Humidity and Proofers

[RickWhiteman]

We're running a pair of HP5500s, one with a DoubleProof and one single-sided. We've had the GEI-Calgraph techs out here a bunch of times working on alignment/skew/media path issues with the DoubleProof. They brought up humidity concerns, which I had known about, but I had assumed dryer would be better.

I finally got a little humidity gauge and it turns out that our room is actually too dry. While 40%–60% is the target, we're usually in the 20%–30% range.

Any opinions on how big a concern this should be? I'd rather not be dragging water in here every morning to run a little humidifier, and I doubt the bean counters will want to add something onto my HVAC system.

Thanks!

 

[michaelejahn]

BIG ISSUE - you want consistancy? build a room for it. If you want to show it off for tours, put it in the lobby near the doors and do not expect two proofs of the same page to ever look the same.

you are shooting a faction of a picoliter like 1/4 mile through a static field and hoping it lands on a moving surface. The engineers spec things out like this for a reason. Dryer is NOT better.

 

[VladCanada]

michaelejahn - absolutely TRUE! To minimize Rick's expenses to built a room - a kind of <<greenhouse>> is the cheapest solution and self-controlled humidifier inside.

 

[rbailleu]

we run a couple of standard room humidifiers in the press room near the feeder of each press. it takes like 5 minutes to fill them both everymorning. heck start a proof and then fill them or fill them at the end of the day. we run them so much that the windows fog over.

 

[tomgent]

We found running at 50 - 55% RH helps DS proofing, and the unit will run better and you get less paper curl !!!