How to Prevent Corrosion when Storing your Classic Car
July 5, 2019
Keeping a classic car in top condition and prevent corrosion is an essential part of maintaining the quality of your investment. While we (as humans) feel temperature, materials feel the humidity, and the less that humidity is controlled, the more your car will begin to feel its effects.
The amount of water in the atmosphere dictates the level to which materials will be affected by moisture. They want to match the level of relative humidity in the atmosphere ensuring that without the proper environmental controls, corrosion and rust will occur.
With all sorts of different materials being used in any car, it is crucial that the atmosphere caters to the needs of every single facet of the product, meaning that every variable in the process needs to be measured and controlled.
We’ve all been thinking about it like cars as humans…
One of the most common misconceptions when storing a car is to control the temperature of the vicinity. This will do nothing to help maintain the quality of your vehicle and is not cost-effective or eco-friendly. Garages are ordinarily not the most well-insulated of places, ensuring that the climate of your garage will be predominantly dictated by the outside world, not the heaters placed inside.
Due to this fact, garages will often be at a relative humidity of around 80%- which is the average UK climate. As steel corrodes at an RH of over 40%- with the rate dramatically increasing at an exponential rate over 60%, this is a safe bracket for the materials inside your car, including the leather and all internal functions. With this in mind, it becomes abundantly clear that this is something that has to be controlled in order to maintain the quality of your car.
There are ways to combat this. One common solution is to place the car inside a protective bubble that stays inflated and helps preserve the conditions around your car. While this does act as a protective layer from dust and some humidity, it doesn’t allow you to have control of the climate in your garage, which is the real catalyst in the corrosion process.
This solution is only somewhat effective and also makes it much harder to clean or adjust anything to do with the car once it is inside this bubble.
An effective solution has been made for you…
Controlling the relative humidity of the environment around it provides you with easy accessibility to the car whilst also allowing you to appreciate the aesthetics of your investment without a cover limiting your view.
At the end of the day, owning a classic car is an investment that you should be proud of, tinker with and appreciate without having to take it out of an inflated casing every time. With humidity control, you have the ability to fully engage with your investment and experience all the perks that come along with the ownership of these vehicles.
The science behind the solution: how it’s done.
Humidity control of your garage or storage area is by far the most effective method of preserving your classic car. Dehum can utilise ASHRAE (climatic) data to calculate the specific levels of your particular storage area and combine that with the statistics of your local area in order to create a bespoke unit that will work for your garage.
As the internal climate naturally tries to balance with the external, the bespoke unit will constantly measure the temperature and humidity of the garage- turning itself on and off in order to maintain and stabalise the perfect relative humidity for safe storage while minimising energy costs by not being in constant use.
The way in which total climate control within your environment is achieved is through the implementation of ductwork linked to the control unit. This ductwork has a series of vents that diffuse clean, filtered air into the environment. All of this air is passed through a desiccant rotor, this will remove the required amount of moisture in order to maintain the requisite internal climatic conditions.
The unit itself is controlled by a wi-fi connected controller that is constantly measuring conditions and relaying them back to the unit. All of this information can be displayed and connected to an app on a Samsung tablet which is provided as part of the control system, this allows you to monitor everything from one console.
The app connected to this tablet is also usable on other mobile devices, providing you with the ability to monitor the conditions of your garage from anywhere in the world. This will also allow you to control the entirety of your garage, should you choose to- as it can connect to lights and doors to have an entire control system for your investment in the palm of your hands.
To conclude…
A classic car is a personal investment that you should be able to appreciate and enjoy any time of the year without any hassle. It is only natural that you should want to keep it in the best condition possible.
Total humidity control of the environment you store your car is an invaluable asset that should be a top priority when it comes to preserving the lifespan and aesthetics of your vehicle. A dehumidification system will allow you to rest easy no matter where you are, safe in the knowledge that your car stays in pristine condition.
For more information on how Dehum can help with your classic car storage facility please visit http://dehum.com/applications/classic-car-humidity-control/ or call us on 01926 882624.
For over twenty-one years, Dehum (Sorption Wheel Services Limited) has been a major supplier of humidity control systems. We are a true Engineering Company, designing, supplying and coordinating installations of equipment alongside complementary services. Our global client list spans across all industries, including food & drink, pharmaceutical, nuclear, automotive, aviation, chemical processing, ice prevention/cold storage, car storage and archives.
