I own a 25 year old home with a garage under the bedroom.
The door is standard wood door. Two walls are concrete block. The wall
adjoining the home's basement is standard wood frame covered by drywall. My
tools are
rusting, just by being stored in tool boxes in the garage. I live in
Nebraska and have never had this problem before. Moisture gets in in the
winter from snow carried in by my wife's car. In the summer, the warm
outside air seems moist. A relative humidity meter (I purchased and placed)
on the wall rarely goes as low as 60% and is usually above 70% and sometimes
above 80%. I can buy and use a dehumidifier in the summer (I am told trying
to use them in the winter can damage the unit).

Do I have other options? Are there granular or other products that will
draw the moisture out of the air? Is there a reasonable way to minimize the
moisture my wife's car brings in (or isn't this the culprit)?

Thanks in Advance.

Respectfully,
Andy

1_Patriotic_Guy writes:

My
tools are
rusting, just by being stored in tool boxes in the garage.

You don't have any chlorine or acid products stored in the garage, do you?

Chlorine tablets are stored in sealed plastic tub (approx 20 pounds total).
I can't think of any acid products?

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
1_Patriotic_Guy writes:

My
tools are
rusting, just by being stored in tool boxes in the garage.

You don't have any chlorine or acid products stored in the garage, do you?

I used to access the tub every week inside the garage. Now I tend to carry
the tub outside to the hot tub before openig so as not to get overwhelmed by
the fumes. I assume chlorine vapor corrodes/rusts metal?

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
1_Patriotic_Guy writes:

My
tools are
rusting, just by being stored in tool boxes in the garage.

You don't have any chlorine or acid products stored in the garage, do you?

1_Patriotic_Guy writes:

I assume chlorine vapor corrodes/rusts metal?

Yes. The pool tablets outgas slowly but continuously, as you have noted
when opening the bucket. The bucket is as good as wide open since the lid
is not a gas-tight seal. It takes very little of that free chlorine gas to
corrode things in a closed room. Keep it outdoors.

In article , Richard J Kinch wrote:
1_Patriotic_Guy writes:

My
tools are
rusting, just by being stored in tool boxes in the garage.

You don't have any chlorine or acid products stored in the garage, do you?

Whether he does or not, isn't really important - 70 to 80% relative humidity
is enough, by itself, to cause his tools to rust. The man needs a
dehumidifier.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

I can't imagine why the unit would be damaged in the winter unless your
garage becomes so cold as to freeze the condensate in the resevoir. If such
is the case or just don't want to use one you can keep the tools in a
central cabinet and install a dehumidifying rod to reduce the relative
humidity in the cabinet. They are used in gun vaults and are simply a
resistance rod which emits a low level of heat. Check with any of the
sporting goods suppliers (www.Midwayusa.com is a good one). Here's a link
to a search I did;
http://www.midwayusa.com/esearch.exe...elector=10615&
search_keywords=goldenrod&Click+to+Begin+Search.x= 15&Click+to+Begin+Search.y
=8

I have used these for years in various applications and they work well at
very little cost. For get the silica granuals. They are saturated in short
order and you will very quickly tire of laying them out in the oven to
reactivate them (dry them out). Every time you open the door the humidity
is going ot spike just by virtue of the atmospheric saturation level.



"1_Patriotic_Guy" wrote in message
link.net...

snip

I can buy and use a dehumidifier in the summer (I am told trying
to use them in the winter can damage the unit).

Do I have other options? Are there granular or other products that will
draw the moisture out of the air? Is there a reasonable way to minimize
the
moisture my wife's car brings in (or isn't this the culprit)?

Thanks in Advance.

Respectfully,
Andy

Doug Miller writes:

You don't have any chlorine or acid products stored in the garage, do
you?

Whether he does or not, isn't really important - 70 to 80% relative
humidity is enough, by itself, to cause his tools to rust. The man
needs a dehumidifier.

Rust can be easily prevented without humidity control, even at 70 pct RH
(noncondensing), but not if there is chlorine gas around.

"C & M" wrote in message
...
I can't imagine why the unit would be damaged in the winter unless your
garage becomes so cold as to freeze the condensate in the resevoir. If
such
is the case or just don't want to use one you can keep the tools in a
central cabinet and install a dehumidifying rod to reduce the relative
humidity in the cabinet. They are used in gun vaults and are simply a
resistance rod which emits a low level of heat. Check with any of the
sporting goods suppliers (www.Midwayusa.com is a good one). Here's a link
to a search I did;


Any small heating element (light bulb?) should accomplish the same
result. --- SJF



http://www.midwayusa.com/esearch.exe...elector=10615&

search_keywords=goldenrod&Click+to+Begin+Search.x= 15&Click+to+Begin+Search.y
=8

I have used these for years in various applications and they work well at
very little cost. For get the silica granuals. They are saturated in
short
order and you will very quickly tire of laying them out in the oven to
reactivate them (dry them out). Every time you open the door the humidity
is going ot spike just by virtue of the atmospheric saturation level.



"1_Patriotic_Guy" wrote in message
link.net...

snip

I can buy and use a dehumidifier in the summer (I am told trying
to use them in the winter can damage the unit).

Do I have other options? Are there granular or other products that will
draw the moisture out of the air? Is there a reasonable way to minimize
the
moisture my wife's car brings in (or isn't this the culprit)?

Thanks in Advance.

Respectfully,
Andy

In alt.home.repair on Wed, 27 Jul 2005 00:35:26 -0500 Richard J Kinch
posted:

Doug Miller writes:

You don't have any chlorine or acid products stored in the garage, do
you?

Whether he does or not, isn't really important - 70 to 80% relative
humidity is enough, by itself, to cause his tools to rust. The man
needs a dehumidifier.

Rust can be easily prevented without humidity control, even at 70 pct RH
(noncondensing), but not if there is chlorine gas around.

Yes. I"m sure it is the chlorine. I was using another product, and my
cylindrical box of toilet bowl cleaner eventually opened up. It
rusted the hinges of the sink cabine, and left a layer of white dust
on the outside of the cabinet. I didnt' realize what it was for
months. (An electric wire brush, shaped like a grindstone, cleaned up
the hinges. In fact that will probably clean up the tools quite well,
as well as anything.)

But since we're on the subject JCWhitney sells or used to sell
something like pads that go in a tool drawer and prevent rust. They
also had a sheet that could be cut to fit.


Meirman
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