deskthority

Hey guys. Now that the hot summer is upon us (at least in the northern hemisphere) I'm wondering about keyboard storage. Since I can't afford to run my air conditioner 24/7 I'm worried about how the heat and humidity will affect my keyboards. I was thinking of storing them in boxes with silica gel packs for the moisture. Will that be enough?

digital_matthew wrote: Hey guys. Now that the hot summer is upon us (at least in the northern hemisphere) I'm wondering about keyboard storage. Since I can't afford to run my air conditioner 24/7 I'm worried about how the heat and humidity will affect my keyboards. I was thinking of storing them in boxes with silica gel packs for the moisture. Will that be enough?

if you have boards you have retrobrited in the past the heat could cause them to reyellow, other than that they should be fine.

For long-term storage I generally wrap mine in a couple of layers of thin bubble wrap, then 3 mil polyethylene securely taped.

With smaller keyboards I can fit 2 of those in a postal box, or one M or F which I fill out with additional bubble wrap, stryofoam "peanuts", or empty egg cartons.

I figure that layering of insulation mitigates variations in temperature and humidity in an unconditioned space.

digital_matthew wrote: Hey guys. Now that the hot summer is upon us (at least in the northern hemisphere) I'm wondering about keyboard storage. Since I can't afford to run my air conditioner 24/7 I'm worried about how the heat and humidity will affect my keyboards. I was thinking of storing them in boxes with silica gel packs for the moisture. Will that be enough?

Thats some dedication man. My suggestion is just to not leave any of them on the sun, maybe cover them.

By the way, remember to put your cables in plastic bags or paper tubes so that they do not touch the plastic housing of the keyboard. Vintage keyboards have cables of PVC with "plasticizer" (PVC softener) that is harmful to ABS plastic and could create "burn marks". Plastic bags are made of PE which should be safe from just about any chemical.

Findecanor wrote:
put your cables in plastic bags or paper tubes so that they do not touch the plastic housing of the keyboard

True this. I fold them and slip them into empty toilet paper rolls.

I'd say storing keyboards on a well ventilated raised wire rack in dark place should be good enough, I usually saran wrap my keyboard with the cable hanging outside. Humidity should be fine as long as no condensation happening.