The damned humidity! Gun storage questions...

[mpollan1]

I’d covert it to conditioned storage and workshop. A 110v mini split is less than $1000. Keep it at a vaguely reasonable temp and most can be set to dehumidify mode. Of course if you need someone to install it that’d probably up the price to 2-3x as much (sorry, not sure how much more. I do all my own permitted work).

Wife and I have been taking about buying a large property in western MD or WV. Thought I’d use it for camping for a couple of years. Then probably build cabins. Very plural.

Probably building them roughly 12x16. Do a communal bathhouse/cabin. If we move there in retirement probably build a real house. But on the smaller side. Use the cabins as guest houses for the kids visiting. Or if we have grandkids visiting some day. But I’d probably convert one to guns/hunting/ammo work shop. Probably won’t have a house big enough to have that at whatever the next place is.

Crazy how much HVAC companies charge to install given how damn easy the minisplits are to install. Gauges and a vacuum pump (free rental from autozone), some wrenches and voila.

 

[Sgt. Psycho]

I gotta say...just to be absolutely truthful...that if any of you ever meet my wife you will know that I made it all up as a feeble attempt at humor. She is actually the one that is more concerned about my firearms than am I. She has never so much as frowned at one of my many purchases or at the many, many times I am out shooting one thing or another. She's the one that makes sure I go out and buy firearms specifically for her...think M1 Carbine(s) or a Springfield XDe or a Sig Trailside amongst others. And I'm dead serious in saying that she is a better shot than I am...with the right firearm anyway.

Having met you both, I was wondering what the heck you were talking about.

Let's just say that last fall we built a 10' x 22' "shed" thinking one day we would turn it into a guest house.

It might be turned into a gun and reloading room before it becomes a guest house...

Just properly insulate the shed, and run an AC/dehumidifier. There are ways you can harden the structure, and just keep the safes in there.

 

[nedsurf]

Rig grease on the items that were shot infrequently and Barricade on the items that were carried and saw regular use got me through my time on the deep south bayou without a speck of rust.

 

[INMY01TA]

Moved my safe to the unconditioned garage a couple years ago. According to the hygrometer inside, it stays drier in the unconditioned garage with a golden rod than it did in my climate controlled rec room with no golden rod.

 

[Ngrovcam]

Dumb question (I am really good at
those...):

Would an incandescent light bulb (Say 40w)
in the bottom of the safe do the same
thing as a golden rod?

Is the rod simply more cost effective since it produces only heat, not heat and light?

 

[boisepaw]

Yeah...I was letting it get a little carried away. You have indeed met her. So you know for a fact that I married waaaay above my station in life.

Having met you both, I was wondering what the heck you were talking about.

 

[Pinecone]

Crazy how much HVAC companies charge to install given how damn easy the minisplits are to install. Gauges and a vacuum pump (free rental from autozone), some wrenches and voila.

Most have precharged lines and components.

Just hook them up.

 

[Pinecone]

Dumb question (I am really good at
those...):

Would an incandescent light bulb (Say 40w)
in the bottom of the safe do the same
thing as a golden rod?

Is the rod simply more cost effective since it produces only heat, not heat and light?

Light bulb gets hotter.

And it burns out, so you may go for a while unprotected.

 

[Pinecone]

I have a goldenrod but am suspicious it does not get warm enough. I can easily hold it in my bare hand without any discomfort so I don't think it does much for raising in safe temps. Am I mistaken?

It is not supposed to get hot, just warm the air a bit.

You do not need a lot of temperature rise to reduce the humidity.

 

[lazarus]

It is not supposed to get hot, just warm the air a bit.

You do not need a lot of temperature rise to reduce the humidity.

This. I forget what they pull, but I want to say they are around 10w, maybe 15. In a semi-sealed safe with fireproofing the insulation factor is reasonably high. 10w of heat is just plenty to raise the internal temperature by 5-10F.

That's good to lower relative humidity by 10-20%. It isn't a solution for an extremely humid environment.

60F and dewpoint of 50F is a relative humidity of 69.5%. Raise the temperature to 65F and your relative humidity drops to 58.3%.

Raise the temperature to 67F is 54.3%. 70F it is 49%RH.

It doesn't take a lot to go from kind of too high, to ideal.

It wouldn't be good still if you had really high humidity levels and big temperature swings. So, IMHO I wouldn't want to do that with a safe in an unconditioned garage or shed. It would make it just dandy for a basement that isn't overly wet and would sure give a safety factor for an unconditioned space.

BTW, safe goldenrods are 8 or 12w for the two different models. For larger enclosed spaces, they run from 8 to 38w for 100 up to 400cu-ft spaces (again, and assumption that they are reasonably well sealed, IE relatively low rate of air exchange).

 

[K31]

Eezox is your friend.

 

[Towsonite]

I dealt with the same problem when I moved here, but the likely issue is more a combination of humidity and the changes in temperature. I lived in an extremely humid climate, but we never had to deal with rust on tools in a shed since it was hot enough day and night that you never had to worry about condensation on them. Here, if it's not climate controlled everything gets cold at night, then suddenly blasted with hot humid air every morning and gets covered in condensation. So, the climate control for temperature is likely far more important than the actual humidity. From experience, more so with tools than guns, I know there are some people who store tools in non-climate controlled workshops by putting their tools in a closet or similar and just leave an incandescent light on to keep the temperature high enough that everything doesn't get covered in condensation each and every morning. They obviously make the closet or container insulated and sealed enough to retain the heat. The problem is exacerbated in storage containers if they get a lot of sun, which is often enough to heat it just past the dew point but not high enough to dry the space. (People with sunrooms have similar issues).

 

[Chiefscs]

I keep mine in a big safe in the garage and use dessicant purchased from Amazon and no problems. I have several of these (HYDROSORBENT OSG-40 Silica Gel Dehumidifier Desiccant 40 Gram Orange) and you can get dessicant by the gallon to refill. I haven't had to refill in a very long time. Seems to work fine for me.

 

[Slimster22]

+1 on the Birchwood Casey Barricade. That stuff is magic.

 

[Clif]

My safe is on my basement Never had a problem and don't use anything. My brother's is in his garage, no golden rod but a couple of 5-lb desiccant bags. He still gets rust and also mold on any leather.

 

[JoeRinMD]

My safe is on my basement Never had a problem and don't use anything. My brother's is in his garage, no golden rod but a couple of 5-lb desiccant bags. He still gets rust and also mold on any leather.

I also have my safe in the basement. I never had a problem with rust, but have noticed blotchy white powdery mold/mildew on some of the wood stocks. By adding a goldenrod, after giving the stocks a rubdown with disinfectant, the problem has gone away.

JoeR

 

[JB01]

To retard corrosion, the metal is treated with oil or grease then the firearm and a desiccant pack are sealed in a VCI firearm protection bag and stored in a space dehumidified to 40% relative humidity.

 

[bpm32]

I more or less gave up on humidity control and got these:

https://www.zerustproducts.com/products/firearms-ammo-weapons/vci-gun-storage-bags/

 

[Wardove]

Yep, gun safe and goldenrod for the lucky ones. Rest in corners away from ac vents, usually in socks or cases. Keep all oiled and or waxed.

 

[CletusBluckner]

Good info on here. Thanks everyone