Mold in my box / unhappy guns

[Joe13]

Costco has two Eva dry dehumidifiers for $18.99 that is an extremely good deal!

I paid $20 at Bimart for just one unit and it works great.

Costco In-Store 2-Pack Eva-Dry Renewable Dehumidifiers, $18.99 01-27-2018

Are those the small 100cuft ones?

 

[Joe13]

Thank you so much everyone for the good information . I really believe at this point I need to add electricity to the safe . I sure wished I would of done it before . The box has a punch out for a outlet but its covered up by a wall now . Again thank you very much .

If you can't get power to your safe then the rechargeable ones work great.

I have a 4,000lb safe that has 8" of steel on every side (mosler made in 1911) that I'll never get power too and it sits in my garage. Desiccant in every corner has been just fine for me.

 

[nammac]

If you can't get power to your safe then the rechargeable ones work great.

I have a 4,000lb safe that has 8" of steel on every side (mosler made in 1911) that I'll never get power too and it sits in my garage. Desiccant in every corner has been just fine for me.

View attachment 426732

That's not a safe man, that's a fortress...

Eva-dry rocks...

 

[gon-fishn]

If you have mold in your safe the first thing to do is to kill it. Put 1 cup of household bleach in a gallon of water. And wipe down every surface in the safe. If you have carpeted areas you will need to heat them up or somehow wash and dry them. The mold spores will not go away unless you kill them.

Borax is a much better choice than Cl because not only is it a natural mold inhibitor, it also provides residual protection, is odor free, non-toxic (unless you ingest it) and works on both porous and non-porous surfaces. Use a 1:16 ratio for either one.

 

[osprey]

Sort of. And he doesn't have a power outlet...

Humidity is relitive to temperature and not pressure. Otherwise a hot house on a freezing day would exhaust all of your inside air very quickly while replacing it with cold. It does that but slower and only because temperature wants to normalize.

Humidity is like hot water and sugar. The hotter the air the more moisture it can hold. When it cools off you get condensation (like dew on the grass).

So keeping your safes inside slightly warmer is for sure the way to go if you have power but since that is not the case you need something that will soak up the ambient humidity and keep condensation from happening.

Regchargable desiccant's are the way to go if you have no power available.

You may need more then one and it may not last as long as advertised depending on what the temp swing is.

Not sort of, temperature is pressure. Temperature gradients are what cause wind Think of a house just like a safe. Warmer air is less dense than colder air and therefore has a higher moisture carrying capacity. As the air is warmed by the goldenrod or houses heating system it expands and absorbs water from the inside of the house/safe. When this voume expands, the higher pressure forces some of this air out of the house/safe through cracks and sometimes planned vents carrying the moisture with it. This water vapor is continually seeking a lower pressure environment. Like houses, safes are not truly airtight and you do not want them to be. Some air exchange will happen with door openings and through cracks due temp/pressure fluctuations in the environment around the space, but this cooler air that infiltrates will stay low in the safe/house and interact with the heat system gaining pressure and excess moisture again is driven out. This is one reason heat registers and golden rods work better placed low. Also in the case of a safe installed in a garage or another unheated space, the guns inside will be slighly warmer than the ambient air in the space, so even if you open and fan the door exchanging all the air, the temp of the guns act as little high pressure areas, not letting the moisture in this cooler air condense on the metal. Now putting a very cold gun in a heated space will cause the moisture in the air to condense on it quickly. This should be avoided. @Stomper should back me up on this being a HVAC guy.

 

[01rednavigator]

Are those the small 100cuft ones?

It says 333 square feet.

 

[Mark W.]

Borax is a much better choice than Cl because not only is it a natural mold inhibitor, it also provides residual protection, is odor free, non-toxic (unless you ingest it) and works on both porous and non-porous surfaces. Use a 1:16 ratio for either one.

Good to know I was just going on what I have always been told to get ride of Mold. Had not heard about Borax until now.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Power to the safe is fine (i did, but only use it for lights)

1) You *need* to clean the mold out, otherwise you're screwed.
2) You can save on the power by just using the eva bricks linked in this thread, mine work a treat, i run two and recharge them opposite each other (one in safe, one recharging)

 

[Joe13]

Power to the safe is fine (i did, but only use it for lights)

1) You *need* to clean the mold out, otherwise you're screwed.
2) You can save on the power by just using the eva bricks linked in this thread, mine work a treat, i run two and recharge them opposite each other (one in safe, one recharging)

Interesting. The ones I bought take 10-15 hours to recharge and they specifically say not to charge a charged unit.

I'll have to see how they work, I had to charge them first so I'll put them in the larger safes tonight and put the stack on 100 in my small safe, and will write up how long it takes between charges.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

I'm sorry, i should have been more clear.

