Dehumidifier not Cutting It

B

baddarryl

New member
Hi all. I have a Field and Stream E333 electronic dehumidifier in my Liberty safe. It is not quite cutting it. I live in the humid southeast, have to recharge it almost twice a week. I have noticed a little rust on a cheapo 870 with the parkerized finish starting. What can I add to this to reduce the humidity?

I keep it in an air conditioned environment, but for the last six months it was in a vacant house without the air running. I am aware my problem may have began there.

Also for those of you in a similar environment how often do you pull and oil your guns? Thank you.
 
If your house was without air conditioning all summer in a high humidity area, there may be lots more problems than just a rusty gun.
With air conditioning, I've gone as long as two years between oilings without harm.
Without the air conditioning, it would depend on how they were protected.
There was a time folks did exist without the luxury of air conditioning.
But we didn't have more guns that we had need for and actually used regularly.
And those got regular attention, so there was little issues with rust.
Of course, windows and doors were mostly kept open and a few fans ran.
The circulation of air, even hot and humid air, helped.
 
Last edited:
Actually now that I think about it during the heat of summer I ran it at 83 just to keep things reasonable. I didn't turn it off until Sept probably. Sorry about the misinformation.
 
I'm not surprised about the rust on the Parkerized "cheapo 870." I have the same problem with my park'd 870 here in "dry" Arizona, in spite of the occasional oily wipe down. I think it is a problem with that particular gun since I have heard others with the same complaint.
 
SE here as well.

Large dessicant cans, vapor corrosion inhibitors, and frequent bake offs of the dessicants are your new friends. Golden rods and other heat generating electric units can eventually crack wood stocks and wooden grips. And these aren't great with high humidity like we have in the SE.

Your installation/location makes a huge difference by the way. If you have bolts/anchors going into cold concrete or around cold steel, these act as heat pipes, upping the temperature differential between your safe and anchorage areas, thereby creating a condensation point.

How often do you open your safe? Minimize this. Make sure that your safe actually seals well w/ the dollar bill trick (close door on dollar bill) close/latch safe, pull bill. Try this all the way around the door. If it takes little effort to slip it out, you may need to adjust your hinges/latches. Oddly enough, this is also important in a fire. If the high temp seals aren't close enough to both surfaces, they will fail in a fire--leading to a safe with water and fire foam chemicals inside.

Remove leather holsters, and minimize any cellulosic materials inside the safe. These all can hold moisture (removing ammo is good as well since it can cook/gas off in a fire, ditto w/ batteries).

Get a hygrometer -- a good digital one ($50 or so) dedicated to checking humidity--not an all in one wonder w/a bunch of other functions. Cigar stores have some good ones. I like to keep my safe at a fairly constant 40% humidity. This is not easy to do in the SE, but it's worth doing if you value your stuff.

There's a lot of good info on humidity and preservation from museums online. Good luck.
 
If the 870 Parkerizing job wasn't done properly, that can be the issue. The military protocol calls for dipping in a mild warm solution of chromic acid at the end of the actual phosphating. This has the effect of putting chromium on free iron particles in the pourous phosphate matrix, preventing them from rusting by the same oxide layer formation process that inhibits rust in stainless steel.

The problem with that process is that chromic acid is highly toxic and subject to a lot of EPA controls. This may make it too expensive or otherwise unattractive to use if your shop isn't already set up for it. I don't use it in my phosphating projects for this reason. I hit the finished work with an acid neutralizing degreasing cleaner, like Formula 409, then quickly rinse it and put it into boiling distilled water (distilled to avoid water spots later; if you have both a water softener and a reverse osmosis system that follows it, that RO water may well be good enough). Boiling water converts any red rust that may have started to black magnetite (bluing) which doesn't rust easily. The heat, as it steams off to dry, puts a microscopic blue layer on any exposed steel surface, too. With the part thus prepared, water displacing oil handles the rest. It's extra bother, but you can do it.

For dehumidifying a cheap material is montmorillonite clay. This is in a lot of military spec desiccants. It is sold as oil absorbent and probably is what a lot of kitty litter is, too, but I don't want the deodorizers; just the clay. Spread it out on a cookie sheet and put it in your oven at about 450°F and let it bake for an hour. When it finally is cool enough to handle, pour it into a paper bag and tape it shut. The bag should have extra room in it as this stuff swells as it takes on water. It'll take on about 18% by weight at 40% R.H. Not fabulous, but cheap. Here's a comparison of different types.

If you put a jar with a perforated lid full of magnesium chloride in the bottom of the safe, it will take on water any time the RH is about about 32%, tending to regulate RH around the jar until it reaches a saturated solution. I do not know, however, what the capacity and recharging schedule (drying) will look like.
 
