PUT A GOLDEN ROD IN MY BIG GUN SAFE AND IT WORKED SO WELL I WANTED TO TRY THIS IN MY LITTLE 1.2 CF SENTURY SAFE BECAUSE IT ALWAYS SMELLS MUSKY WHEN I OPEN IT AND MONEY AND PAPERS FEEL DAMP. I WASN'T SURE THAT THIS WOULD WORK IN SUCH A SMALL, I WAS AFRAID THAT IT WOULD BE TOO HOT, SAFE BUT IT WORKS PERFECT. I HAD TO INSTALL IT AT A DIAGONAL ON THE TOP OF THE SAFE TO GET IT TO FIT. WORKS AMAZINGLY AND MORE THAN HALF THE PRICE OF THE GOLDEN ROD BRAND.This dehumidifier rod is the simple heating element style. The mouting was simple with the included hardware and wiring is hard to mess up. I already had power in the safe making it that much easier. I have kept a thermometer/hygrometer in the safe to monitor levels and immediately after installation the temp went up slightly (as expected) and the Relative Humidity dropped. Very pleased with the results.After installing this I bought & installed a Hygrometer to see exactly how much "dehumidification" I'm actually getting from this rod in my safe. This is a fairly large safe, but as gun safes go this is average to slightly above average in size. It claims to hold 24 long guns, but as with most gun safes they advertise based on the smallest long gun they can find then base it on how many of those it can hold. Add accessories or larger action long guns to the safe & you will never fit 24. I got about 14-16, & this is really industry standard. As for the rod, it definitely works & provides much more dehumidification than you'll get from silicant's (passive units), but I would definitely reccommend 2 of these for most of your "average" sized gun safes, because even as the Hygrometer has shown it simply can't lower the humidity in your safe enough by itself to be effective. In fact if I had it to do over again I'd get 2 of the 18" models & put one on either side of the 2 "compartments" that separate your long guns, then I went one step further & drilled a 3" hole in 2 places along the piece of carpeted wood that separates the 2 compartments. I also cut a smaller, 1.5" hole in the 2 top shelving units on either side of the safe as well. This is so the dehumidifiers will properly circulate into all the compartments in the safe as the compartments don't allow enough space at the edges or with the door closed to properly allow the dehumidifiers to circulate the warm air into the whole safe. So if you're considering this rod, then I reccommend at least 2, maybe even 3, or better yet if I had it to do over again I'd go with 2 of the larger 18" rods, since they give you more cubic feet of area they can dehumidify and in the end that's the whole idea. Incidentally the hygrometer I bought actually tells you by color & labeling starting at the far left side at about 8 O'Clock on the dial that you're "VERY DRY" and as it moves clockwise you make your way to the label that falls at about the 4 O'Clock position "EXTREMELY HUMID". Basically its idiot proof, and I like that feature on this hygrometer since most of them simply spit out a number & you have to look up whether that means it's too humid or not unless you're by chance a meteorologist. I got the hygrometer from a store called "petmountain" for less than $20 & it works great. I did some research & found it's best to mount them as far as you can from the dehumidifier rods so that you can get the most accurate reading as it will tell you what the humidity level at the farthest part of the safe is like & this is a more "real world" measurement. So I hope this will help the next person considering buying a rod like this because they work well with a little ingenuity & some minor craftsmanship on your safe to enhance the effectiveness of these rods. Without the holes I added for circulation & the hygrometer so I can get accurate readings on effectiveness the whole idea of the rod by itself is almost quite useless, so it is worth investing a little time & a little more money goes a long way in keeping your safe dehumidified, which after all is what will keep your guns from premature damage and/or the need to oil/clean them frequently. A good, dehumidified (dry) safe can store a gun you just cleaned for at minimum a couple of years without the need to re-apply oil or cleaning/lubricating solution of any kind while also avoiding the dreaded "pitting" that can affect any old gun that wasn't stored in a properly kept (dry/dehumidified) storage area/compartment/safe. For me anyway I'm protecting almost a $100k or more in guns & accessories, so this is a minor investment considering the return & the fact that I could probably put my son through a good college for half of the guns I own.Goodluck & feel free to email me if you have any questions on how to properly affect this installation in a way that will save your guns for many years. ***EMAIL: [email protected] get pretty hot so you want to keep away from some things. The plug is attached after you thread the wiring through a small hole so that minimizes the opening required to install it. Obviously this will not work for fire rated safes that cannot have a hole to the outside. In that case you are stuck with dessicants. Still, this is fine for storage cabinets and ammo lockers.Works great. Comes without plug on cord, pass through safe wall, then snap plug into place.I have two identical safes side by side in a closet in my newish house in Florida. Just shy of 20 ft^3 internal space each. The doors don't seal as good as they could but well enough until I get some weather stripping. I purchased the 12" 7W Lockdown unit and a 12" 8W Hornady unit (one for each safe). I let the warmers sit in the same position on the bottom in each safe for about 36 hours with identical digital hygrometer/thermometers. The Lockdown unit raised the inside temp of the safe a degree or two higher than the Hornady unit (1 or 2 degrees above ambient). The Lockdown unit reduced the humidity in the safe slightly more than the Hornady unit but barely. House is at 60%, safe with Lockdown: 57%, safe with Hornady: 59%. The Hornady unit has flimsy mounting feet where the Lockdown unit has more sturdy feet and it comes with mounting screws. NEITHER ONE DID MUCH FOR THE HUMIDITY but the Lockdown unit is performing better than the more expensive Hornady unit. I wrote the in-service date on each one with a silver sharpie. We'll see which one lasts longer. I strongly recommend using a desiccant in addition to the warmer and do what you can to seal your safe. I did not take the surface temp of each unit but I will when I get a chance. Hope this helps. Edit: Two days later I took surface temps with my digital infrared thermometer. The safe with the Lockdown showed the unit had a high temp of 134 deg F, internal safe temp of 72.5 deg F, and an internal relative humidity of 55%. The safe with the Hornady showed the unit had a high temp of 120 deg F and an internal relative humidity of 56%. The house was at 67 deg F with a relative humidity of 57%. Clearly the Lockdown is better.This works. After placing it low in my boat and leaving a hatch cracked interior mold growth is no longer a problem.I don't have a way of measuring the humidity, but reviewing to comment on the heat aspect. At its hottest it's a little too much to keep your hand on for long. I'd be slightly concerned if it were in constant contact with something inside the safe or the safe's fabric liner. I'll be putting a drop of silicone on the feet of the rod to help ensure its position doesn't shift.I bought this for a small 100 cu/ft room in basement. I ordered the 18" rod that is rated for 200 cu/ft thinking bigger is better. Rod gets very hot so I was hopeful it would drop the humidity. I installed hygrometers in the basement and in the room. Monitored for 2 weeks, and found humidity stayed the same in both rooms. 70-85% humidity. Best I could get is a 1% drop in humidity with Lockdown rod. I'm quite disappointed.These bars are great, they do the job!But keep in mind that they will not work well if you try and use them in a small room (e.g. washroom) as they are not designed for that.Great product. Rod seemed to get quite hot so I contacted the manufacturer about it. They explained that it was normal but make sure you don't have it against anything as items may get damaged. Instructions indicate having the unit close to the front of the safe for best results. Due to the design of a safe I am using I had to put it at the back. Still works great.Decent little device, gets quite warm to the touch quite quickly. Time will tell if it has longevity for now.1 star deducted just because I don't trust the "plug" the design is neat but there is so little there I hesitate to use it unsupervised as it is.2020 update, still going strong :) 1 star readded as the plug is still working too :)Appx 5 years and going...