View attachment 22989
Done and done
you might look into zerust - it is available in 5 gal containers.
I believe this is what you're looking for:
https://www.traverscanada.com/product/wd-40-300035-movement-lubrication-81-006-209
I actually bought a bunch of their stuff back about 12 years ago.
zerust is sending me some samples to try. My working hypothesis is that now VIC oils are now commonplace, that the techniology has matured in that segment. Anyway, Free samples are worth trying every time. Oh and it is 61$CDN a gallon but then there's shipping...
Really! I had thought it was USA. I know I dealt directly with them when I first got some. At that price and availability, why not!BTW the source of the 61$ is just outside of your backyard, in Brantford, at Aircraft Spruce.
Couple of tricks.
Breakfree CLP (spray).
Drop Cloth, not the plastic crap but real cloth. Basically is does not allow moisture to condense on the metal. Cheap old school solution. Anything with a plastic covering is bad as it it prevents moisture from escaping.
Ontario, worst time for condensation is warming up a cold shop in the winter, cold soaked metal in a warmer shop attracts water like a water magnet.
Again, the trick is tor reduce water attraction.
Take a look at www.brownells.com rust-blox vapor tabs for enclosed spaces.
On my woodworking equipment's machined surfaces I apply johnsons or minwax paste wax and buff. Protects the machined surfaces and provides a slightly slippery surface for wood to be more easily worked thru the machines. And since its wax intended for wood it leaves very little residue. I've never had a fisheye problem when spraying finishes...It's really very simple. The obvious case is machined steel tabletops on band saws and table saws. I have actually watched this process happen in my shop. Because the tabletops are shiny flat machined steel it's quite easy to see when a layer of condensation forms on them. Wipe away the condensation with a tissue and seconds later the condensation reforms. So I put a sheet of plastic on the tabletops held down by magnets to block the steels exposure to the ambient air and voila no more rusting tabletops!!!
Take a ice cold glass (choose your poison) outside on a warm day and the glass sweats.Hmmmmm... I find exactly the opposite. Warming a cold shop NEVER causes condensation. That said, for the cold months, I keep my shop a few degrees above freezing and also above ambient so the average relative humidity is always well below 50%. In the warm months I dehumidify.
But you are the second member to mention this, so there must be something to it.
What is your heating method?
What was the relative humidity before you turned up the heat?
What was the temperature before you turned up the heat?
Are you exhausting combustion air into your shop?
Are you using make-up air or a closed system?
I believe what you say and I ask the above questions very seriously. I'd really like to understand the physical processes whereby this happens in your shop.
Take a ice cold glass (choose your poison) outside on a warm day and the glass sweats.
This occurs at the DEW point (google it) saves me writing the theory and methodology.
Simply, as you heat a shop regardless of the method in cold weather as soon air temperature is warmer than the metal condensation occurs.
Unfortunately, most shops are cold until they are need (cost pf heating thing) so it is a fact of life. The cloth method just absorbs the moisture as it migrates to the machine greatly reducing the chance of condensation.
The problem is most buildings like it or not have moisture in them. Yes there are increases in moisture through various sources which complicate things, you breathing is one of them.Please know that I TOTALLY understand the physics, I can read a psychometric chart just fine. You don't need to dumb it down for me. I'm trying to understand what is different about the situation you describe.
To use your glass of cold water example or cold machinery. I've seen this too. Who hasn't? However, for this to happen, the local air temperature of the item (water or steel) must be below the dew point for the humidity of the local air. Normally, relative humidity goes down with an increase in temperature. Without an associated increase in localized water content or an increase in humidity, condensation will not occur because it always prefers to stay in the warming air. If however a cold object causes the local air temp to drop lower than its dewpoint, condensation will occur. In this case, there was no condensation in the initial condition so it must have been at or below 100% humidity so the temp of the surfaces cannot condense any moisture out of the warming air.
There are a few possible explanations though and that's what drove my questions.
If outside air is introduced, it could have a higher relative humidity than the shop had. This is especially true when the outside air is warmer and wetter than the shop air.
If the shop was actually colder than outside, high humidity outside air could condense.
If the heater produces moisture (eg a catalytic heater) this could increase humidity levels and cause condensation.
Etc etc.
The moment the shop breaks freezing the metal becomes the moisture attractor until it stabilizes again with the surrounding conditions.