If it is electronic, why does it need recharging? (Or is this one that has the silica that you plug in now and again?)

I live further south and use a Golden Rod, two big boxes of desiccant and one of the plug-in silica ones - no issues
 
I use a Golden Rod and run a dehumidifier . My dehumidifier runs a lot when the AC isn't on , even in Nov. and Dec. when the temperature gets above 70 . It runs less during the summer with the AC on than in the fall .

I have a 870 that stays by my bed and it has never rusted , I wipe it down about once or twice a year .
 
For the record, the 870 is not an old Wingmaster. The finish is not blue, I guess I meant matte or whatever they used. Thanks everyone.
 
Golden rod and RIG Grease. Works great for me. The rig grease works a long time if the firearm is not handles. I wipe them down after each handling.

I also keep everything in silicon impregnated nylon gunsocks. NOt cotton.
 
Get some Beeman MP5 Metalophilic oil and use it to wipe down the areas you need to protect. It will dry/evaporate eventually but in my experience it leaves some kind of protective film in place. You don't want to use it as a lube because it is very thin and does tend to dry, but it works very well when used as a surface protectant to guard against corrosion.
 
I lived in south Florida for many years (almost 40) and what I used on all my guns was spray on Paralketone which we used as a corrosion inhibitor in the bellies of our fleet of aircraft when I worked for the air lines.

The particular brand we used was supplied by a local company in Miami, but you can still get it as "LPS 3." Mind you, this is for fairly long term storage.

What you do is spray the gun down. let it dry for about a half hour, then you can either put it away as is or, like I did, put the gun in a plastic sleeve, squeeze the air out then seal it. I have guns that stayed rust free for almost a decade like that until I unbagged them here in Arizona.

When you want to use the gun, the Paralketone just more or less wipes off (it stays in kind of a semi-solid soft waxy coating) with a little WD-40, or you can use mineral spirits on a rag. Either way it wipes off easily. (It's not at all like Cosmoline.)

Unfortunately, LPS-3 is not cheap; It runs about 12 bucks a can. About 5 years ago, I got a special deal from Enco in Nevada; I ordered a 5 gallon can of it for around $200.00 delivered and I use it in a regular plastic spray bottle instead of the pressure can.
 
I'll toss my hat in ive had great luck with a small simple usb fan. It keeps the air circulating in the safe rather then just sitting in there. Also I try and keep the safe open days when im home to allow circulation.
 
I have noticed a little rust on a cheapo 870 with the parkerized finish starting.
Click to expand...

Don't let that influence your decision about the level of humidity in the safe in general. Do some Googling and you'll find that those things are notorious for rusting in almost any environment. Remington should be ashamed of itself for producing such a shoddy finish.
 
Remington should be ashamed of itself for producing such a shoddy finish.
Click to expand...

Based on my own experience and that of some of my friends/acquaintances, I have to concur with this statement.:mad:
 
None of my 870's have ever rusted . One stays out of the safe by my bed , it is a synthetic Police and the other 2 are in the safe most of the time , both of those are the Express models . I run a Golden Rod in the safe . I do wipe the bedside run down once or twice a year with Eezox and the ones in the safe once a year .

I was doing some work in my house last year so I moved my reloading press in a bedroom closet . When I went to get it , after about 6 weeks of being in the closet , I notice surface rust on the handle . It never rusted while mounted on the bench . This was during Oct. when I was not running the AC . That is the reason that I run a house dehumidifier now , before this my 870 never showed any signs of rust .

I now keep the humidity in house at 50 % .
 
what about using those gun socks, I think they say they are silicone impregnated and help prevent rust

of course if its really humid and moisture soaks the socks, who knows then


you can buy big amounts of desiccant balls on amazon
just put them in a container maybe a sock could work

I like the type that change color, very easy to see when to put back into an oven to recharge

I recently bought an electric rod, and a humidity meter

still reads very high in the safe, so not sure if the rod is really working well enough
but im keeping the desiccant inside too and used a oil over everything for storage
 
WD40 is a crappy lubricant but is a hell of a good protectant.

There are others (100s) that will work too. Just be diligent and check the guns every so often.
 
Had the same problem in South East Coast of Florida

I was constantly reoiling guns and reloading equipment
started waxing everything IT WORKED
now I wax guns with car wax ( NO rubbing compound in wax )
two coats and its good for years ( including inside the barrel )
the guns shoot with no problems and after cleaned they get another
two coats of wax

Wax also solved a corrosion problem with my carry gun
heavy downpours of rain, wading and swimming out of swamp from
busted air boat, and no corrosion

I have been using Mothers California Gold W/ Carnauba
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top