Lancia Motor Club

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cImhs_uwrAU

I spotted this on Harry's Garage - how to store your car - which I guess we're all doing - quite interesting video ( although I wish I was driving it during this glorious weather )

I wondered about whether anyone has or is it possible to have a solar heater in the garage in the winter ? Mine has a southern aspect at least so it would be feasible.

Having used 10 solar PV panels for 8 years now I recommend them, ok the latest Feed in tariff received is not so good but the panels are cheaper now.  Even in what you would think is a dull winter day, my panels are still generating power, so yes go for it if you are planning to live there for 10 years, it's a good investment.

I'm a massive fan of Harry's garage, but unfortunately the advice he gave on this one was a little off the mark on this video. Although he explained the benefit of using dehumidifiers, there were a couple a statements I don't think were 100% correct:-
1) the statement that desiccant dehumidifiers have to be vented wasn't correct (and I can only guess he was referring to an aircon unit). Maybe I misheard him say that.
2) but the most misleading line was the need to have sufficient heating and that this was more important than dehumidification. Whereas the opposite is the case. The single most important thing is to manage the relative humidity (the amount of moisture in the air) and to reduce it to a reasonable level. While it's true that warmer air can carry more moisture before it condenses on colder surfaces (the thing you want to avoid), in practice you need very little or no heat if you're able to get the humidity down.

I've just got rid of my old fiat out of my garage and brought back my lancia where I was storing it in a carcoon inside a barn - which did it no favours whatsoever. Just caught it in time to be honest, but effectively those things while they might be dry and warm are just sucking in and blowing around ambient air into the space.

I know it's a bit nerdy, but the following sites are really useful tools (it shows that you can have the temperature down to -5C and achieve a near perfect environment of you can get the humidity down to 33RH. The only problem is trying to achieve a good enough door seals to do that.

http://www.dpcalc.org/index.php
http://protectheritage.com/Lisbon2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Linden-frinal-corrected-reduced-file-size.pdf

p.s. I do realise this is a bit obsessive, but after keeping a previous car in a nice dry heated garage for several years and wondering why every year the brake fluid needed changing I got a humidity meter and realised why the car was slowly deteriorating beneath the underseal and tools like ripsaw blades were getting surface rust - the humidiy was around 70-80RH even in the summer month.
 

Yes, I agree; I was surprised when Harry suggested keeping the temperature high - most museums are chilly places because as cyborg suggests, cooler air carries less moisture.

So what I want to do first is something to measure the moisture :)

Have to say that the saw blades always look good :)

My 2c has lived in a unheated lockup in an air chamber since 2001 after restoration in 1999, before that she was in a wooden garage I'd bought about 1995, before moving.
And I am sure with out the air chamber she would have rotted away long ago.
Brian
8227  8)

Yes definitely. I'd get a humidistat (with temp) off Amazon or eBay. Digital ones are handy but even the dial ones for around £10 are actually pretty good for a close enough.
 indication.
If you're not seeing any surface or flash rust on things like rip saw blades or steel sheet etc. then you might be fine and have an environment that's already ideal. But without measuring it (and putting the figures into the website calculator) you can never be absolutely sure.

It's a really tricky balance to get right - as dry draughty garage is obviously better than a damp sealed one, but the best of all is a dry garage but one where you can be in control of the humidity level. Ventilating with ambient air is sometimes enough (and this is where heat will help), but using a dehumidifier is best.

Slightly off topic, but storage of cars .....

How nervous was I doing this !

Is the Cab touching the rafters?

I can just about get mine high enough to get Justin's 2C through (under) with a coupe on my ramp...

I have got the same arrangement as Simon in my garage in Italy. My roof is pitched and not especially high but I can safely fit a B20 under another B20 on the lift which is what I wanted.
No photos with me here sadly.
Chris

I found a couple of photos. Its not quite as tight as it looks .
Chris

I have the headroom but have an extra complication of a tie bar ...... car in wrong position on ramp could produce some interesting lateral creases....

Soooo tight, I don't this I can fit the roof spoiler on number two...

Back on topic.
We had various vehicles and items of machinery stored in barns on the farm in Lincolnshire.

The barns were dry and draughty and this combination generally seemed to keep the rust at bay.
Keeping the pigeons out was another matter, also essential!

Anything left outside would generally succumb over a period of time, with anything substantial left at the end going to the local scrapman.

Charles