Southern Climates & Reloading .....

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

geosigma

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2011
Messages
12
Hello All:

I'm an avid reloader and am approaching retirement. I live in "Sunny" Ohio and am contemplating moving after retirement to Florida (or points south).

With the humidity in the south - what do you all (y'all?) do with your reloading equipment / powders / items sensitive to rust & humidity?

Since I won't have a basement; not sure how this would work. Not running the A/C for 12 mo.

Tx-

George
 
geosigma said:
Hello All:

I'm an avid reloader and am approaching retirement. I live in "Sunny" Ohio and am contemplating moving after retirement to Florida (or points south).

With the humidity in the south - what do you all (y'all?) do with your reloading equipment / powders / items sensitive to rust & humidity?

Since I won't have a basement; not sure how this would work. Not running the A/C for 12 mo.

Tx-

George
Click to expand...
I would just run the AC if it’s over 85
 
geosigma said:
Hello All:

I'm an avid reloader and am approaching retirement. I live in "Sunny" Ohio and am contemplating moving after retirement to Florida (or points south).

With the humidity in the south - what do you all (y'all?) do with your reloading equipment / powders / items sensitive to rust & humidity?

Since I won't have a basement; not sure how this would work. Not running the A/C for 12 mo.

Tx-

George
Click to expand...
I have it on good authority New England and parts North of Florida are FAR more humid than Florida or any place in the tropics - regularly seeing 90% non-condensing humidity - so you shouldn't have any problems. If it won't rust up North, it won't rust down here. One of my oldest friends is a snowbird and he keeps some of his guns and gear in Ohio, other stuff in Florida. A good safe dehumidifier is worth its weight in gold!

"Not running the A/C for 12 mo."

Lots of people don't, including me. The store room where I keep my reloading gear when not in use is not air conditioned. It does have good ventilation and a dehumidifier from Home Depot I run regularly but not constantly.

The biggest safety precautions are to avoid direct sunlight, maintain close to a constant temperature, even if it is a little higher, and avoid condensing humidity (a.k.a. "rain"). Non-condensing humidity can be taken care of with fans and good ventilation.
 
AZ or TX. Too many people in Florida and all that that entails. I know AZ humidity averages around 35% for the year. Not sure about TX, NM, etc.

I made an error in the averages. I plugged 7% as an average when it was the lowest I've seen in the 12 years I've been here.

Still about half of most states.
 
Last edited:
I have a home in South West Florida. Winter home, January thru May, only. All my reloading equipment sits in the garage that’s not air condition. Tools that stay on the bench in the garage are lightly oiled. Supplies, primers powders and loaded ammunition are moved into a closet when I leave at the end of May. Humidity is controlled by the central air which is in turn controlled by a humidistat set at 65% and the thermostat which is set at 80 degrees.
I’ve never been there June July August or September but I’m guessing it can be hot and humid.
I have been there in October and November. Yep hot and humid too.
My phones weather app says it 88 degrees in Englewood right now with 58% humidity. Florida does have a very dry winter guess it’s starting now.
It’s 72 in Rhode Island same humidity. :rofl:
 
Last edited:
I want to move to Florida too! And with great News from Amazon that Work from home now is indefinite! My Florida dream will be sooner than later!

Now how do I move all that reloading gear from Seattle to Florida
 
If you move to Florida, You will run your AC at least 11 months of the year!:what:

Anyplace South of say Orlando it is hot and humid most all the time. Yes there are a few days or weeks you can actually have the windows open and enjoy some "cool" air but not often,
 
geosigma said:
With the humidity in the south - what do you all (y'all?) do with your reloading equipment / powders / items sensitive to rust & humidity?
Click to expand...
It's "y'all" or "all y'all". Keep away from "you'uns", you couldn't pronounce it correctly anyhow.

In Upstate SC, I reload in the house, and that solves it. In Florida, I suspect you will run the AC (almost) all year.
 
whughett said:
Rent a Uhaul??;)
Click to expand...
I’ve moved across country from sea to sea 5 times. Became pretty good at packing stuff in a small car. But I got me a Mini Van now! I’ll pack everything myself and let the movers do the rest!

OP, sorry for hijacking. When I lived in North Carolina, I didn’t have any issues with Temp and humidity.
 
I lived in New Orleans for 4 years and ran the A/C three out of four Christmas's.

We've lived in various parts of the south since 1978, I'm considered a damn Yankee. My reloading area has always been in a climate controlled part of the house. It was always an important part of the purchase decision.
 
