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Humidity- how much is too much?

martind28

martind28

Active Member
Hi all..
My Pioneer SX 525 has recently developed a constant scratchy noise sort of like a bad radio reception, it is there during use of any media. I have it in a room that I keep at a humidity of around 50%, to humidify the guitars that I also keep in the room. Could the humidity be a cause of the problem with the receiver? I dont want to replace it with one of my others if that is the case. Or maybe it's just the age of the receiver.
Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed..
 
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50% is perfect humidity.

Once you fall below 30%, or rise much above 75%, is when you start to have problems with more than your stereo. Too dry, and static will torture your vinyl playback.

Home electronics generally won’t have issues until you break 90%. And even then, you need a condensation event. Like bringing an ice cold instrument in from the car into a damp room, and immediately energizing it.
 
I can comment on this - not from the standpoint of the equipment but on how "relative humidity" behaves.
Think of it this way - warm air holds more water, cold air holds less.
I believe the only way humidity would affect electronics is if the electronics physically get wet. The only way that would happen is if the unit (and anything inside, doh) drops below dewpoint of the surrounding air. That's not likely to happen since when powered.
Now, I could see condensation when the unit is off. Imagine warm, moist air blowing in from outside, onto the cooler (shaded, or A\C) surfaces - and ya, some water will form on the surfaces.
 
martind28 said:
My Pioneer SX 525 has recently developed a constant scratchy noise sort of like a bad radio reception, it is there during use of any media.
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This could be caused by anything from a dodgy speaker or source connection, to interference from a bad light switch or light dimmer in another room, to dirty switches and pots, to a failing semiconductor or capacitor or other electronic component.

It's not caused by room humidity.
 
martind28 said:
Hi all..
My Pioneer SX 525 has recently developed a constant scratchy noise sort of like a bad radio reception, it is there during use of any media. I have it in a room that I keep at a humidity of around 50%, to humidify the guitars that I also keep in the room. Could the humidity be a cause of the problem with the receiver? I dont want to replace it with one of my others if that is the case. Or maybe it's just the age of the receiver.
Thanks in advance for any light anyone can shed..
Click to expand...
Do you have AC in your house? If so, then humidity should be the least of your worries :p
 
Thank you all for your input! It's good to hear that my 50% humidity is ok, I guess I'll just go ahead and try anothe receiver in the room and see what happens.
On a lighter side, what do we call Audiokarma members..
Audiokarmites?
Karmartians..
 
I have a humidifier for the my HVAC system. In the desert in the winter things can really dry out. And of course in the summer with the high heat and during monsoon season things can get to wet, but the refrigerated air can remove all the moisture. So I set the humidifier at 40% and let he rip. It works well for me. I don't have any swelling or wood cracking so things must be working OK.
 
This sounds like switches, control and connections that have simply become dirty over time. Buy a can of DeOxit D5 and read the tutorial about it on the opening page of the General Audio Discussion section. You'll be amazed at how great it will sound again. If you do this every year or when a control gets noisy, it won't be a problem anymore. Think of it as a 'Care and Feeding' procedure for your gear.
 
Even here in Tennessee it can get down to the teens humidity wise in the winter. Once the air gets cold enough the moisture simply drop right out of it.
 
Yeah but that refers to absolute not relative humidity right? Cold, dry air would be somewhat welcome frankly. We have 70% RH now and they're stating that it might not rain this weekend.
 
Anything expressed as a percentage is relative, IIRC.

I lived in the Mojave desert for two years. Winters there were no fun.
 
Right now, I am staring at 38% RH in the room I’m sitting in. And we just had a good bit of rain this past week.

By this time next month we’ll have a humidifer running 24/7, fighting to keep it above 30%.

I’m frankly envious that the OP is enjoying 50%. By the spring, my hands are literally bleeding from the dryness, unless my wife chases me around with a bottle of hand goo.

The only thing that stays moist this time of year is my humidor.
 
sgmlaw said:
I’m frankly envious that the OP is enjoying 50%. By the spring, my hands are literally bleeding from the dryness, unless my wife chases me around with a bottle of hand goo.
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Story of my life. Not so bad when she volunteers to put the lotion on though. Nice hand massage. :D

I mostly worry about it from my perspective as a musician. Nice guitars aren't fond of super low humidity.
 
The only time I can remember really dry air was when the temps were well below freezing. Mostly we just get rain and sleet. Still never had static electricity in the house though. I guess that makes it safer around the electronics.
 
EngineerNate said:
Story of my life. Not so bad when she volunteers to put the lotion on though. Nice hand massage. :D

I mostly worry about it from my perspective as a musician. Nice guitars aren't fond of super low humidity.
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Guitars are fine woodwork. All stringed instruments are, for that matter.

And all fine woodwork suffers when it gets too dry. Furniture . . . and even some of the joists and studding in the house can start shrinking a little.

I watch my cigars all winter long like a hawk to keep them in the 60s. My reward for that comes in the spring.

That’s why I said the OP would have bigger problems once it falls below 30%. A static-plagued turntable is the least of it.
 
I live in a high temperature(rarely dropping to freezing point in Winter) high humidity semi tropical region. I'd love to live somewhere with lower humidity.
 
DaveVoorhis said:
This could be caused by anything from a dodgy speaker or source connection, to interference from a bad light switch or light dimmer in another room, to dirty switches and pots, to a failing semiconductor or capacitor or other electronic component.

It's not caused by room humidity.
Click to expand...
I checked most of those, except semiconductors, capacitors ect, I dont have the skills for that. I set up a different receiver and all is good, so I guess I'll drop the sx525 off at the local shop.
Thanks for your help!
 
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