Probably a silly question but why not ask for piece of mind.
Bought a new NAC 272 at a good price but wont be using it for possibly 8 months. I was thinking that my place is kind of cold and maybe damp during the winter. I thinking of adding some extra desiccant to the box to protect it while I store it. Am I being silly or should I go right ahead?
Yes, I’d put yourself before the 272. Living in damp conditions is not good for you. Think of how much heat you could have for the price of a bit of hifi. If using desiccant makes you happy then go for it.
Regarding the heat. Tell that to the cheap builders that decided way before me not to insulate the walls or roof cavity to the point that my thermostat is pointless. Cowboys!!!
Consider where you’ll be leaving it - if well packaged and boxed I suspect it’ll be ok even if the box suffers from getting a bit soft. If it’s out in an area in daily use and reasonably well heated it’ll probably be ok, but beware damp/draughty areas/locations.
I have a lot of stuff to declutter but have not had time due to family matters.
We’d put a lot of this stuff in another room which has always been draughty from the suspended floor and has a tendency to have high humidity in the winter, it’s even worse with wood flooring as there used to be carpet but the edges got discoloured where air would come up into the room from below under the skirting.
I started moving things in there the other day and realised I’d made the mistake of putting certain things against walls with little or no air circulation and there were patches of mold on the wall. I was also rather annoyed to find an AV amp I’d left on the floor, out of the box ‘protected’ by ‘stuff’ which had green mold on the volume knob. The fact is those things were only meant to be there for a couple of weeks at most but it had been much longer - sometimes work/family commitments derail you from attending to things which do not need to be done immediately.
I always put boxes of gear in storage by putting them in a big bin liner and thoroughly sealing it with packing or gaffer tape. A single newspaper slipped in will absorb any internal condensation.