Climate Control and/or Air Exchange in 'Rooms',

[Sean the Nailer]

For those here who have 'rooms' to keep their stuff in, as well as reloading equipment and whatnot, what is the effective'est manner of climate control, humidity control, and air exchange?

At the end of the day, when everything is locked up tighter than a drum, there's no means of air change at all, and is it of a concern? Or do you just run with a de-humidifier and call it good?

 

[MarinePMI]

I think the key is similar to a safe's "golden rod", which just raises the temperature 1* above ambient to prevent condensation and rust. But then again, I also don't live in Canada, and in fact, live in a pretty arid part of the States.

 

[RTH1800]

My reloading and ammo storage rooms are simply climate controlled as the remainder of the house.
The more secure area has heat and AC ducts that are part of a 3” diameter high velocity system. Returns are the same size. No security issues. I monitor the area with a small weather station like the ones you hang outside your door. Never an issue.

 

[bullseye13]

My reloading and ammo storage rooms are simply climate controlled as the remainder of the house.
The more secure area has heat and AC ducts that are part of a 3” diameter high velocity system. Returns are the same size. No security issues. I monitor the area with a small weather station like the ones you hand outside your door. Never an issue.

Retina scanner has built in temp and humidity sensors.

 

[RTH1800]

It's not as high tech as it sounds.
The little weather station likely cost 60.00. Just temp, humidity, Baro thing that hangs on the wall.

 

[supercorndogs]

I think the ones I have were between 12 and 20 dollars. They give humidity and time. It is dryer than a fish turd in a sandstorm here. They are mostly just window dressing.

 

[Strykervet]

I use a garage. I have thick insulated doors but it still gets cold. Attic isn't insulated and divorce happened before it was done. In WA. It's not as bad as you think. As far as rust goes, the only times when rust is a concern is when the seasons change, spring and fall, and they don't usually last that long. During those times, I have to stay on top of things and be sure to oil things left out or that I'm using. I have a heater out there, an oil heater that plugs in, but I only run it when I'm out there. Big vault has the largest golden rod (I could probably use two) supplemented with a dessicant bowl (stuff goes in a "cage" on top and drips down into a bowl). So far, so good. No problems. Small vault only gets the dessicant. It's all magazines, parts, springs and cans of +P+ ammo, etc. and is packed full. The fuller it is, the less problems.

Inside, with central air, nothing needed to be done other than a dessicant bowl in the vault just in case. When I move, I'd like to be able to setup an arms room, framed in separate from the shop, so I can control the environment. Or possibly inside. Depends on where I move, what I'm able to get.

But cold air is dry air, and in the summer there's no water so it's dry then too. It's the changes that get 'ya.

 

[1moaoff]

My reloading room is actually in my steel shop building. I built a room and simply had a mini split ductless hvac installed. They are way better than most people think of you buy the good mitsubishi. My room is over 160 so ft with 9' ceilings and it works great. Fyi I'm in Ohio so hot and muggy summer's and cold damp winters.

 

[LucasJ1990]

I have mine setup in a shop that is insulated. It can get cold in there, but during the summer a dehumidifier or an AC window unit does just fine. No rust issues for the most part, but I keep things oiled.

 

[PDXGS]

It all depends on your location, daily temp swings, humidity and if your HVAC system is capable of dehumidifying. I have my gear and reloading setup in a room in my house that has vents. I'm in western Oregon, land of the ever-wet. I run an AC in summer when it's really warm but I'll open the windows weekly just to exchange the air for "fresh" outside air. I run several rechargeable dehumidifiers in my safe-which is not in a HVAC controlled area- usually in winter only and swap them out weekly.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

What is being worked with, at the moment, is a sealed room inside the home that has no ducts into it (yet) and an electric de-humidifier dedicated to that room alone. There is another de-humidifier elsewhere in the basement. With all the concrete involved (including the floor) it just seems that over time after everything's been closed/locked up for a while that it's "stale" or whatnot in there. Not quite wanting to say 'musty' as that implies to me 'moisture' and the de-humidifier is taking care of that.

But after leaving the door open for a while, and the fan on (oscillating fan) thing seem to normalize. Maybe one should just leave some Hoppe's 9 out in a pan or something, but for a person like me to actually notice it upon walking in there, it's something to be concerned with. Otherwise I myself wouldn't bother.

I was thinking about building a heat-exchanger and/or ducting in some HVAC as well as return vents. Just don't want to create vulnerable points.

The Blessings of having this situation to begin with, is a huge deal in its own. This 'problem' (if one could call it that) is of a minor issue and one of just 'tweaking the last few details' but we all just want to ensure that no further problems are going to come up. Rust is obviously a concern, always. Temperature differential being the first thing to avoid. But being the first to admit that I don't know everything yet (gimme another week ) I just want to head things off at the pass before finding out after that "something huge" could have been prevented by "something minor" in comparison.

Thing is, there really isn't much of a venue, anywhere that I know of, for researching/discussing "problems" such as these. Woe is us with our First World luxuries, eh? Oh, the dilemma....

 

[Spblademaker]

I did some work in a bank vault a few weeks back. It had its own HVAC system in it. You might want to consider a small ductless unit with heat and ac, to control the environmentals. But new air into the room is a must, periodically.