I significantly increased my cellar allowing me to move a lot of my preps to this wonderful new space. I store a bunch of items, including potatoes, carrots, long term and mid term food preps, rice, coffee, seeds, and other items including a shotgun. After careful monitoring of humidity and temps, I can maintain 52 degrees year round and humidity is at 31%, and this stays fairly constant year round as well.
I have a toyostove in the cellar (vented outdoors) to keep things from freezing in the winter. The lowest temp is 50, which is where I have it set. I have found a few places where the air drafts to the outside, and I can better seal this during our short summer months. The toyostove set at this temp also keeps the main level from freezing if we are gone for a few days. So I need to keep it on. It's very efficient and only burns through about $150 in fuel each year. It might be even more efficient when I fix the areas where I have a draft.
The previous owner had an Electrolux dehumidifier and I have it now working perfectly. Before I put it into use, I need to know what humidity I should try to maintain for optimal conditions for the wide variety of items I store in the cellar.
Any thoughts on what conventional wisdom says is ideal temps and humidity now that I have a place to store such a wide variety of preps?
Thanks!
I have a toyostove in the cellar (vented outdoors) to keep things from freezing in the winter. The lowest temp is 50, which is where I have it set. I have found a few places where the air drafts to the outside, and I can better seal this during our short summer months. The toyostove set at this temp also keeps the main level from freezing if we are gone for a few days. So I need to keep it on. It's very efficient and only burns through about $150 in fuel each year. It might be even more efficient when I fix the areas where I have a draft.
The previous owner had an Electrolux dehumidifier and I have it now working perfectly. Before I put it into use, I need to know what humidity I should try to maintain for optimal conditions for the wide variety of items I store in the cellar.
Any thoughts on what conventional wisdom says is ideal temps and humidity now that I have a place to store such a wide variety of preps?
Thanks!