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Good cigars appreciate a humid environment. Guns? Not so much.

Firearms tend to accumulate. Well-maintained firearms tend to accrue value. The single best thing anyone can do to take care of your bangsticks is not to leave them in the bottom of a lake after those unfortunate boating accidents. That goes for damp basements or garages, too.

Prudent People of The Gun will protect against humidity in their safes or residential security containers. This goes double if your safe is kept in a garage or basement where excess humidity is routinely present. Eva-Dry makes a great, energy sipping (22.5 watts) dehumidifier that fits nicely inside your gun safe, keeping your valuables and guns nice and dry.

Not only does the Eva Dry – EDV 1100 gently warm the air a few degrees and circulate it, but it actively removes moisture using thermoelectric cooling and drains it into a self-contained water reservoir.

Standing only about eight inches tall and with a 6×4.5-inch footprint, the EDV 1100 lives up to its petite name and doesn’t take a lot of valuable storage real estate.

I’ve got one and I give its performance two thumbs up.  It’s simple to use:  Plug in the “wall wart” transformer, then plug the DC power supply into the back of the unit.  Supposedly it can remove up to 8 ounces of moisture each day.  Inside my safe, which is about the size of a walk-in shower, it takes about two weeks to fill the 16-ounce spill-proof reservoir.  If I fail to keep up on pouring out the water, it shuts itself off when the tank reaches capacity.

The unit runs quietly, and the only noise comes from a small fan humming.  Mine’s been running for two years straight without any problems or issues.

The street price is about $50.

Protect your firearms investments by keeping humidity at bay.  In the winter, the unit takes very little moisture out of the air, but that’s understandable with the dry winter air.  Without any humidity, the Eva-Dry doesn’t output any warm air (or take any humidity out of the air).  For that reason, during the winter, I still use a Golden Rod, but your mileage may vary.

Get one of these Eva-Dry dehumidifiers.  You’ll be glad you did and your guns will appreciate it as well.

The unit works in areas of the home that are up to 1,100 cubic feet. It’s effectiveness is measured in gathering approximately 8 oz. of water per day at 86° F and 80% R.H. Additional specifications of the EDV1100 includes: a power adapter of 9V DC 2.5AMP, power consumption of 22.5W, 16 oz. capacity removable water tank and an automatic water level detector switch to indicate tank is full. The unit measures

Specifications — Eva-Dry EDV-1100:

Size: 6″L x 4 ½”W x 8 ½”H
Weight: 2.8 pounds
Origin: Made in the China
MSRP: About $59.95

Ratings (out of five stars):

Quality * * * * *
It works and works well.  Two years plus of running constantly?  That’s quality enough for me.  (That and I’m new here and don’t know how to do a “half-star”, so I rounded up.)

Ease of use * * * *
I simply plugged it into the power tap as I’d already brought power into my safe for the lights and other stuff.  You might have to splice the DC cord or splice an extension cord which might make it a ten minute install instead of a one-minute install, but still, plug it in, turn it on and drain it once in a while.  If it drained itself I’d give it five stars.

Function * * * * *
Supposedly the unit will dehumidify 1100 cubic feet of space, but I’m a disbeliever.  In a closed space inside a gun safe, with minimal air movement, this unit excels. Pulling out several ounces of water is a significant reduction in relative humidity inside.   Even on a miserably humid day outside, when I access my safe, the contents are very dry.

Overall * * * * *
If the thing were made in America, it would be perfect.  But I’m not going to let perfect be the enemy of good enough.  If you have a safe in a basement, garage or otherwise humid environment, buy one of these.  If you’re lucky enough to live in a very arid location, you won’t need it.

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Cool. Do they make them in 5.56 x 4.5 inch footprint?

    In all seriousness, what is an ideal temperature and humidity level for storing firearms, including the wood furniture? I try to keep them at about 65F and 50% RH but don’t know if that’s ideal. I’ve got a setup to control the environment pretty well.

    • Relative humidities between 40% and 60% are best for most firearms. Wood stocks get fragile below 40% and some plastics will craze. Bacterial activity picks up above 60%. Bacteria excrete acids which are a major cause of pitting corrosion.

      Temperatures between 35 F and 120 F are acceptable, as long as relative humidity is controlled. Wood stock oils start to exude above 120 F and frost causes problems near the freezing point.

      It is usually a good idea to stabilize a firearm at ambient temperature and humidity for 24 hours outside a safe before putting it to use. Then check your stock screw torques. Both wood and plastic grow and shrink with temperature and humidity changes.

    • “I have the best dehumidifier on earth. It’s called Arizona.”

      I have the best humidifier on earth. It’s called Florida…

    • Yeah, Colorado works pretty well, too – especially when you’re at 6600′.

      Currently (22 Oct, 1043 MDT):
      Outdoors: 69.3°F, 12% RH
      Indoors: 71.1°F, 17% RH

      I have a *humidifier* hooked up to one of the furnaces, otherwise we’d be at 10% indoors. Worse in the winter.

  3. I bought one of these for the basement room around my safe. It works as advertised and does a bang up job. Inside the safe I have a liberty plug in but it needed recharging often. With this little eva-dry working the outside room I found that my recharge periods on the plug in were cut down to twice a year.
    I would give it 5 stars.

  4. Safe? Dehumidifier? My funds go towards guns and ammo. Not safes and dehumidifiers. My safe is my house, and I lock the door. Anyone that has broken into my house has also broken into my safe. And I will say, it is not safe for them to be inside.

    • “Safe? Dehumidifier? My funds go towards guns and ammo. Not safes and dehumidifiers.”

      Must be nice to live in a dry climate.

      Humidity is a serious issue for carbon steel down here in the sub-tropics and tropics.

      I have been using that color-change desiccant granules, when the blue turns pink, bake it in the oven until it turns back to pink.

      This do-dad interests me, but I’d want a drain line to outside the safe…

      • EDIT – Make that “when the blue turns pink, bake it in the oven until it turns back to blue.”

        What happened to the edit function? It disappeared again a few days back…

      • “Must be nice to live in a dry climate.”

        It’s really nice. Much better than, say, my sister’s house in Boynton Beach, where they pressure wash the roof, fences, and all paved surfaces once a year to get rid of the green slime.

        Of course, I live in Colorado, so the prices I pay are a) having to go up to Wyoming if I want standard-capacity mags (not that I’d ever do that – it would be unlawful to bring them back into the state) and b) having to drive a few miles to an FFL if I want to sell a gun to or buy a gun from anyone.

  5. Evadry does make one that doesn’t need power. Its basically a damp rid that you can plug in to recharge instead of sticking it in the oven. Seems to work fine since the damp rid cup I have below it in the safe hasn’t melted at all.

  6. “that fits nicely inside your gun safe”

    ..hahaha, maybe in your ‘walk-in’ safe. Mine, not so much. Every precious little inch has been completely (over) allocated at this point.

    …yeah, I know, probably time for a new safe. Just try convincing the woman of that for me please. I think she’s afraid of the same thing I am… “Hmmm, I have some open space now…” 🙂

  7. These can be modified to drain into a larger container, hose, sink, whatever. Take the tank out and turn the unit upside down. At the top of where the tank would be are two switches. One of the two is a safety to make sure that the tank is in place. The other switch will be pressed by a float in the tank if it is full. Tape the first switch up and make sure that the unit powers up. Cut a gallon milk jug in half and tape it in place where the tank was with the handle side down and facing out. Cut the handle to make a drain spout. To keep water from running along the underside of the spout place a short length of paracord from the spout downward to the drain.

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