Need advice on dehumidifiers

[Lophophora]

Hi all,

I arrived in Singapore recently and I have a music room with home studio gear and various instruments, including 2 acoustic guitars. I am thinking of buying a dehumidifier for this small room (about 8 m²) and leave it on permanently (will be switched off when recording because of background noise, though).

My questions are:

- Is this solution suitable enough to prevent damage to electronics and acoustic instruments?

- I have seen this particular device, do you think it will do the job? Is it possible to get a quieter one without spending a lot more?

[taxico]

2l is not a big tank... if you're don't mind frequently pouring it out, it will suffice.

hard to say how frequently you'll have to do so. depends on how humid your house is.

say, if you run the a/c regularly in the hall and keep the music room door opened (set a timer to it), it would likely be sorta dry.

you can buy a cheap hygrometer from daiso or one built into a digital casio clock to know for sure.

you'd still have to air out your house at least weekly. my A/Ced home was around 40% humidity iirc...

[toorak_girl]

Singapore is very humid, but it shouldn't cause problems for acoustic guitars nor electronics in general.

But if you really wanted to use a dehumidifier (it is cheaper than having an air-con on the whole day), be careful to place it away from your instruments or electronics, because a friend's dehumidifier sprung a leak and damaged the expensive rug. She ended up having to sue the local distributor for the rug.

And the bigger the container, the fewer the trips to the bathroom to empty it.

[PNGMK]

good advice Toorak Tractor.

[ecureilx]

good advice Toorak Tractor.

?? Tractor?

[taxico]

you don't need to run the a/c the whole day for the room to remain "dryish" - it depends on how drafty the room/house is...

a branded dehumidifier with a big tank is something like 650-850 SGD (possibly more now, i'm not sure).

if the house isn't drafty, he might be able to get away with 20-30 mins of a/c every afternoon (pre-set).

that's probably $200-$225/year... (i think? i haven't calculated, but it isn't really that pricey unless you're running some sort of super old and super powerful a/c).

as i mentioned, i would run the a/c else where in the house and keep the music room door open and see how it goes.

he can test it out over a sunday or work day.

[PNGMK]

Toorak Tractor is Aussie slang for large SUV such as range rovers never driven off road but just around the posh suburbs of Sydney

[ecureilx]

Toorak Tractor is Aussie slang for large SUV such as range rovers never driven off road but just around the posh suburbs of Sydney

Oh !

[toorak_girl]

Didn't know there was a Toorak in Sydney too...

[Lophophora]

Thanks. Currently I leave the A/C on in the music room permanently, because the room is in the basement and it feels very humid. I will get a hygrometer to see how much it really is.

The room is really small (about 8 m²) so a small dehumidifier should be ok, I prefer to have a small and quiet device even if I have to empty the tank more often.

[PNGMK]

Didn't know there was a Toorak in Sydney too...

Duh. Melbourne.

[MikeJones]

British equivalent phrase is Chelsea Tractor, same concept different city

MIke

[taxico]

...The room is really small (about 8 m²) so a small dehumidifier should be ok, I prefer to have a small and quiet device even if I have to empty the tank more often.