Realcent.org

I have a (booby trapped ) barn. It's a nice big old girl from the 1800s. It would be great to throw some coppers in there to free up space in my house. There is no heat or AC in there. Temp fluctuates as mother nature dictates. It's a dry barn, but it does get humid sometimes and we jump down under freezing and back up a lot too. Got real seasons up here in Mass North. So is it a bad idea to store pennies in there? Would they corrode? I was thinking a couple of 55 gallon steel drums.

If you can keep the humidity away from the coins while they're colder than the surrounding air, you should be ok. Otherwise, you could have problems with condensation.

I'd suggest sealing up the top, then taping a plastic bag over it as an extra vapor barrier.

I have access to open head steel drums with a nice rubber seal. Totally air tight. Would that suffice?

NHsorter wrote:I have access to open head steel drums with a nice rubber seal. Totally air tight. Would that suffice?

That should be fine. Sealing them up on a nice dry day will help, and it still wouldn't hurt to tape a trash bag or three over the lid for extra protection.

When your cents are cold enough to condense moisture, they'll literally pull a vacuum on the drum and even a tiny leak will allow water vapor to keep entering and condensing. Having the bag(s) gives you some dead air space which will keep the water out even if your primary seal isn't airtight.

Great news and thanks for the tip. Time to clear some space up in the "penny room" as it has been mockingly branded.

i don't mean to highjack, but I've got a similar question and I'm in the same boat as NH in terms of climate. I have a shed that is similar to his barn, and I was thinking of using some 5 gallon "pickle" buckets. My thought was putting a bead of silicone in the groove on the lid before closing it up and putting them out there. The lids have a rubber gasket, but I don't trust it.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? I still have some space in my own "penny room", and was thinking about doing a trial run with some Zincolns to see what happened into the spring where the temps start to fluctuate. Is there anything to suggest that the Zincs would react any differently, or give any sort of false positive etc? My thought would be to take some shining zincolns and seal them up in this manner. Would it make a difference if I had a large quantity as opposed to a few?

Thanks in advance,
Atticus

As long as you are 100% sure that moisture can not get to them!

I would go the expense of moisture removing silica packs placed on top of the coins to remove any excess humidity in the air inside the drums once they have been sealed. You know, like the ones you place inside a gun safe.

Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay wrote:I would go the expense of moisture removing silica packs placed on top of the coins to remove any excess humidity in the air inside the drums once they have been sealed. You know, like the ones you place inside a gun safe.

I would recommend the same thing: Silica packs to absorb any moisture.

Feel free to post your favorite source for cheap silica packs. Cheapskates want to know!

They're usually in shoe boxes, but not the big packs. Little ones about the size of a sugar packet.

Thanks uthminsta, but I don't buy that many shoes Should I incorporate shoe stores into my dump route? Just kidding around.

I was wondering if there is a good place to buy them. I could use a decent amount. I have a "few" pennies here and there to store.

Ask a couple shoe stores what they do with their silica packs. I bet you could set up a little box behind the counter and collect it once a week!

uthminsta wrote:Ask a couple shoe stores what they do with their silica packs. I bet you could set up a little box behind the counter and collect it once a week!

Or dumpster dive!

DuckTales253 wrote:

uthminsta wrote:Ask a couple shoe stores what they do with their silica packs. I bet you could set up a little box behind the counter and collect it once a week!

Or dumpster dive!

I just checked amazon and I noticed these Eva-Dry things that you put in your safe or whatever and when they chage color you plug them in and it dries them out. Looks neat. Anyone have experience with them? Not ideal for drums like I was talking about, but in some other applications, they look useful.

How many silica packs would be ideal for a 50 gallon drum?

Purge your container with Nitrogen....your done.

fasteddy wrote:Purge your container with Nitrogen....your done.

Presuming your container is gas proof, yes.