Now that I'm moving my safe to a new (old) house it will be relegated to a free standing unheated garage. I have already installed one of those heating units on the floor of the safe.

How effective are those units in keeping the guns from rusting during our Nor Cal wet winters? Any comments? Suggestions?

Herb - I have Golden Rods in both my gun cabinet and safe. They are wonderful things in humid environments. I have yet to have any problems since I started using one.

Herb,

If the garage has a composition roof you will probably be OK. If it is a tin roof the whole garage will be a condensation pump.

I would, in either case, make sure the safe was standing on Wolmanized wooden slats rather than directly on a concrete floor, and would double up on the Golden Rods. I have only one in my basement safe and it does a wonderful job, but it is a dry basement.

The Golden Rods seem expensive, but they are truly a wonderful bargain. I've never regretted buying mine.

Don

Herb,
It really depends on the size of the safe and the amount of thermal mass you're dealing with. For me the goldenrod did nothing, however, I had a big heavy safe that proved difficult to control. I finally wound putting a 75 watt light bulb in the interior of the safe on a thermostat. It never got hot enough to turn off. Further the life of the light bulbs were'nt good either. From 2 weeks to two monthes was about it. The idea behind the goldenrod, and the light bulb for that matter, is to keep the metal surfaces(guns) just above the dew point. They are kept a few degrees above what is required for condensation to form. Be aware that the exterior of a safe will also sweat in a unheated environment that experiences large temperature swings. The modern gun specific safes arn't that bad about this because they're made of relatively thin steel. The heavier the steel the longer its cooling and heating cycles and the more likely condensation becomes. FWIW, I recommend a light bulb, either on a thermostat or not, and a digital thermohygrometer that has a max/min function on humidity and temperature. Adjust your wattage or thermostat accordingly. I finally built a room around my vault and use a freestanding dehumidifier which is the cats pajamas, IMHO. The goldenrod is nothing more than a small heating element and for some safes it may work, however, should it not consider a lightbulb and check it often. Regards, Matt.

I have a golden rod and a quart sized dessicant can from Brownells in my safes. Never have had a problem as long as I do my part when putting them away.

that cheap "damp rid" works well just dump the water out of the cup when it fills up, go to the place where you got your safe ask them for a safe pallet they will have plenty of them put it on and bolt it back down, they will also have plenty of the lag screws,