Powder storage question.

Brother_Love

Brother_Love

Well-Known Member
I am about to move my Reloading operation from inside the house to a cinder block storage building. I will have a/c in summer but no heat which is ok since Mississippi winters are short and mild .

I have my powder sealed in high quality plastic buckets with the screw on lids with rubber seals. Is this sufficient for outdoor storage? If not, what do you suggest.
Thanks, Malcolm
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
a little cold is fine.
it's a lot of hot and wet that is bad.
something I would imagine that Miss. has about 10X more of than necessary.

personally I would keep it in the house and take it out with me when I wanted to use it.
or go get a fridge off one of your neighbors front lawns, build some shelves inside it, and keep it humidity free.
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Brother_Love said:
Hey, thanks. I've got an old fridge that don't work. So now I have a powder locker.
Click to expand...

Just be sure that when you close the door to your new powder locker that the humidity isn't already 90% and your locking the water inside along with your powder. o_O
 
Brother_Love

Brother_Love

Well-Known Member
I've just about decided to take the fridge to the dump and keep my powder in the house where it is. We have high humidity almost all year here, if fact, it is 100% today.
Thanks
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
An old refrigerator that DOES work can be turned "up" to something like 50° and if it's a frost-free should keep the humidity low. But it has to work or it becomes a sweatbox in about 30 minutes.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
work,,, or have a humidity rod installation.
that doesn't help the temp but it will keep it dry if the seals are good.
probably just as cheap to find an old beater fridge that does work.
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I use an old dead fridge and a 25 watt light bulb along with a big desiccant box. I'm still using powder from the late 1970's.
 
Brother_Love

Brother_Love

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the suggestions but it looks as though I am remaining indooors so I will not need a new powder storage system.
 
Rally Hess

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
Brother Love,
You need to spill some powder or gas checks on that bench when you post pictures like that. Your giving us all a guilt complex!! LOL
On a more serious note, pertaining to powder storage. It would do us all well to read the regulations on powder storage. IIRC any amount over 30 lbs is to be stored in a lockable wood container, and only so much can be stored in even that container. It's been a long time since I've read the regulations so don't quote me either. Could be a problem if you had a fire and the fire or insurance people got involved.
Also most counties/ townships have regs pertaining to storage of freezers and refrigerators stored outside a dwelling. Here they either have to be locked or the latches disabled to keep children from being locked in them while playing around inside them.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
I am totally ripping off your gas check storage system idea, that's brilliant. I do the same for screws in the shop, but didn't think of it for gas checks.
 
RBHarter

RBHarter

West Central AR
Briefly .
32# per cabinet constructed of nominal 1" wood material with venting or 1 blow out wall per cabinet .
A second cabinet may be placed at a distance of 25' or;
A second cabinet may be placed at a distance of 10' separated by an 8' tall and 8' deep concrete partition wall .

Approximated from the National Fire Prevention Code from which local ordinance and law are typically drafted if an ordinance exists .

There is something else there about 3 or maybe 5 or more requiring a change of spacing . It seems like you can have 3 but then those 3 have to be separated by 25 ft from the next 3 .
To abide by the law in a 20×24 garage you can place 1 in the corner 1, at 10 ft from the corner and 1 10 ft from the 2nd on the 24 ft wall then place 1 ea 8ft from the corners on the . They are 10 ft apart and 25 ft or more from the other 3 .
156# in 5 legal cabinets .

There may be additional limits on total amounts .
Often a mall type abutted store has a 32# transportation limit and a 64# load limit .
Additionally they will have to decide between primers or BP because the hazard class is the same in some packages . Don't ask why real BP packaging changes it's class from 1.3 to 1.1. I've worked the industry for 22 yr and some of it still baffels me ....... Best guess is container size and therefore full consumption propagation .
It's why a 1.1 assembled with a quantity of 1.3 making up 8# of 1.1 and 58# of 1.3 on a 3,800# pallet make the whole pallet 1.4 .
 
Bret4207

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Some of those code type "laws" only apply to commercial entities. Works the same way with Hazmat. I've had a great many people tell me all sorts of things I "had" to do, only to find out that I don't even exist as far as those laws are concerned. If your insurance company says otherwise, fine. But I wouldn't get too nervous until I found out for sure what is and isn't required for consumer levels vs commercial levels.
 
Rick

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I think many laws regarding powder storage are local and come from the fire department. In L.A. County it's 25 pounds (residential) and I don't think it says much about where or how to store it.
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
Brother,that's a nice setup and understandable why you want to stay put.All I can say is,being totally spoiled rotten in our loading room.....picked up a Kennedy machinist upper and lower box.It really helped getting the precision "stuff" put away and darn convenient to access.
 
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