I meant that whilst i recharge one, the other is in the safe, and once you've done that once, you can recharge them one after the other each time they need recharging, that way you've always something in there helping keep moisture away.


Times between charges will vary on the weather and the temperature, but i typically get a week or two before i want to recharge them.

 

[Tony617]

That is for a regular outlet and I didn't put power in the safe.

I have one of these in my one safe that has no electric outlet. I plug them into a wall outlet to regenerate when the color shows wet and then put back in my safe when the color shows dry.

 

[Tony617]

This last summer I walled in my safe . It's completely framed in two layers of sheet rock,instillation, and exterior on all sides. I have have this safe for three years and have never had a mold problem before . I put Dry-Z-air in it and the mold seem to get worse. The safe wasn't wired for power , now I'm regretting that. So has anyone had this problem? View attachment 426628

Can you retrofit the safe and add an outlet? No biggie if you cannot. I have some LED lights in safe without power as well. One turns on automatically when it detects movement from my hands and I have another LED light up on the side that I manually turn on.

 

[Pete F]

I bought 14 pounds of blue indicating silica gel (desiccant). I use about a pound in my gun safe and change it out about every couple of months. Dry in oven at 250 degrees for a couple of hours. Lots of uses - ammo cans, reloading supply boxes, etc. Amazon sells it for reasonable prices. I also use a dehumidifier in the room containing the safe. Acurite digital humidity monitors work well and are cheap.

 

[wolfwistle]

Ok I tried the rechargeable dehumidifier by itself ,and cleaning all the mold with Borax . Unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop the mold issue . So I had to break down and wire the safe with electricity. This was a huge pain in the bubblegum . Please use me as a example of what not to do. If you are going to wall in a safe get power to it first. ANYWAY,,,, 36'' golden rod and the rechargeable humidifier are doing the trick.... THANK YOU so much for all your advice..

 

[NW Backpacker]

Beautiful installation! Now put a BIG mirror or painting or book shelf over it to hide it - maybe a big paper map of the world or of Oregon,etc.

Hope your heater has stopped the moisture problem.

Like others have said - do not put a cold gun in the safe. I'd leave it wrapped up for a few hours in blankets when you come in from the cold so it can warm up slowly or set it where a heater can blow warm air on it.

Also what do think might be the temperature range of the space behind the safe, and what is the temperature range in the area in front of the safe? If the safe is cold, and the house is warm (warm air holds more moisture), then moisture will migrate to the cold safe and if surfaces in the safe are below the dew point temperature, moisture will condense. I'd guess the first place it might form would be low, closer to the floor. You could build a platform inside for guns to raise them a little - if the guns aren't too long.

Also, I have heard the sheetrock and fire proofing materials can hold moisture (especially when new) so you might remove your guns, and put a portable electric space heater inside the safe - leave the safe door cracked, not closed, and heat it up to about 90 or 100 degees for several hours to dry out of the materials. Keep a close eye on it check that nothing is getting too hot in front of the heater - don't leave it running overnight or when you're gone - don't want to start a fire!!! ALSO, CHECK MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR YOUR ELECTRONIC LOCK - DON'T GET ANYWHERE NEAR THE MAX TEMPERATURE!

If still having problems, you can get a data logger to draw a graph of temperature and humidity inside the safe. Put it in there for a week, particularly during cold weather, and find out what's happening- maybe do the same for the house in front of the safe. If you do it, make sure the air temperature in the safe is several degrees (probably 5 to 10F) above the dew point temperature at all times - check relative humidity too - there are articles on optimum conditions for mold. Data logger:

https://www.amazon.com/Lascar-EL-US...rd_wg=cUp2p&psc=1&refRID=034ZV29E8Q5ZW4F8C7NG

 

[SIG34]

Interesting.. maybe get a dehumidifier !!!

 

[billdeserthills]

The goldenrod will keep the safe internally heated to about 115F--that will chase any humidity out

 

[wolfwistle]

The Goldenrod only keeps it about 70 degrees but with the rechargeable dehumidifier everything seems to be working fine.

 

[SIG34]

Golden rod and maybe they should've used bathroom drywall?

 

[awshoot]

Find a way to get power in that box. A goldenrod is the most effective and troublefree method to combat moisture problems. Great looking install!

I use a goldenrod in the engine compartment of my boat -- the boat is in a marina in the puget sound, meaning aside from a few days per year it is in the water constantly in high humidity area. The goldenrod keeps it nice and dry in there all winter -- the space is big enough for a chevy 350, 100 gallon tank, random stuff I store down there, and me when I need to work on stuff. If it can handle a space like that, it can handle a safe.