Condensation , perfect storm.

[Tricky]

Does that require the garage to be pretty much air tight though? Otherwise you're just sucking water out of constant airflow?

Doesn't on mine, as I have a typically draughty up and over door, and previously had the dampest garage known to man due to it's height relative to the garden immediately behind it, but since I've had the dehumidifier in there, never a hint of damp or corrosion on the bikes or tools. I just leave it going 24/7, and it pulls multiple litres of water out of the air every day

Do you run yours on the low setting,@Tricky ?

I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember- , I haven't changed it since I bought it and I never turn it off, I've got a feeling it's on high but I'll have a look and report back

[Rockburner]

Does that require the garage to be pretty much air tight though? Otherwise you're just sucking water out of constant airflow?

Doesn't on mine, as I have a typically draughty up and over door, and previously had the dampest garage known to man due to it's height relative to the garden immediately behind it, but since I've had the dehumidifier in there, never a hint of damp or corrosion on the bikes or tools. I just leave it going 24/7, and it pulls multiple litres of water out of the air every day

My wooden, unlined workshop has the dehumidifier (a biggish one, but don't know the brand, might be an older Meaco?) running 24/7: well - it's on 24/7, but that means it's not actually "running" 24/7. Takes a few days, maybe a week or more to fill the jug up. We're right down south and only about 5 miles from the coast, so it's humid and not too cold. Mind you - it's also quite breezy here, which probably helps keep the moisture in the air lower than otherwise?

[Skub]

Since I have a radiator out in the garage,I was considering adding one of these to push the warm air about a bit better.They sit atop of the radiator. Anyone used one?

[Tricky]

Doesn't on mine, as I have a typically draughty up and over door, and previously had the dampest garage known to man due to it's height relative to the garden immediately behind it, but since I've had the dehumidifier in there, never a hint of damp or corrosion on the bikes or tools. I just leave it going 24/7, and it pulls multiple litres of water out of the air every day

Do you run yours on the low setting,@Tricky ?

I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember- , I haven't changed it since I bought it and I never turn it off, I've got a feeling it's on high but I'll have a look and report back

These are my settings-

it always seems to be on but as far as I can tell uses 3/5 of fuck-all electricity, and I never have damp worries in there any more so have never bothered changing the settings from what it's on in the pic, I just I clean the filter every month or so

[Dodgy69]

We've got a dehumidifier we keep in the spare room for drying washing. Was gonna put it in the garage Friday morning, opened the door and all is dry. Magic init.

[Count Steer]

We've got a dehumidifier we keep in the spare room for drying washing. Was gonna put it in the garage Friday morning, opened the door and all is dry. Magic init.

Reminds me of a bloke I worked with. Bought some tyre sealant gunk in the 80s (think it was called OK or something like that). Never got round to putting in his bike tyres. Put it on a shelf in the garage and used to touch it for luck before taking the bike out.

Never got a puncture in a bike tyre in all the time I knew him.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I bought a Meaco dehumidifier today to help with my laundry over winter (it's crap at ironing).

I'd never heard of the brand before yesterday, I'm glad to see your very-obviously-more-vintage one is still going strong!

[demographic]

After the 2005 (or thereabouts) Carlisle floods Chemdry (the .ain company doing the drying out of the houses) generally put dehumidifiers in the houses, drying out took ages.
After the 2015 floods they put the dehumidifiers in but also put pretty big fans i as well to move the air about. The homes dried out waaay faster.
I have no idea what relative the lecky bills were, I just worked in the houses and saw the difference.

[ZRX61]

After the 2005 (or thereabouts) Carlisle floods Chemdry (the .ain company doing the drying out of the houses) generally put dehumidifiers in the houses, drying out took ages.
After the 2015 floods they put the dehumidifiers in but also put pretty big fans i as well to move the air about. The homes dried out waaay faster.
I have no idea what relative the lecky bills were, I just worked in the houses and saw the difference.

That's SOP here after water pipe failures that flood homes. We've had it twice over the past 10 years or so. Just a couple of fans, but 6-8 dehumidifiers damn near the size of washing machines. First time was a hallway & bathroom, second was the bathroom, walk-in closet & hallway in the primary bedroom. Sounded like someone left a Harrier idling in the house for a week.

[Brickie]

I refer to the original post / poster: I feel your pain. I had the same thing the same weekend, shiny new 4 jaw scroll chuck gone orange, milling bed, lathe ways and cross feed ditto, water on everything.

My take is that after 4 or 5 days and nights around or below zero (so everything in the shed bloody cold, but dry) the wind went westerly, temperatures rose to 13/14 degrees and it peed down solid. Any significant lump of metal (a motorcycle for example) stays cold for a few days and water condenses on the cold surface. (Also inside of window glass, everywhere). With horrible results. The shed though insulated and a bit draft tight is way too big and high for any dehummer, which work brilliantly in a smaller space

I cleaned the machines up in the same way: like you said, light machine oil and Scotcbrite pad, everything off the mill table, tool post stripped (all of which was doubly painful as I have stuff set up) etc. Some hand tools.....Then sprayed with ACF50. A few weeks later now and we've had a few cold warm cycles since, albeit not on the scale and its all immaculate, and also reminds me what clean and tidy machines look like. (In the interim I've been on another job so none of it has been touched since).

But: wipe it all off the chuck before you spin up the lathe, it sprays out in all directions and you are pretty much in the firing line. I discovered.

Interesting thread.

[Pirahna]

This just popped up on my Facebook page. A bloke pops a camphor tablet in his toolbox to prevent rusting.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14nD3JFnoeA/

[ZRX61]

Then sprayed with ACF50....

But: wipe it all off the chuck before you spin up the lathe, it sprays out in all directions and you are pretty much in the firing line. I discovered.

Use Gibbs oil instead of ACF50

[Brickie]

Best I can tell, they're much the same thing - aimed at the same market in any case. If I'd had any to hand I'd have used Duck oil, - the cheapest of the cheap. But: I looked around the shed for a suitable spray, grabbed the nearest to hand and used that.

I do have a 5 ltr can of wd40, but thought the acf50 more appropriate (for no scientific reason , but its more 'oily')

Why Gibbs? Or anything else?

Either way it works. I've enjoyed your monster truck thread, I have no desire to own one which makes it easier