Hot muggy weather bad for synths?

[rachelp]

Hi,
I have a small bedroom repurposed into my little electronic studio. But it is also the most stuffy
room in the house. We do have ducted air conditioning, but even it doesn't work optimally in this room.

So, I guess I am asking if it is alright to run the gear under these conditions? I am sitting here right now,
with just the fan from the aircon on and I am sweating like crazy. FYI, this is in Penrith and it is
currently 27C - drops to about 24 overnight. And it is also humid like you would not believe.

So this makes me reticent to run my gear - if I am sweating already, running a room full of
analogues is going to make it worse.... ....so given we do have some aircon, what else can you
suggest to make it safer to run my gear? Should I get a small fan and run it at floor level under the
desk or behind the gear to help get some air moving around? What about tinting on the window,
which would be west facing, annoyingly enough - the room is on the western wall....

So, as to running your gear in summer, what can you guys suggest for me? I measured the temp
here at 1:00AM and it was still 24C and felt hotter.....


rachel

[The Tasmanian]

Hi Rachel - get a couple of cheap fans and get the air moving is probably the best and cheapest way to get a more stable temperature in the room - focus 1 fan on bringing in colder air (from a window or a cooler room in the house - or a hallway) and the other fan to push the hot air from all the hot gear into another room or space that is not going to matter (better that this room has a window open a bit) .
Otherwise you will need a install in the window type aircon unit - and install it yourself (very easy but more expensive than option 1.)
From my experience all equipment - digital and analog starts to play up (and strange shit happens) when the temperature gets too high. It may be 27 deg in Penrith but inside your synth it may be 40 deg - So air movement is the first step for more stability in the temperature of your room. You are lucky you have only synths - try owning a tape machine!

[Thirteen]

If the room is small and it has ducted aircon, unless there is a return in the room for the air to get back out then it will not get cool unless you leave the door partly open. If you have a west facing window, definitely get it tinted, and, as suggested, grab a small aircon, (there are some small inexpensive split systems that you can self-install available these days and put the head above your window, that way you don't have to run the ducted system which will be more expensive on power.

[rachelp]

Hi everyone,
thankfully the weather has been kind at last! I have been having a lot of fun synth-noodling in this mild Christmas.... Have a good break!


rachel