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Okay, I believe this has already been brought up, but I want to address it once more.

I'm putting my sorted copper into 5gal buckets that have lids that snap closed. They are then being stacked in a part of the house where it can be damp occasionally. Has anyone had trouble with storing their coppers in sealable plastic buckets (FOR ANY REASONS)?

I'm mainly concerned because i'm no longer sorting my copper after the zincs have been pulled. And I don't want to open these up in a couple months/years to find the pennies all corroded or green etc.

~JobIII

I would throw some moisture absorbers on top of the coppers in each bucket.

you could put some success rice bags in there. the bags have small perforations in them.

The buckets are filled to the brim. Not really any space for other stuff.

What do you guys do? Just throw them in bank bags?

They will not corrode unless you have water in the bucket. High humidity will not cause a lot of corrosion in a sealed bucket, even if it's not 100% air tight, because the oxidation process needs oxygen.

There is poor air circulation in the sealed bucket, so that's going to restrict the oxidation of the copper. As long as water doesn't get over the top of the bucket, then you should be ok.

In addition, most of these buckets will seal air/ water tight anyways.

i'll take a look at a couple of them. There is a dehumidifier down there that is on 24/7...

The only problem you'll have with 5 gal buckets is the lids may cave in on the bottom row if you stack three or four high (guaranteed if you're filling them to the top)

Boards between the layers will better distribute the weight to the stronger rims of the bottom buckets.

And don't rely on the cheesy wire handles to lift more than 60 lbs, but you probably knew that.

Also, store away from direct sunlight. Sunlight will cause the plastic to degrade and crack.

highroller4321 wrote:I would throw some moisture absorbers on top of the coppers in each bucket.

I agree. They are small and will fit in the bucket without having to remove any pennies.

Since you are already running a dehumidifier 24/7 you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Unless you have water in the buckets they will not turn green. A digital humidity reader can be bought at walmart for around $10 if you want to monitor the humidity.

5 gallon buckets are impossible to lift. I use 1 gallon ice cream buckets. They are fairly easy to lift and they seal perfectly!

heavy to move. but not impossible. I didn't check the buckets this weekend. But my house didn't flood through the coastal flooding so that's one good thing.