Garage Humidity

I have a 350 square foot garage with 12 foot ceiling/rafters. It is very musty, humid, hot, and dusty. Temperature is usually in high 80's for about 10 months out of the year. There is no Heat/AC unit. I need to protect the car in the garage and need some guidance?

What should I do? A Nice Humidifier or something like the portable hvac system called
EdgeStar 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner and Heater.

Thanks.

 

leeber here is a link to a garage thread that could possibly be helpful....
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/detailing-showroom/4374-garage-pics.html

Good luck.

 

You might consider a ductless a/c and heat system like the Mitsubishi.

Energy Efficient Ductless Mini-Split Products | Mitsubishi Electric

 

I have struggled with this problem for a dozen years and I do not know the right answer.

I live in central Florida which is hot and humid like your state. I have chosen to do nothing.
You can look at my car collection at my profile. The C7 Corvette and BMW M3 are left out
side The rest of my collection is in my storage location. I am glad to report I have had no problems thus far. I suspected battery life would be hurt but I get 3-5 years. My oddesey battery went 11 years.

So right or wrong that has been my experience. I suspect if it was a problem we would see garages air conditioned. I am sure they exist but i have personally never seen one.

Good luck what ever you do.

Lee

 

I Air Conditioned mine. I maintain 77 degrees and the cost is not bad, but that is in New Jersey.

Joe

 

Plus or minus 10 or 15 degrees F isn't going to make any difference to a machine like a car.

High humidity on the other hand is bad since as the temperature increases and decreases can cause water to condense in places where you don't want it to.

If I were in central Fla. (and I spent 4 years at the U of F so I know the area). I'd try to get some ventilation in the roof of the garage and make sure there was a ceiling so that the heat in the attic would vent and this will stabilize the temperature in the garage. That would go a long way to stabilize the temps in the building and probably let it go at that. If you really wanted to you could add a dehumidifier or an A/C system and just set the thermostat high (like 85 F or higher). The A/C wouldn't run much but it would suck the humidity out of the air in the building and that would do what you need to do.

 

I have used a simple dehumidifier for approx. 20yrs that is appropriate for the the garages with zero problems. I set the dehumidifier at 55 % year round as we live currently in Fl.. One of our homes is on the water and there I store a 65 Porsche. The others are inland.

 

The area I rent to store my cars has offered to AC my 4 bays. They have also offered to put Chinese caps on my roof. My storage area has a 20 ft ceiling so that helps some. But as pointed out by some posters not ideal. I have thought and even priced a stand alone dehumidifier.

I suspect in area that has daily hot and cool cycles so water condenses would not be good for older cars. My only old cars are a 1954 and 1965 Corvette so nothing to rust at least on the body.

Newer cars starting in `1999 for Porsche 911s and perhaps later for other marks have a lot of corrosion protection built into the design.

When I lived up north New Jersey and other states the salt for ice and snow control was murder on older cars.

Nice discussion.

Best

Lee

 

Lee: The value of your cars is such that you should do whatever is necessary to keep them in a AC enviroment. Whether its AC or a dehumidifier just get the humidity down to about 60% or less. I am fortunate in that I have 2 aircraft type hangers fully air conditioned to store my cars. Cost has never been an issue and the cars lover it. So do I when I decide to take one out and it is nice and cool inside on the leather seats!

 

I appreciate the kind caring advice

Best

LEE

 

great responses. i don't think there is a "right" answer. i do think that a dehumidifier is really what i need. i think i will try that route first. good models range from a few hundred bucks on up to about $1200 for my garage size, so its not too expensive to try until i find the best solution. portable a/c units and ductless a/c units range from a few hundred bucks to about $1200, too.

i will post the results...

 

Ha... the last thing you need is a humidifier. (Yes, I know, typo, you meant de-humidifier).

Try renting a de-humidifier for a week or so, not expensive. see if it helps. They're on a cart with a drain hose.

 

Tcar, i love catching typo's, too. good eye. My instinct tells me to trust your driving.

 

Get a dehumidifier, otherwise you will start getting mold on your leather, dash, etc...

 

Sorry, somehow I thought leeber was leead1 and sent a reply to the wrong guy, leead1. Sorry Lee.

 

are you kidding… I would accept being the "wrong guy" any day of the week when when the mistake is with an FChatter with a 458 and a previous-car-owned-list like leead1. About the only similarity, other than our given name, and an interest in math and science, leead1 is WAY cooler than me! Thank you for the mistake…even if only in a chat-room!

 

If I recall correctly, Porsche started galvanizing its cars around 1976 or 1977.

 

Lee

 

My first Porsche was q 1999 so it could have been earlier.

Best

Lee

 

I think your advice is good. I have been storing these cars for about 12 years with no problems thus far, To be honest I am not sure why I have not seen problems. Maybe I drive the cars enough.

Many people still leave cars outside with no problems. My C7 Vette and BMW M3 sit outside so who knows why I have been lucky so far.

There are several other people in the same storage area with several cars. I should talk to them to hear their experience. Thank you for poking me. I will look into it further.

Best

Lee