Keeping dry atmostphere in workshop

[DennisCA]

Oh yes one of my future plans is to use a home built solar catcher to warm and dehumidify the shop for free. Probably building it next year.

It's called a "window".
Single glazed and drained if you want it to dehumidify. South facing for heat. The best design is the double sash - water drains off between the meeting rails and at the bottom of the bottom sash. But it doesn't have to be that complicated.

A single glaze window. I think they stopped using those in the late 1800s in Finland. The amount of heat lost through that would be atrocious.

A proper solar catcher is insulated on all sides and preferably a vacuum is made between the transparent layer and the metal to minimize heat losses there. And the black surface is corrugated for maximum efficiency of catching the sun.

 

[woodfarmer]

I use oil on my machines... roughing out bowls from green wood causes 99% of eh dampness in the lathe shed.

 

[YBT4]

My shop is 10x4m , 150 slab with radon barier, blocks on the flat wiith 50mm kingspan on the walls and pitched roof, I have never had any dampness so far five yrs on, the external walls are not plastered even, I put it down to the radion in the slab and breathable membrane under the steel cladding

 

[blackrodd]

One of my friends bought himself a ML7R,recently, which is a solid piece of iron and I believe this latest addition has tipped the balance of cold steel mass in his workshop, as for the first year in 25 years of the workshop history, the metal is sweating and going rusty.
He's taken to cleaning every part up and waxing with Bri-wax, and no problems re occuring so far.
(I think he's using dark oak, do you think it makes a difference)??
He also said that the Startrite planer thicknesser was easier to use and feed.
Regards Rodders

 

[Benchwayze]

Oh yes one of my future plans is to use a home built solar catcher to warm and dehumidify the shop for free. Probably building it next year.

It's called a "window".
Single glazed and drained if you want it to dehumidify. South facing for heat. The best design is the double sash - water drains off between the meeting rails and at the bottom of the bottom sash. But it doesn't have to be that complicated.

A single glaze window. I think they stopped using those in the late 1800s in Finland. The amount of heat lost through that would be atrocious.

A proper solar catcher is insulated on all sides and preferably a vacuum is made between the transparent layer and the metal to minimize heat losses there. And the black surface is corrugated for maximum efficiency of catching the sun.

If that be the case Dennis, then I don't know why my shop is so dry. The metal door is white, and it has the normal gaps around it that any up and over door has. Fact is it still gets hot in summer, and reasonably warm in winter after an hour or so of sunshine.

I don't know what condensation is in my shop.

 

[Claymore]

In my old workshop (converted garage) the metal door was white and it was always cold/damp in winter, i changed the colour to very dark green and amazingly on bright winter days it was lovely and warm and no damp the sun warms dark colours hence reason Arabs have white cars to deflect the sun (black cars warm up more in the sun) simple solution and cost nowt.
My new workshop is great all doors are upvc white and fully glazed....... also has a 8ft d/g window, the office is insulated with plasterboard but the main room just has painted breeze blocks and insulated metal roof.... its always cosy as its south facing and gets sun all day.

 

[DennisCA]

If that be the case Dennis, then I don't know why my shop is so dry. The metal door is white, and it has the normal gaps around it that any up and over door has. Fact is it still gets hot in summer, and reasonably warm in winter after an hour or so of sunshine.

I don't know what condensation is in my shop.

I don't know what you think I said in my earlier post, but I didn't say it wouldn't work. Only that it would be terribly ineffective and inappropriate for this climate. I was so shocked about the single glaze thing I had to go and google about british construction standards afterwards to read up on it. In subtropical climates like the UK perhaps you can get away with things like single glazed windows without making your power bill go through the roof.

 

[Benchwayze]

Well Dennis, in the 1950s we didn't have a choice. Double glazing was unheard of, central heating was for the rich, carpets also were out of our price range. In fact I remember making a pine and perforated zinc food-safe', at school, to store the meat outside, because we didn't have a fridge.

On the other hand, I could go to the pictures, buy a bag of sweets to eat in the cinema, buy a fold of chips on the way home, afford a bus ride, and still have change from a sixpenny piece!

well, okay... The first paragraph was true, the second paragraph might be stretching it a bit. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There is a cheap and cheerful solution that works. My workshop is part of a large garage with up and over doors. Two of its walls are part of the house and two are outside facing, one of which is the big door side. It does get a bit rusty on the cast iron but the draft from the gaps in the doors helps a little. I just (about every 3 months) use a green kitchen pan scourer to clean the cast iron tables (bandsaw, tablesaw, planar/thicknesser) and then coat it with cheap old paste wax from Tesco with a soft cloth. If you want to achieve the same thing but spend a lot more money, use that T-9 Boeshield (didn't Boeing develop it for the aircraft industry???) which I understand is pretty good.

To be fair I've had no problems with the cheap wax. The trick is you have to do it in time...sort of October ish or whenever the ambient temp starts to drop and keep it up, especially after heavy use.

I do my bandsaw every time I've used it to cut heavy green timber.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There y' go....have page of blurb....I think I'm going to be sick....allergic to marketing speak......

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

And this is the cheap old rubbish I get from Tesco that does the job just as well but without the blurb or the need for a mortgage!

 

[Hickorystick]

excellent - I'm going to try this... and as an added bonus I'll have the nicest lavender smelling machines in the neighbourhood !

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There you are y'see...now can T-9 botty-shield claim they smell of Roses?? I don't think so

 

[Jacob]

Oh yes one of my future plans is to use a home built solar catcher to warm and dehumidify the shop for free. Probably building it next year.

It's called a "window".
Single glazed and drained if you want it to dehumidify. South facing for heat. The best design is the double sash - water drains off between the meeting rails and at the bottom of the bottom sash. But it doesn't have to be that complicated.

A single glaze window. I think they stopped using those in the late 1800s in Finland. The amount of heat lost through that would be atrocious......

Double or triple glazed will still work as a dehumidifier if designed properly with some way for water to run off. In winter you add curtains / shutters etc. All it requires is for the window to be the coldest surface, which they usually are anyway.
One way or another there has to be energy exchange.

 

[blackrodd]

Lavender polish, Can't stand the stuff!
I had to work for my pocket money, when it was too wet or cold outside, feeding our chickens, collect eggs, work in the garden etc, I was known to be sent polishing furniture, using the jolly old lavender flavour.
Rodders

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

It reminds me of my old Mum, God rest her soul......she loved the stuff....whole house reeked of lavender.

 

[blackrodd]

It reminds me of my old Mum, God rest her soul......she loved the stuff....whole house reeked of lavender.

Yeah, me too! Reminds me of picking, gooseberries, raspberries etc, etc, and the dreaded blackcurrents, about 10.000 to the pound, and bottling everything for the winter larder with mr Kilners jars.
The house we lived in then, still had the pigsty at the bottom of the garden..
regards rodders

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

don't forget the elderflower and elderberry wine.....demijohns blipping and bubbling for months on end before the most evil smelling potion emerged from the bottle several years later

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a gallon of banana blow on me when the lock clogged - excrement, you should have seen the ceiling. It was one of thirty three separate gallons I had going in the kitchen at the time.

 

[blackrodd]

don't forget the elderflower and elderberry wine.....demijohns blipping and bubbling for months on end before the most evil smelling potion emerged from the bottle several years later

My gran made the elder flower, so smooth, and elderberry wine, lovely in the winter as a hot toddy with the hot poker
There was a lot to being a housewife and mum then, Rodders