I Need to reduce humidity in built in garage, tools rusting

[Richard J Kinch]

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

[Richard J Kinch]

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.

[1_Patriotic_Guy]

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]

[1_Patriotic_Guy]

[Doug Miller]

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.

[C & M]

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

is a good one). Here's a link to a search I did;

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.

I can buy and use a dehumidifier in the summer (I am told trying

[Richard J Kinch]

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

[SJF]

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

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

[meirman]

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

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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