Thread: Mildew on my rifles. Damp rid seems to do nothing

A dehumidifier works brilliantly in my concrete floored gunroom.

heat and circulated air.
buy a decent dehumidifier and do the whole house. its far cheaper to cool/warm dry air than damp air
forget the DVS BS, its useless

What is the mildew eating, perhaps you are encouraging it to grow with the right food and humidity ?

Originally Posted by Old_School

Any suggestions on what else to try?
My local Hunting and Fishing sells these moisture absorbers to keep in your gun safe.
I have been using damp rid and dont know if they preform any better. They can be reused over and over again, you just plug them in and heat them up to dry them out.
My gun cabinet is kept on the ground floor and i suspect a bit of dampness is coming up through the concrete. I have installed a ventilation fan to constantly blow fresh air into the room and was hoping this was going to be enough.

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

A solution we found at a mates set up was to put metal spacers / washers on the bolts securing the cabinet to keep the cabinet about 10mm from the wall then a steel liner to prevent physical access to the gap. And we went well oversize on the bolts too just in cast the person vetting it tried to argur it could be pried off...( Plastic ining between the cabinet and the wall would potentially help to as a moisture thermal barrier. The light bulb trick works as does a small fan on a timer switch so it runs at the times of day when condensation forms. (Our situation was around an hour before dawn and an hour after sundwon so we ran it from 30min prior to 30 min after each day. Wont have to be a big fan, just something to move air- often a 6 or 8 inch PC fan will suffice depending on locker volume....

Originally Posted by zimmer

My experience with damp rid and the plug in regenerative ones is they are useless. I'm sure damp rid actually draws moisture into a safe. I was changing mine on a regular basis in a safe that was not in a garage but in a very dry room in the house. The only issue I was having though was a mild forming of white mould on leather slings.

I went with a cupboard heater and seperate thermostat and it's all good now. The little tube ones sold by gun shops are under nourished though.

There may also be a risk of overdoing it and drying out seals and lube in scopes, suppossedly.

Good point, it could be drawing more moisture into the safe if the damp rid is sucking the air dry inside.
Ive seen a light bulb used in the safe at our local rifle club, so perhaps warmth puts off the growth too?
I wouldnt want it too warm inside the safe, your right about it potentially causing issues with scopes if it was too hot.

Originally Posted by gonetropo

heat and circulated air.
buy a decent dehumidifier and do the whole house. its far cheaper to cool/warm dry air than damp air
forget the DVS BS, its useless

My parents put a DVS in their house and it got rid of all their condensation instantly. The thing is though that if the air outside is humid, its not going to really help, but the theory is that constantly replacing the air is what drys everything out.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

What is the mildew eating, perhaps you are encouraging it to grow with the right food and humidity ?

Its mostly just white film appearing on the wooden parts over a few days, it wipes off easily enough.

Originally Posted by timattalon

A solution we found at a mates set up was to put metal spacers / washers on the bolts securing the cabinet to keep the cabinet about 10mm from the wall then a steel liner to prevent physical access to the gap. And we went well oversize on the bolts too just in cast the person vetting it tried to argur it could be pried off...( Plastic ining between the cabinet and the wall would potentially help to as a moisture thermal barrier. The light bulb trick works as does a small fan on a timer switch so it runs at the times of day when condensation forms. (Our situation was around an hour before dawn and an hour after sundwon so we ran it from 30min prior to 30 min after each day. Wont have to be a big fan, just something to move air- often a 6 or 8 inch PC fan will suffice depending on locker volume....

Ive put plastic behind the safe and on the floor below the safe.
I wonder if it would help if i could put some sort of foam seal on the door itself, could that help?

Originally Posted by Old_School

Good point, it could be drawing more moisture into the safe if the damp rid is sucking the air dry inside.
Ive seen a light bulb used in the safe at our local rifle club, so perhaps warmth puts off the growth too?
I wouldnt want it too warm inside the safe, your right about it potentially causing issues with scopes if it was too hot.


My parents put a DVS in their house and it got rid of all their condensation instantly. The thing is though that if the air outside is humid, its not going to really help, but the theory is that constantly replacing the air is what drys everything out.


Its mostly just white film appearing on the wooden parts over a few days, it wipes off easily enough.



Ive put plastic behind the safe and on the floor below the safe.
I wonder if it would help if i could put some sort of foam seal on the door itself, could that help?

I suspect that will make it worse. Plastic behind and under will provide a moisture barrier to stop moisture / cold causing condensation. But foam on the doors will stop airflow (draft stop etc) which will make removal of moisture worse.