I posted a while back about my experiment of garage reloading in south Florida. Long story short I run a dehumidifier at 55-65 all year long in my garage. The garage door is insulated. I also have a portable AC unit which is vented through the same outlet as my clothes dryer. AC only runs when I'm actually reloading. I keep my tools and brass in the garage. The powder and primers stay inside.
 
Living in TX all my life, all I can say is it depends on where your at. Most all of TX is very capable of having 100F temps. Humidity will vary depending on your location. When I lived in the DFW area, it got got 100+ but the humidity was low (~50%). I loaded in the garage during the winter or moved my equipment inside where it was bearable during the summer months. I moved to E Texas and the humidity runs high avg >65%. I noticed my tools rusting so I ended up enclosing a section of my shop and installed a window unit for heat and cool. Then added a dehumidifier. The dehumidifier runs all the time. Without it tools still rusted so it's a requirement. The tools that I did not enclose (table saw, shop smith with attachments, radial arm saw just to name a few get a coating of paste wax). This works well in controlling the rust. All powder and primers have always been in a climate control place now. When I lived in DFW area only the powder was stored inside the house. Primers set on a shelf in the garage.
 
geosigma said:
Hello All:

I'm an avid reloader and am approaching retirement. I live in "Sunny" Ohio and am contemplating moving after retirement to Florida (or points south).

With the humidity in the south - what do you all (y'all?) do with your reloading equipment / powders / items sensitive to rust & humidity?

Since I won't have a basement; not sure how this would work. Not running the A/C for 12 mo.

Tx-

George
Click to expand...

Lol
You move down South ( I’m in Mississippi) YOU WILL be running the A/C year round. Maybe not every day throughout the winter but Ours gets kicked on a few times Dec thru Feb. When I lived in Fairhope Al We used the A/c most year round. Rarely used a heater.
As for basements. No such thing down here due to the water table. Build on a hill You could have a basement. But it would be very humid in it and You will need climate control in it. It’s mid October and I’m looking at condensation on the windows right now. Heat index today was 98.
Anyways. I keep My loading supplies in the house with No problems. But My house is definitely climate controlled.
 
Mark_Mark said:
I want to move to Florida too! And with great News from Amazon that Work from home now is indefinite! My Florida dream will be sooner than later!

Now how do I move all that reloading gear from Seattle to Florida
Click to expand...
Send it to Me in Mississippi. I’ll hold on to it for Ya! ;)
 
I live in N GA. I have a room/office/ play room, etc. What ever you call it where I have my computer, loading gear, most of my hunting gear, and ammo storage. It is in the main part of the house and climate controlled.

We get all 4 seasons here. From December to March it can be cold. I burn a bunch of firewood that really prevents the central heat from coming on for most of the day. April to June you can keep the windows open and run neither AC or Heat for the most part. July-September the AC is on all of the time. Humidity can be brutal. October and most of November is usually OK with very little AC. I may, or may not start burning wood and using the heat in late November but almost always do by December.
 
N GA, Very humid 6-8 months out of the year. I reload in a garage with space heaters in the winter, no A/C in the summer. I treat my dies with WD40 Corrosion Protective and have had no problems. Everything else gets a wipe down with an oily rag as needed. So far, so good over 8 years, no rust.
 
West Tennesee, if you don't like the temp or humidity, or whatever, just wait a few min.:confused: Seriously though, we can have 88F and 98% humidity and your clothes are soaked in 30min outdoors, next day 98F and 30% humidity feels great.
I have a finished basement and reload indoors. Several days recently, before shooting, I've had to lay out my rifles on my deck for 15min so the condensation would evaporate from my scope lenses and metal parts.
Bringing them from inside at 72F to outside at high humidity makes them instantly covered in dew, but storing them out in my non-climated controlled shop would be worse.
 
Paul R Zartman said:
Ac runs here in florida from May thru October, rest the time we're open windows and fans, then ac maybe a hour or two a day if its sticky...no issues with my reloading stuff...
Clearwater
Click to expand...
I was in Captiva in March (maybe April) it was AMAZING, open window and no mosquitoes
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

A
  • Locked
Reloading and climate control
Replies
16
Views
1K
dickttx
D
S
  • Locked
Reloading in the garage?
Replies
21
Views
3K
Sport45
S
S
  • Locked
Reload in humid garage?
Replies
5
Views
645
The Bushmaster
The Bushmaster
hightide610
  • Locked
Reloading Room buildout
2 3 4
Replies
77
Views
3K
small town life
small town life
red rick
  • Locked
The Cost of Reloading
2 3
Replies
56
Views
3K
coloradokevin
coloradokevin
Back
Top