Humidity and Rust - at work right now.

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Rick M

New User
Rick
I run a dehumidifier in my insulated unconditioned garage. Keeps the humidity in a decent range. You'd be amazed how much it pulls out of the air after a rain.

Just curious though, has anyone tried those tool covers/blankets that are supposed to prevent rust? I think that htc sells some.

No but I had left a blanket over part of my saw, coincidence, it made no difference. There was rust under the blanket and beside it.
 

rcarmac

Board of Directors, Secretary
Robert
Staff member
Corporate Member
Does a dehumidifier make a difference in an un-insulated shop. What about an un-insulated shop that might not be 100% sealed up.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
Dehumidifiers will remove moisture from the air no matter where they are located, but don't expect them to do much below about 50 deg. They do their best in warmer temperatures, but that's the time that humidity can be the highest and rust most prevalent. In a poorly insulated/unheated shop it's also possible to overload the dehumidifier due to excessive air exchange with the outdoors. Give it a chance by insulating and sealing the area and it will work fine for you.

Charley
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
This is one reason why I leave the heat pump running in the shop, although set at 40 deg when I'm not there. It keeps the humidity low and the cast iron rust free. It also keeps the glue and latex paint from freezing and the Ni Cad batteries happy. I use Johnson's Paste Wax for all machine tops and unpainted surfaces. I never use automotive wax because many contain silicone and it will affect wood finishing if it gets on the wood. Johnson's Paste Wax is much safer. Anything with silicone in it is totally banned from my shop and if I have anything with silicone in it, it stays in the garage at the other end of the house. It's impossible to completely remove silicone once it hits the wood and even tiny drops settling on the wood will cause a finishing disaster that is nearly impossible to correct.

Charley

Yep and a good reason to not use furniture polish with silicone in it too.

Sent from my DROID Pro using Tapatalk 2
 

kommon_sense

New User
Tavaris
Does a dehumidifier make a difference in an un-insulated shop. What about an un-insulated shop that might not be 100% sealed up.

Absolutely. I was running the dehumidifier before I insulated my garage. Humidity was often > 60% in my garage in the summer. Dehumidifier can knock it down to < 40%. The humidifier was extracting about 2 gallons of water a day. In the cold months, it hardly ever runs because humidity is usually around 30% unless it rains.

Downside is that the dehumidifier can cause a spike in your electric bill. So best to seal up the space/shop if you can.
 

Endless Pursuit

New User
Jeff
I make my living doing battle against corrosion and I found this stuff called VCI Paper. The VCI stands for Volatile Corrosion Inhibitor. It looks just like brown Kraft paper and contains a chemical that emits a non-toxic passivating vapor. Cut to size and lay over the cast iron when you will be away for a while. It works amazingly well. I will come back here in the next few days and post the name of the stuff and where I bought it. Not cheap because of the minimum order but 4 or 5 guys could split an order (2 rolls) and each have a lifetime supply.
 

KenOfCary

Ken
Staff member
Corporate Member
It would also be helpful if your wife told you she spilled a full bucket of water in the kitchen above the shop. "Oh, but I mopped it all up."

There was standing water mixed with the rust on the cast iron wings of the planer. Luckily I found it in time last night and other than missing a lot of shop time cleaning up the rust and protecting the cast iron with D9 once more no real harm done. It was a very thin coat of rust that came right off with the BoeShield rust remover.

The rest of the water was puddled up on the floor under and around the planer. The OVRX with Urethane topcoat held it very nicely, didn't soak in at all. I truly wondered where all that water came from until I finally got the "Maybe it was the water I spilled" story.

Gotta feel a little for her though, she's been having to carry buckets of water out to the horse barn several times a day lately to keep drinking water for the horses as the pipes to the automatic waterers in the barn have been frozen for a while.
 

jaustin

john
Corporate Member
Had rust issues last year took me all weekend to clean everything up.
Since then I leave the propane heater on in my shop so i don't have to that again.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
An un-vented propane heater will actually add moisture to your shop. One of the products of combustion of propane and natural gas is moisture. If your heater doesn't connect to a chimney or outside air vent of some kind this moisture is going into your shop.

You should all learn what the terms "Dew Point" and "Relative Humidity" mean. Look them up on Wikipedia. They have more to do with rust on your tools than the shop temperature.You should also avoid, if at all possible, rapid warming of your shop temperature where the cast iron cannot warm up as fast as the air. Warm moist air and cold cast iron are a bad mix. The result is usually rust.

Charley
 
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