@Old_School is this on a wooden rifle stock?
If so I would use some boiled linseed oil on them.
Have you tried a few of these in your gun cabinet I use them and there brillant no need to wire your cabinet up.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Napier-Supe.../dp/B00067ZR4G
I also get a lot of dehumidifier sachets through work and throw these in the bottom. If you goggle Amazon that you can find them easy enough.
Good luck.
oh with the oil dont stick it on the ceckering!

I run a heater and have a small fan moving the air around it works great.

+1 for Dampchaser

I use indicating silica gel but 1kg of it. It does work in my safe.

https://www.silicagelproducts.co.nz/...ting-Bulk-Pack

If possible relocate safe to a dry ventilated area.
If not, wipe your safes out with Ethanol (Glen 10/20) to kill the spores. Do the same with your stocks. Use a silicone based gun oil on the metal work. Mildew feeds on some oil components. Avoid oils containing beeswax.

If you still have issues heat the safe with a Rod heater or light bulb and possibly a camel dehumidifier.

Been through it myself.


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I have been using this set up, seems to be working quite good. The thermostat kicks the heater in at about 15 degrees. In winter, I have a small electric heater instead of the damp chaser as it struggles a bit. The room is say 1.5m x 1.5m. I have a dehumidified source of air next door which comes in through the lower floor shelf, you can see one of the vents in an image. You need to keep a consistent temperature and it should be fine, "relative" humidity been the key word here. It is equally important that it doesn't get too dry. I need to add that this room is VERY well insulated which helps a bunch.

Originally Posted by Longranger

Been there done that.....firstly I used an un-shielded 7w LED bulb and it took the colour from a wooden stock adjacent to it. Be very careful with LED it seems to have some detrimental light wave lengths . Shielded it with lead and it is now working as planned. The idea is to provide air circulation from the low heat generated by the bulb. Warm air will retain more moisture than cool air so heating can be counter productive unless the heat moves the air ie mounting the heat source low so warm air is constantly rising to provide some air movement. Do some more research on archives and storage thereof.....!

Yes I'm only wanting to use an incandescent bulb.
We want heat, not light, since LEDS are more efficient, you are only adding to the problem by producing more light.
Does anyone know if there are small infra red bulbs available?
I'm also exploring options of wiring up 2 bulbs in series you will get half the light, but the same amount of heat.

Originally Posted by Waynesworld

I have been using this set up, seems to be working quite good. The thermostat kicks the heater in at about 15 degrees. In winter, I have a small electric heater instead of the damp chaser as it struggles a bit. The room is say 1.5m x 1.5m. I have a dehumidified source of air next door which comes in through the lower floor shelf, you can see one of the vents in an image. You need to keep a consistent temperature and it should be fine, "relative" humidity been the key word here. It is equally important that it doesn't get too dry. I need to add that this room is VERY well insulated which helps a bunch.Attachment 222759Attachment 222760Attachment 222761

I'm looking at wiring up an arduino to control my unit via a temperature sensor.
What temperature would be ideal, 20 degrees Celsius?

Originally Posted by Old_School

Yes I'm only wanting to use an incandescent bulb.
We want heat, not light, since LEDS are more efficient, you are only adding to the problem by producing more light.
Does anyone know if there are small infra red bulbs available?
I'm also exploring options of wiring up 2 bulbs in series you will get half the light, but the same amount of heat.



I'm looking at wiring up an arduino to control my unit via a temperature sensor.
What temperature would be ideal, 20 degrees Celsius?

Its not the temperature but the relative humidity that is important. IMO I try get it around 40/50/60%. 20 degrees I think would be plenty, but as I mentioned, its not the temp but the relative humidity that is the concern here although I think it is easier to achieve the desired humidity at the warmer temp. Please, any fridgy's out there...school us up. As per my original post, I am sitting at 52% at 17 degrees.
An LED will be of no use to you.

Originally Posted by Waynesworld

Its not the temperature but the relative humidity that is important. IMO I try get it around 40/50/60%. 20 degrees I think would be plenty, but as I mentioned, its not the temp but the relative humidity that is the concern here although I think it is easier to achieve the desired humidity at the warmer temp. Please, any fridgy's out there...school us up. As per my original post, I am sitting at 52% at 17 degrees.
An LED will be of no use to you.

Correct, plus an understanding of dew point. We address temperature because the apparent solutions for that are easier to implement.

A hygrometer, which monitors relative humidity and is used to evaluate if there are enough water molecules within the air to support life, can be used to measure humidity inside a gun safe. Check the temperature and humidity inside the gun safe, to begin with.

The National Rifle Association states that the humidity level of a gun safe should be between 30% and 50% at a temperature of 60 to 70 degrees. Gun safe owners must use gun safe moisture management techniques if the gun safe’s indicators are less than optimum and prevent rust and corrosion.