How many others keep their guns in a "gun safe"? Almost all of them are really not "safes"; they're Residential Security Containers (RSC) although they do keep the guns safe. I use a Goldenrod to raise the internal temperature, and I also add a Volatile Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) to prevent corrosion, and what the heck I keep a couple of boxes of desiccant in there to control humidity. Anyone else take these precautions?
Being a curious engineer I bought one of those indoor/outdoor digital thermometers and I run the "outdoor" probe to the inside of the safe. It has a thin lead and I just run it to the inside and then close to door. The door gasket easily handles that tiny wire. Anyway the safe heater keeps the interior about 6F above ambient. It's sometimes called a safe dehumidifier but all it does is raise the dew point inside the safe so that moisture outside the safe won't condense on the guns when you open the door.
And of course I was curious what the desiccant was doing so I added a battery powered humidistat inside the safe and the relative humidity at 70F is around 41%. Wood stocks like a little humidity and 41% @ 70F is fine. I found that the two boxes of desiccant removed about 4% of the humidity and then did nothing more. I recharged them in the oven but 41% is about it.
The VCI emitter just sits there doing its thing, and I replace it once a year. I use either a Remington Super Plug or one of the larger Bull Frog Rust Shield emitters. The Remington device seems to just get more and more expensive and it's really just a piece of foam or cloth saturated with VCI.
Anyway, my guns don't rust!
I have a Liberty Safe Franklin 50 RSC. As far as humidity control, I live in Utah. :P
Low to mid 40s is perfect. No need at all to worry if you are less than 50 % and above 38-39%.
BTW My safe currently doesn't have power. I use battery lights. I have a variety of desiccant and also use VCIs. It's been at 44% for a month plus.
And it's much less expensive than moving the safe to Utah! However I'd like to live out there - away from the craziness of the east coast!
My safe does have power, as well as ethernet, usb, and a universal hole that could support coax or fiber optic.
At some point my primary backup NAS will move to the safe, which should give me a temperature bump similar to a goldenrod.
I can't remember the brand of stainless tube desiccant I use. I'll post that when I get home. I love those things. Also use large desiccant bags my wife sewed from cutoff jeans and bulk desiccant. The only times I need to regenerate with a bit more frequency are during the transition months. During the summer and winter it's pretty darn dry in the house. But when the spring warmer rains and first rains of fall start the house humidity trends up.
What VCI did you say you are using?
I do not use anything and have absolutely no problems, and i live in one of the states were humidity is 100% a good part of the year.
I have two of these and mucho bags of desiccant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYXe6HzdKZs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYXe6HzdKZs)