Storing tools in cold weather

[devonwoody]

I was thinking more of providing a background heat, but yes charging would be an additional benefit.

Or divert some central heating pipes through the area might be beneficial.

 

[Carlow52]

So far as my experience goes Mark there's not much choice but to as Rod says get some heat in there.

The problem in most cases is not the low temperature - the fun starts with the thaw when warmer, higher humidity air moves in because any decent sized chunk of metal about the place takes a lot of warming up.

These having stayed cool condense moisture out of the air and end up sopping wet - and rust like crazy. There's no oil or coating I know of that can be relied upon to stop all rusting.....

Just to add to the above; heating the air in the workshop increases the air's ability to absorb moisture from various places, including the human breath.
Then when the air cools down again the moisture must condense out and those big cast iron tables and motor stators are perfect

If at all possible the workshop should be maintained at a constant temp, even if that is lower than what passes for warm in a house.

Insulation and air-tightness will make this reasonably achievable

In passing dehumidifiers are now relatively cheap and some also come with a heating option: I acknowledge the dusty environment but they come with washable filters

 

[ondablade]

I've been looking at dehumidifiers, and have been using a domestic model in my shop - the thinking is that it'll be needed in the Summer to keep the humidity down.

One issue I've run into is that neither the domestic nor industrial de-humidifiers I've looked at seem to have a button that allows you to dial up the required %RH set point. They instead seem to use some sort of energy savings oriented map, and whatever it does will not pull the %RH below about 60%.

The problem is that you need to get down to more like 45%RH to maintain wood at 8 or 9% moisture content.

This suggests that a proper air conditioner may be required to gain this ability, and there's also the question of how these will do in a dusty environment.

The likes of EBAC do specialised workshop air conditioners, but I've not so far been able to find out what is different about these compared to a stock air con unit.

Anybody know?

 

[Sgian Dubh]

hi i use a 10x12 metal shed as my "workshop" if you can call it that

however, i am concerned about the cold affecting my powertools i store in there - my smaller tools (drills, grinders, saws, router etc) are kept in a metal cabinet while my sliding mitre saw is on a shelf.

Mark, if you can find some way to 'permanently' run an extension to your shed, then a set-up like that in the image below works well. It's just a regular plywood cabinet that has quite tight fitting doors, plus a light fitting and a 7 or 9 watt low energy bulb.

 

[Mark A]

hi thanks for the idea
unfortunately the shed is full of the usual shed stuff - wellies, christmas decorations etc, plus an outboard engine!! so there isn't any room (at the moment 8-[ ) if i can make some space i'll definitely do it.

thanks, mark

 

[Fromey]

One issue I've run into is that neither the domestic nor industrial de-humidifiers I've looked at seem to have a button that allows you to dial up the required %RH set point. They instead seem to use some sort of energy savings oriented map, and whatever it does will not pull the %RH below about 60%.

My domestic dehumidifier allows you to dial in the humidity you wish. It's this one;

http://www.mitsubishi-dehumidifiers.co. ... .html#p278

 

[Mark A]

unfortunately i am on a very tight budget so can't stretch to buying a new dehumidifier, although i will look at second-hand ones. are they very effective??