Humidification

Carole DeFord <carole_deford [at] cc__cranbrook__edu> writes

>I am looking for experiences where your organization has added
>humidity to large showcases such as 260 cubic feet of poorly sealed
>older wall cases which are currently monitored at about 20% humidity
>and need to be brought up to 48% RH range. How did you retrofit the
>case and what type of equipment did you use to do this.

Re: the exhibition case at Cranbrook. Again, it is the process of
decision-making that needs attention.  What needs to be done to the
case will be determined by a host of factors including the RH
maintained in the surrounding room, how long the 48% is required and
in what season(s), the nature of the objects, whether the
conditioned space really needs to be that big, etc.  Just because
this is so often an open issue, I would also question where the
number 48% came from.  Other issues relate to the resources of the
institution to construct a case, the availability of someone to
monitor it, the amount of money available, etc.  Very often staff
time and funds are inversely proportional, that is, if there is
staff who can spend time and effort on this, it can be done more
cheaply. If there is ready cash, then a different approach is
possible.

B. Appelbaum

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:73
                 Distributed: Friday, February 27, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-11-73-004
                                  ***