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

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.

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.

Old fashioned light bulb wired into the safe, just a little heat is all you need

Dehumidifier plugged into an arlec smart plug (Bunnings). Humidity and temperature sensors on the same system which turns on smart plug when humidity reaches a set parameter. That’s how I run my reloading shed. Set and forget.

Originally Posted by thatguy

Dehumidifier plugged into an arlec smart plug (Bunnings). Humidity and temperature sensors on the same system which turns on smart plug when humidity reaches a set parameter. That’s how I run my reloading shed. Set and forget.

The ultimate solution meetinks

I've got a dampchaser - similar to an incandescent bulb in steady small heat output
17 watts, plug it in and forget about it

https://www.bunnings.co.nz/dampchase...eater_p0448989

clipped in horizontally at the front just inside the door near the floor


Steel boxes always sweat

@308 do you know if those dampchaser units can go angled or vertical as well? Like the idea but my 6 gun safe is probably a bit narrow to fit it horizontally

Originally Posted by Jake77

@308 do you know if those dampchaser units can go angled or vertical as well? Like the idea but my 6 gun safe is probably a bit narrow to fit it horizontally

Don’t see any reason why you couldn’t mount vertically. They are about 300mm long. I have mine mounted on a piece of timber against the back of the safe. Rifles butts sit directly in front of the heater. But if you had restriction in terms of width, mounting alternatively would work.

Originally Posted by Jake77

@308 do you know if those dampchaser units can go angled or vertical as well? Like the idea but my 6 gun safe is probably a bit narrow to fit it horizontally

Yeah, I custom made my safe

Any angle you like, I just keep the heat source low so it rises, haven't had a dampness problem since I built it about 8 years back

Next safe I build I'll do the same

Plus you have supported a New Zealand company's product.

And having your safe on an internal wall helps somewhat.

I have tried many options. Settled for years now on a safe heaters. I leave them going all year round. Workshop innovations ( called something different these days) sells them. Best quality IMO is Golden Rod.

Rod heater` Goldenrod and Dampchaser all appear to be the same thing

Originally Posted by Sideshow

@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!

Yes its appearing on all my wooden stocks.
I had gone over them with linseed oil, it helped for a little while but then it comes back.

Originally Posted by timattalon

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.

My idea was if it was sealed, it would be easier for the damp rid or other moisture absorber to do its job.



Anyway, I have installed a 25w incandescent light bulb inside the safe to run a test.
I want to see if I can find a lower wattage bulb, say around 15W, this would be closer to the wattage of a dampchaser.
One of the rifle stocks was close to the bulb and felt warm, but not too hot to worry about, but I will monitor this.
We have alot of rain and damp air this week so it should be a good test for it, as it appears within only a few days.

Originally Posted by Old_School

Yes its appearing on all my wooden stocks.
I had gone over them with linseed oil, it helped for a little while but then it comes back.



My idea was if it was sealed, it would be easier for the damp rid or other moisture absorber to do its job.



Anyway, I have installed a 25w incandescent light bulb inside the safe to run a test.
I want to see if I can find a lower wattage bulb, say around 15W, this would be closer to the wattage of a dampchaser.
One of the rifle stocks was close to the bulb and felt warm, but not too hot to worry about, but I will monitor this.
We have alot of rain and damp air this week so it should be a good test for it, as it appears within only a few days.

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.....!