Can A Gun Safe Be Too Dry?

It is now a common sight to see gun safes in the homes of gun owners. When you keep your guns in the right storage conditions, you can ensure excellent conditions for a long time.

In addition, you are responsible for keeping your guns in good condition since they could be dangerous if not stored properly. Some people are concerned about whether the humidity levels in their safes are too high in order to protect their firearms.

Additionally, if left unattended, this type of gun safe would eventually degrade. Nowadays, we can find questions about a gun safe being too dry, as everyone is trying to keep their guns dry anyways. Is it possible?

Your gun safe may appear to be too dry in a dry climate if you live somewhere where it is dry. Perhaps you have been using a powerful dehumidifier for some time and have noticed that it does its job almost too well.

These questions have been raised by many gun safe owners who know that their guns can become dry over time. Does a gun safe ever become too dry? Or is the dryer better? Here are a few things you need to know about.

Your Gun Safe May Be Too Dry

In an arid climate or if you use a dehumidifier for too long, a gun safe may become dry. To make sure that your firearms do not get damaged, you must make sure you secure your gun safe properly. The easiest way to guarantee that your safe stays dry, but not too damp, is by using a hygrometer.

In What Kind Of Environment Should I Store Guns?

Rusting can be caused by moisture inside a gun safe. Because of this, ensure your gun is kept in a safe place, where the temperature does not fluctuate from night to day.

You can find a wide variety of dehumidifiers on the market. The material is silica gel, which is an absorbent material. Always keep a dehumidifying system available whenever you decide to store a gun.

It cannot be too dry or too humid. Is it possible to have too much dryness in a gun safe? Yes. Although it isn’t as problematic as moisture. You should use a hydrometer to keep an eye on your gun safe’s humidity level.

A relative humidity of 50 percent or more is ideal. At the very least, we want to have 40 to 60%. Those below and above this mark have a good chance of damaging what’s inside. The answer to the question of whether a gun safe is too dry is yes.

What Could Happen If Gun Safes Are Too Dry? 

A dry safe could potentially damage a gun, so let’s first explore that possibility. While this isn’t as detrimental as a humid safe, which will cause rust fairly quickly, it is still a concern. In the long run, however, some damage can still occur.

Nevertheless, taking note that dryness over a longer period of time could also spell catastrophe for you would be helpful. Having a longer period of dryness in your gun safe would be disastrous, as the drought would cause cracks in your valuables.

You will be most concerned if the humidity levels fall too low because the stocks could dry out and crack. When the humidity levels vary dramatically throughout the year, it can be especially worrying. If humidity levels are consistently low, they are less likely to be as dangerous as when they fluctuate widely.

Is It Possible To Maintain The Perfect Temperature In A Gun Safe?

EvaDry canister contains custom crystals that absorb a great deal of moisture. This is recommended as a product for achieving this.There are different sizes of EvaDry available to use inside a safe, and they are renewable.

By plugging in the canister for one night, crystals start out blue and then change to pink, which means it’s ready for recharging.The electrical rod is another type of dehumidifier. A dehumidifier rod is also known to some as a goldenrod moisture control rod, a heating rod, or a drive rod.

In a safe, the heat given off by it warms up the air, so it stays circulating inside. There will be no humidity inside the safe since the temperature inside is 3 degrees warmer than outside. A bowl of rice can be left inside the safe for a cheaper method of maintaining moisture.

How To Check If Dryness Is A Problem

Finding out your current humidity level is the first step you should take. The hydrometer can help you do so. This is an easy-to-use tool that lets you measure air humidity quickly.

In terms of gun safes, how dry is too dry? The ideal humidity level for firearms is about 50%. Generally, if this number falls below 40%, it indicates that the safe is too dry and we need to watch for cracked stock.

It is advisable to carry out this check several times per year. Seasonal changes can naturally affect the humidity level inside a gun safe. Nevertheless, some owners reportedly experience drier and drier safes over time.

What Can You Do To Prevent Dryness In Gun Safes?

The possibility of a gun safe being too dry is one of the things we would definitely not allow. It’s essential that we avoid allowing our gun safe to dry out too much because it could be disastrous.  To prevent gun safes from being dry, you could do the following essential things. 

Gun Safe Humidity Control Keeps Dryness At Bay

Steel and wood are damaged by humidity below 40%. It is best to keep the gun in dry packs in order to prevent this from happening. The type of dehumidifier you need depends on your location.

A city with low humidity and a location near water, especially rivers, lakes, oceans, or the sea, may need to minimize the amount of moisture you use. Dry packs are recommended for people who live in arid, dry climate zones. Final thoughts: temperatures between 60- and 70-degrees Fahrenheit are ideal.

Increase The Humidity

Is there a possibility you’ll see a humidity level that is below what you’d like? In this case, you may want to consider removing any dehumidifiers that you are using. If the environment naturally stays dry, then this may not be necessary.

When the dehumidifier is removed, you should check the levels once more. You might want to try a less effective dehumidifier if it is now too humid (above 60% is probably too high). It might take some trying before you find the right approach.

For example, one might find that their gun safe has a very low humidity level if they live in a desert environment. It would be advisable to use a gun dry pack for added peace of mind in this instance.

You simply place the gun in this special bag before sucking out the air. Due to this vacuum created inside, the firearm is protected from any environmental issues that could damage it. That means, however, that the gun is less readily available if an emergency occurs.

Material Of Your Gun Safes Should Be Considered

Secondly, you also need to consider the kind of materials your gun safes are made of if you want to avoid dryness. Temperature changes are one of the things that you need to pay attention to these days. In light of this, your gun safe’s materials are of course important. 

Gun safes made out of wood will have higher levels of humidity. These types of gun safes are best suited for places that experience high temperatures, so they would be the best choice.

Your metal gun safe, however, has a very low humidity level, which makes it particularly vulnerable to drying. Because of this, even when buying your gun safes, you should be ready to ensure that these problems will not occur.

Excess Moisture-Collecting Items

Also, your safe may include more items that collect moisture than you should be using. Excess moisture can be controlled, for example, using silica gel packets. Liquid silica gel can be used to collect moisture in the air.

An overabundance of these packets might result in a space that becomes dangerously dry. Silica compounds are also prone to weakening over time, reducing their effectiveness.

Consider The Locations Of Your Gun Safes

Last, but certainly not least, you could always ensure that your gun safe is placed in the ideal location so that dryness does not occur. 

It is quite a problem for us to place safes in places where the temperature is always changing, since this could affect the humidity within. You should therefore put your gun safes in an area where they are not susceptible to changes in temperature.

Final Words

There are many gun owners who don’t consider the humidity in their safe. If they do, many do so with the purely selfish goal of making the air as humid as possible.

The effects of a gun that is too dry are less dramatic and noticeable than those caused by a gun that is too humid. Yet, if you don’t act immediately, there may be problems down the road. Having a good safe with good circulation can be quite important to preventing this, which you can get for below $1000.

It is important that you maintain the humidity in your gun safe when storing your firearms. If you are not careful, your gun safe can become too dry. In order to ensure this does not become an issue for you, there are a few things that you can do:

Don’t add too much light to your safe. If you leave a safe in the same place for too long, the light can heat it and dry out its contents.
Consider adding a humidifier to your safe, but make sure you check it occasionally with a hygrometer.
On average, the humidity should hover between 40 and 60 percent without going too high or low. A hydrometer can be used to check humidity levels as necessary.
Be sure that the air in your environment is not too warm by keeping it air conditioned. The temperature should be between 60- and 70-degrees Fahrenheit.