Now that the hot sticky weather is here ( a little earlyer than normol) I ask how dry should you keep your train room? I try to keep mine at 50% I dont seem to have any problems with anything rusting. But I was wondering how dry do you keep your train room? Thank you, Alan www.MrTrain.com
I live in the desert. I have an evaporative a/c cooling my home; it is installed directly over my layout. I don’t care for it being there, but that was the only place to put it(the a/c). Ocasional debris blows out, but not too bad. The humidity in the room is very high on humid (50% or higher) but it doesn’t bother the system. I clean my track regularly and apply a little very light oil to my track once in a while to prevent rust on the rails. I don’t leave my engines out in the open just in case the humidity mimght be too much for them. If you can keep your stuff dry,it is better for it. If you have high humidity, you learn to deal with it.
redanielt34
Alan,
During the summer months, I use a dehumidifier to maintain 50% in my basement. I have had no problems at all with that.
Tim C.
How do you measure the relative humidity?
I have a dehumidifier and have it set to medium.
I live in the very humid northeastern US.
I have had my dehumidifier set at medium for the last 13 years and have had no problems with any oxidation on the rails or equipment, even my tinplate stuff.
Also, not musty smell on any of my boxes stored under the layout.
Would be interesting to hear from anyone who’s ever had any damage caused by too much humidity; and the extent of that damage. IMO, dust and humidity would be the worst possible combination as the dust particles would accelerate any rusting. I’ve never heard of anyone having problems with their trains that is traceable to high humidity; that’s why ssuch a report would be useful.
Dav
I live in the upper midwest, and it can get very humid here in the summer, but I don’t worry about it because my house has central air conditioning. The train room has a couple of air return registers, and is a part of the regular system. Air conditioning is a natural dehumidifier, and I don’t do anything special, and have no trouble. I also made sure when I built my house, that the basement would be absolutely dry, and it is.
My old layout was in basement with A/c and heat. One time I went on a two week trip. When I got home the track had surface rust on it. Took some cleaning. That was the only time I ever had a problem. Constant use will prevent track rusting and cleaning of course.
So, as I understand it, the problem with humidity is more with the track than with the trains.
dav
I’m with Big Boy and have central A/C. For the 5 years that I have been there, no problems with any rust on the tracks. The A/c works very well and you can really feel the difference from outside.
tom
Actually the guy who installed my entire heating and air conditioning system in my current house, is one of my TCA buddies. HVAC is what he does for a living.
It was at his suggestion a couple of houses ago, when I did have a musty smelling and damp basement that we put in a couple of return registers to help dry things up. It helped a lot when the air conditioner was running. It wasn’t really necessary to put in any supplies since the basement stayed fairly cool anyway. That house had hot water heat, and was too dry in the winter.
Dave, surface rust can happen on any unprotected steel surface. The metal bases on MPC box cars can get it if the humidity is really bad. Basicly any unprotected ferrous metal can rust if left exposed to enough humidity.
My current layout (and last two) have been in rooms with central AC. No problems.
I had a garage layout when I lived in south Florida. I had problems with track corrosion and corrosion of exposed wiring - a maintenance headache. Trains were stored inside the house with AC. The buildings and scenery tolerated the humidity fairly well.
The ideal relative humidity for your train room is anywhere between 50 to 60%. If your new dehumidifier does not have a humidistat here’s a fairly accurate way to arrive at which setting you should set your dehumidifier at:
Plug it in and run it on the maximum setting for 24 hours. After 24 hours, gradually turn your switch slowly towards the lowest setting. When it cycles off, leave the switch at that position.
Hope this helps.
Bill
www.modeltrainjournal.com
The Rock’s layout is in a well built detached garage. The layout consists of tubular track and a lot of tinplate. He has a top quality dehumidifier that he keeps at 50% throughout the summer. There has never been a problem in the three years the layout has been in there.
To answer eZak’s question on measuring RH. I picked up an inexpensive, <$30, battery powered temp., RH. and clock at Home Depot last year. I can’t vouch for its accuracy but it does show change. I noticed that Target and Lowes also have them at times.
My train room is in a separate metal storage building that I built an insulated room in with a hotel/motel through the wall heat pump. I keep this set at about 80 when not using the room and haven’t seen the RH above 70% @ 78F with AC only. For extreme humidity I also have a dehumidifier, when I have that on the RH is down in the 50%'s. After 4 years I haven’t noticed any rust, and it soes get humid here in GA.