Humidity and Temperature Data Logger

A logger small enough to sit inside a case, which is the only way to know what the case is actually doing rather than what it should be doing.

Conservation display is a different job from retail display and the specification reflects it. Laminated UV filtering glass takes out essentially all the ultraviolet, which is what fades a watercolour and embrittles a textile. A sealed case with a silica gel well buffers humidity, so an object inside it does not follow every swing of the room around it. Materials are chosen for what they give off as well as what they look like, because MDF and some adhesives release acids that will tarnish silver and corrode lead inside a sealed case, which is why the interior of these ones is lined and sealed rather than simply painted.

Specification

• Dimensions: see the product name
• Display surface: not applicable
• Construction: not applicable
• Finish: not applicable
• Load rating: not applicable
• Levelling: not applicable
• Security: not applicable
• Delivery: one small parcel
• Weight: approximately 0.2 kilograms
• Supplied ready to use, conditioned where the product needs conditioning
• Instructions written for a collector rather than for a conservation department
• Suitable for use inside a sealed case
• We will answer a question about how to use it, which is most of why people buy these from us

What you get

• The item as described
• Printed instructions with the numbers a conservator would use
• A reorder card, because most of these are consumables

Setting it up

Arrives assembled and blanket wrapped. Stand it where you want it, level it on the feet, and take the wrapping back to the van, which the delivery crew will do.

Specifying it

Size the case to the object plus the space around it rather than to the object. A rule that works well is a clear 100mm at the sides and 150mm above for anything under half a metre, and more for anything a visitor will walk around. Think about the door before you buy: a hinged door needs swing space and a lift off top needs two people and somewhere to put a large piece of glass. If the case will hold anything light sensitive, take the UV filtering glass, and keep the light level at 50 lux for works on paper and textiles and 150 lux for oil, wood and most other things.