Im in the middle of moving out to Lake Havasu ,,,I have quit a few containers of paints primers and bondo I wanted to bring. It gets very hot in the summer is it safe to store it in my shop with the extreme heat in the summer. If not any ideas how to,, Thanks ahead
Now that is a conundrum! I would add some kind of A/C to the shop. I would also store any kind flammable liquid and paint in a metal cabinet, for fire safety. I personally store all paint and gasoline in a metal cabinet on the outside and north side of my shop, but I'm in central OC. FYI, the north side of any building will get the least amount of direct sun.
x2 In any climate a fridge will lengthen the shelf life of hardeners, and paints. I've kept hardeners for over 3 years in mine and still good. On the shelf, about 6 months is it in Oklahoma.
My bud kept his paint and fillers and what not in an old fridge for years. He had it outside the shop in an area that was almost always shaded. In his case he was more concerned about fire and freezing than heat but after last summer heat is an issue here too.
We lived in the Klamath basin forever. Had huge temp swings winter to summer. We had an ol fridge that was not functional and it worked great had a thermometer in it and it stayed areound 60 t0 65 all the time. If you store it in the fridge with it running in the extreme heat the high 30's to low 40's may not be good on the paint supplies.
Might try digging a root cellar if you have a way to keep water from draining into it. Below ground temps are usually pretty steady. Maybe get one on those metal shipping containers and bury it so that one end sticks out. Then not only room to store paint and flamable stuff, but lots of other stuff you don't want to part with. Friend of mine who restores/modifies Corvettes has one as a cheap way to keep valuable parts out of the weather. The thing about refrigerators is most of the good old ones have begun to reach their limits. We had one in the garage that gave great service. Finally needed repair. Worked a little longer then needed more repairs. Lost food because of it, so we bought a new well known forever double door replacement. After about 3 months in the winter we noticed some of the frozen food was not staying hard. Had an industrial thermometer inside and the freezer was only reading about 28 degrees. (still fine for paint storage in the refrigerator side). We contacted Lowes and they informed us that we had NOT purchased a "garage rated" product. Now our garage never gets below about 45 degrees because we have a heater and an exposed water line. Luckily (?) they agreed to take it back and sell us a "garage rated" one for $300 more. It was also slightly smaller. While it has not been a problem yet, I did open the freezer side last winter and saw a mid 20s reading. In the summer, it seems to do the job, but that does not mean that all brands will work properly. I'm merely pointing this out as I'm sure there are many others out there who are unaware (like I was) that they have found another way to squeeze a penny out of you. Expect to pay $1200/$1500 for a decent size refrigerator to hold all your stuff. Expect to pay the $ costs of keeping it running 24/7 . Don't expect it to last 30 years like the old ones used to............
You don't need a running one just the insulated container to keep the extreme temperature in check. I use a cooler in the back of my car in the summer so my samples don't roast.
I live outside of Vegas and my shop is a steel 30 x 50 with R11 . I have a vented outside storage cabinet for some flammables, paints, thinners and filler are inside near the floor. When it is 110° the outside west wall gets to 140°+ but inside tops out 90ish.
Plenty of used fridges around. Set to about 50 or 60 degrees, it won't have to work that hard. Swamp coolers work great in that area and use far less electricity than AC. Be sure you keep your tape in a fridge or you'll wind up with a big ball of goo. You don't need to keep your supplies that cold. Room temperature is fine. What about getting one of those pre-built sheds? A little insulation and a swamp cooler : the ideal situation
Thanks guys for sharing some great options ,yeah coming from san diego inland were we had hot summers I just also had a metal shed outside never gave it a second thought or had a problem but the heat here is in a whole other league, I like the idea of keeping it out of the shop all together. Probably to need to dump some of my inventory, I did spot repairs for almost 30 years and have probably a hundred 1/2 -3/4 pints of quality DBC base coats I hate to toss being some of the colors last I bought some was running upwards of $100 for a 1/2 pint..I have hung on mostly silvers ,whites colors that may come in handy doing miscellaneous like a set of wheels ect,,thanks again for your response.s
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