shops.
Sounds like you are taking steps in the right direction. Next problem to address would be the "stuffy", I will trust that that means you aren't getting enough ventilation. There are Heat Recovery Ventilation systems that are fairly cheap (as HVAC goes), and installable by DIYers (I did mine). These work by extracting the heat (and possibly the humidity) from outgoing air and putting it into the incoming air. They use minimal amounts of electricity.
The next problem to fix after that would be the windows frosting up. Even before the windows start frosting up (or even condensing moisture, you are losing a LOT of heat through them. I have a design for interior storm windows that triple or more the insulation value of windows. You can make them yourself, (while I do make them for others, transport outside of Maine is complicated). See: http://greenfret.com/storm_inst.html Hit me with a DM if you want more information.
Thank you kindly.
