Why Your Gun Safe Needs a Dehumidifier
You've spent a lot of money on your gun collection. Perhaps it's a collection of hunting rifles and shotguns, or perhaps it's a collection of classic historical pieces. You've also taken great care to find a quality gun safe in which to house your collection. But you may not have thought about the fact that your gun safe can cause dangerous moisture to build up on your collection.
If you live in a place with high humidity or even great swings in temperature, then a dehumidifier will help dangerous condensation from building up and damaging your collection. In addition to causing rust and ruining your guns, dehumidifiers also prevent mold and mildew that will make your gun safe smell bad.
Dehumidifiers work by pulling water out of the air or raising the internal temperature of your safe to cause any potential condensation to evaporate. There are two types of dehumidifiers that you can get for your gun safe: desiccants and electric dehumidifiers.
- Desiccants. The simplest of these is silica gel, but you can get more complex wireless dehumidifiers as well. They all operate by absorbing moisture from the air. This means they need to be dried out or replaced when they become saturated. How quickly this happens will depend on how humid your gun safe is and its temperature.
- Electric dehumidifiers. These operate by heating the inside of your safe to evaporate any humidity from the inside of the safe. These are the most common type of dehumidifier and have been designed specifically to be used effectively in a gun safe.
Some people recommend that you have both types of dehumidifiers in your gun safe. This way, if the power goes out, you don't have to worry about condensation occurring before the power returns. Your gun collection might be worth thousands of dollars and yet can be ruined by something as seemingly harmless as water. You can't afford not to have a dehumidifier in your gun safe.
If you haven't yet invested in a gun safe, then it is definitely time to make the commitment to your collection and yourself. If you have, but haven't installed a dehumidifier, then consider adding this inexpensive accessory to your collection to ensure that your collection stays in pristine condition. At Steelwater Gun Safes, we can handle all of your gun safe and dehumidifier needs. Order a gun safe from us, and we'll even throw in the dehumidifier for free.
