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I went down that road a long time ago. I thought that living in a coastal community would reek havoc on the blued surfaces of my firearms. So the first thing I did was run power into my safe and I hooked up a 7-watt night light to run continuously. The 7-watt bulb creates more than enough heat to create a convective air current. Then I placed a container of Damp Rid at the bottom on my safe and began collecting water.
Then several years ago I happened to get the chance to speak with a associate curator for the medieval arms and armor collection at a large metropilitan museum. I was very interested to find out that the "industry standard" for arms and armor collections which ranges from 63-72 degrees at 45-50% humidity. I was surprised to learn that some humidity is a good thing. Keeping the humidity too low can cause the wood components to actually dry out, risking splitting and cracking.
IEven in my coastal enviornment (I live less than 5 miles from the coast line), the interior of my safe rarely ranges outside those recommended humidity levels. The lowest I have ever recorded with my humidistat has been 35% and the highest was 53%. Even without the Damp-Rid and light bulb, the humidity level inside my safe normally hovers around 45%. I recommend you purchase a humidistat and monitor the humidity levels inside your safe to see if any kind of control is even needed before drilling holes or purchasing a golden rod.
I've have also read somewhere that the NRA Firearms Museum recommendation is 70 degrees F, and 45 or 50% humidity.
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