How to eliminate a rusty environment?

[Butch 194]

I have a tool shed and a seperate shed for my pool filter/pump, pool supplies and lawn chemicals. The stuff in the tool shed does not rust. The pool shed is another story. Stuff rusts very quick and even stainless steel gets very pitted and rusty. The tool shed has no windows but the pool shed does. I've tried having the windows open and closed during summer and winter. I've had this problem 15 years. Neither place is insulated. Pool shed has a much higher roof. I'm assuming it's the humidity causing this. I have a dehumidifier but would prefer to use it as a last resort. Would a vent fan work? Do they have hunidity thermostats for fans? It's time I cure this headache. Any other theory for this rust problem? Thanks for any and all help.

Butch

[Coadster32 793]

You might try a ridge vent to let out all of the hot/ humid air. Soffit vents help also and alow the air to self-circulate. Moving air would greatly benifit you. Good Luck.

[Butch 194]

You might try a ridge vent to let out all of the hot/ humid air. Soffit vents help also and alow the air to self-circulate. Moving air would greatly benifit you. Good Luck.

Coadster32 I have a ridge vent but NO soffit vents. When I built it I

was wondering if the soffit vents would be important. I guess you

need them for circulation. The other shed has no ridge vent but does

allow air in from the sides. Thanks.

[jimt1971 237]

Butch,

I had a mushroom fan installed in my house last year with a humidstat. This year that fan has pulled out a ton of humidity. I got mine from Lowes for around 120.00. The worst thing would be the install. They also sell the stat separately if you already have a fan installed.

Jim

[Butch 194]

Butch,

I had a mushroom fan installed in my house last year with a humidstat. This year that fan has pulled out a ton of humidity. I got mine from Lowes for around 120.00. The worst thing would be the install. They also sell the stat separately if you already have a fan installed.

Jim

jimt1971 I can't go that route. I just installed solar panels on the roof

to heat the pool. So I don't have any room. I looked at the back side of the building and I can't even put an exhaust vent up at the peak. I ran all the solar plumbing up there. I can put one about 7 feet up on the back wall. I'll have to do something to protect people from sticking their hands in it. I will have to get one with the louvers. What do you have the humidty level at?

Thanks

Butch

[jimt1971 237]

Butch,

I think it is 80% and 105 degrees.

Jim

[porkchop 1]

We had a jug of muratic acid likes used in pools spring a leak at a shop I used to work at over the weekend. By monday morning anything that was cast or steel was "RUSTED BAD" from the fumes. The fumes from chlorine and other chemicals can do this too and quickly.

[Horse Fanatic 50]

I agree with Porkchop that it may not be the humidity but the chemicals present. We had a farm and a rule of thumb was to not store fertilizer in a metal building. The fertilizer and the pool chemicals (even in containers) can rust the metal present in the building.

[Butch 194]

Butch,

I think it is 80% and 105 degrees.

Jim

jimt1971 I put a gauge out there and the humidity was 72 % which is what our house currently is and the temperature was 80 degrees. Either we're getting better movement of air in the house, since nothing inside is rusting, or there is no air flow at all in the shed. I am gonna put soffit vents in to see if it makes a difference

and remove all my chemicals. If it doesnt work I'll put an exhaust fan in the back wall.

Thanks.

Butch

[Butch 194]

Porkchop and Horse Fanatic I did some research on the internet and have found that pool chemicals will cause corrosion even in sealed containers. It's hard to imagine but I guess it's true. And I do have a lot of chemicals out there for both

the lawn and the pool including a couple gallons of muratic acid. You sure can't smell anything though. I also noticed where I had a couple bags of fertilizer laying with some garden tools in the tool shed that they too had rusted. But everything else was fine.

So now I'm gonna look at "plastic" outside storage units to put all my chemicals in.

I hope they can all be stored safely with each other. The acids, chlorine and fertilizers I might consider putting them in seperate plastic containers and then store them in the plastic storage unit. I have noticed that my 75 lb bucket of granular pool shock has hardened up leading me to believe moisture has gotten in so it's not air tight. Some of the 3" chlorine pucks are wrapped in individual plastic

bags and another brand isn't.

So the plan is to move everything to seperate outside storage, air the place out and stick a wrench or something in there to see what happens. By what I've read and by what you guys say this very well could be the problem. This isn't a light rust

either. It's a very heavy,crusty, pitting rust. In just 1 month last year it took all my

new quality stainless steel hardware, stainless steel filter tank and stainless steels hose clamps and turned them into a pitted, crusty, rusted mess.

Thanks

Butch

[stevasaurus 23,065]

butch...the guys above are all over what's going on (they are right)..you may still need to vent whrere you can (important).

My 2 cents...you may want to wash the inside down with soapy water just to get rid of all the caustics that would permiate the structure...that should take care of your problem. :thumbs2:

[Butch 194]

stevasaurus I bought those round soffit vents that you drill holes for and insert

today from Lowes. I also bought a small plastic storage shed from Sears. So tomorrow out go the chemicals and in go the vents. I plan on washing down what I can. I read where you shouldn't store acid and chlorine together because of the poisonous gas they will create if accidentally mixed. I'm gonna store them together but have the acid in it's own plastic storage compartment in case of a spill. Pool chemicals and fertilizers are pretty corrosive even while they are in containers. I've had this pool 20 years and never knew this was a problem. Even my wife is amazed it took me 20 years to learn something like this.

Thanks

Butch

[fordsonmajortom 1]

You could use an ioniser to treat the pool water which removes the need for any chemicals. Have a look at this site. www.ionclean.co.uk

Michael

[stevasaurus 23,065]

butch...sonds good...it doesn't take much to have that problem. I have a bag of salt for the driveway in a corner of the guarage...riuns the garden tools.

let us know if the fix works.

[Rod(NASNUT) 1]

I keep my granular pool chlorine in my shed and have N/P with rust :thumbs2:

[Butch 194]

It's been close to a month that I moved my chlorine to a seperate outside storage area. It looks as though this may have taken care of the problem. I put some stainless steel clamps in where the filter is. They rusted pretty quick as did all the other stainless parts.

When I take the lid off the 75 lb pail of granular chlorine that I shock the pool with you really get hit hard with the chlorine fumes. It really knocks you on your butt. I now walk away after taking the lid off to let the fumes disipate somewhat then come back to it. The bucket of chlorine pucks aren't near as bad as the granular although they are two different types of chlorine. I'm wondering if every time I opened the granular bucket the fumes had an affect on the metal parts and stainless parts.

But I think getting the chlorine outa the pool house took care of my problem. Thanks to all those that gave me info. Hard to believe I waited 20 years to address this problem. Well not actually!!

Butch

S. Jersey

[stevasaurus 23,065]

butch...sounds good. If you put those soffet vents in, you will have to wait untill late winter-early spring to see if the condensation problem is taken care of also....I bet you fixed it.....cool :thumbs2:

[Butch 194]

stevasaurus parts were rusting too fast and furious I think for condensation

or humidity. The humidty in the house with the A/C off was the same as the pool

storage. I would think there wouldn't be any difference between my gargae and the pool storage and I've had no rusting problems in the garage. And it just wasn't

surface rust neither. It etched the parts and the rust was very thick and crusty. It's

hard for me to understand that the chlorine vapors did it but it sure looks that way.

Butch

S. Jersey