i have championed my shipping container shed on here on a number of occasions however there is one drawback. condensation. even the things i oiled up
have surface rust. what's the answer bearing in mind its also very cold, too cold for a dehumidifier?
cheers liam
Im wondering if you would need to fit a ply skin to inside of 'shed' with insulation between steel sides and ply????
Small heater, to raise the temperature above the dew point? Electric, not gas or paraffin, as they cause condensation as a by-product of combustion.
If that's too much for the whole container, consider partitioning off a section and heating that, or even a cabinet for odds and ends. A bare
lightbulb is enough to heat a cabinet.
Another solution might be to insulate the walls with foil-covered PU foam sheet (cheap, in builders' merchants.) - makes keeping the temp up so
much easier.
Also, there are storage oils that can be painted on - a solvent evaporates leaving a very sticky coating that prevents rust.
David
I put up foam sheet in my hut. gets rid of most of the condensation. Works even better with the edges sealed with silicone.
cut some holes in the roof and make some cowls out of tin to ventilate the building, put a cople of vents in the bottom too and get the thing blocked
up off the floor slightly ,did all the above on a container i used to have and it reduced the condensation dramatically
Buy a few sheets of Jablite (Expanded poly sheet with one side faced with silver foil) and stick that to the walls.
It's available at larger B&Qs and is pretty cheap.
That, along with a small heater should stop any condensation...
id agree with the insulation, being metal its going to conduct heat out very fast. Cold walls will condense worse than warm ones. Then stick a heating
light bulb in there (the big ones, 200w or more). Ventilation is unfortunately a must, but id keep it to a minimum as you will get cold! Leave door
ajar during day, keep shut at night. This alone should be enough unless you are in there puffing and panting all night 
[Edited on 20/2/06 by JoelP]
Forget trying to insulate it and try ventilating it instead.
Through flow of air will keep internal humidity and temperature the same as external humidity and temperature (within certain limits) and should stop
the condensation forming in the first place.
Yep, ventilation is the key. Try using a couple of those small panel fans and a solar panel if you cannot get power to the container.
quote:
Originally posted by CaLviNx
A guy I know has two containers welded side by side, in the isle of skye he had no power apart from a generator, it was not viable to keep the generator running overnight, so he came up with the venting/charging system to keep the condensation/cold out of the container at night.