Storing stick electrodes

[DAVID M]

Being a home and farm owner I always have a supply of xx10,11's and xx18's and a few 308-316 stick ecltrodes on hand and need to find a economical way to store them and keep the moisture from them. Being on a limited income now makes the economical part important!! I have been coming to this site awhile and some pretty helpful folks here it seems!!

[youngwelder_154]

Well at our school shop my teacher keeps his electrodes in what seemed to look like a drawer with a metal covering over it. You could always make something like the picture I have below. Easy enough to build or you could easly buy it without the worry of burning a hole in your pocket.(it really doesnt have to be the exat 3 extra doors but sometihng along the lines of that).

[Darmik]

storage

if the rods are 6010,7010,8010,9010,6011,316,309,308,dont put these in a rod oven however you must put the 7018 in a rod oven, you can pickup a small rod oven for about $60.00 or get a flood lite and keep them warm that way

[harcosparky]

A friend of mine keeps his welding rod in an old chest type freezer, inside he has several lamps to keep it warm inside and hopefully dry as well.

The freezer is of course well sealed.

[SkidSteerSteve]

I have small screw top sleeves that I keep a working supply in, but for bulk storage, I have a section of four (or was it six...don't remember) inch PVC pipe with a cap on one end and a clean out screw plug on the other. (don't try to take it on an airplane, it looks like something that would raise and eyebrow or two). I keep one for each type of rod I keep around. I think I built most of them from scrap I've picked up at jobsites. I've never tried it ,but I guess you could shove some packets of that silica drying agent in with 'em. Does anyone know if that stuff would have any adverse long term effects on the rods?

Since you are on a farm, do you have some pipe laying around that you could weld a cap on one end and put a threaded cap on the other? Just a thought.

SSS

[SkidSteerSteve]

one other thought

I use the PVC set ups because I can almost drive over them and not worry about any damage. If you want to go really cheap, and aren't too worried about structural integrity, rubbermaid and other companies make all sorts of watertight food storage containers. I'm sure one of those is plenty big enough to put some rods in.

SSS

[millerman58]

I store my rods in the freezer half of an old refrigerator. Seems to keep them dry and fresh, been doing it ever since 1982. I use the refrigerator half of it to store other supplies such as grinding wheels, chop saw wheels, and wire brushes. I also store my gloves and hood in the lower half. Hope this helps.

Bryce
BB Farm Supply

[DAVID M]

how about a chest freezer

i have a big chest frreezer that is metal lined that hurricane Rita made "go south" on me. I can put a fixture or 2 in it with 25 watt bulbs and leave a small vent in the top and place metal commercial refregirator shelves over them, and pot my humitity meter in there and check it!! sorry for spelling!!

[jfsmith]

I use an old safe that I have a power cord run into it, with a 60 watt light bulb on the end, always on. I also use those electrode containers that HF, Lowes and other places sell. These are my long term storage, and they are also in the safe.

Jerry

[youngwelder_154]

I hope I have the right Idea in my first thread for a storage compartment. I'm almost positive that what I posted would work, If not tell em so someday I wont make a terrible mistake in the storage of my electrodes.

[surferpat]

Heating Rod

I do not know everthing there is to know about storing welding rods, but here is something that has worked pretty well for me. Here in East Texas, we have competing weather patterns. Cold dry air from the north, and warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico. In my shop, I have found that after several days of pretty cold weather, everthing in the shop will eventually get to a cold temp. We then get a sudden warm front from the Gulf. The moist air floods the shop and condenses on everything that is cold. Any piece of metal that is colder than the new, warm, moist air will begin to "sweat", much like a cold, Coca Cola can will do on a summer day. My welding rods will sweat also, seems like it loosens up the flux on them. I tried the light bulb in the old ice box trick for a while, but it seems that the bulb burns out pretty fast, I forget about checking it, and I end up with welding rods that the flux gets a little ruined. I finally started using what I call a Gun Safe Heater. It is a long, slender rod with a heating element inside it. They are made by a company called Goldenrod Heaters (I made an Internet link for you below to see all their sizes). They get about 160 degrees on the skin of the rod. When you put one in most any box container, it will heat up everthing inside the box just a few degrees above the normal outside temp. What this does is, it keeps any metal above the dew point so that a sudden burst of warm moist air from the Gulf will not condense out on the surface of the metal. I really started using this on my rifles I keep in the house. My dad was a WWII veteren, and I have been collecting old military rifles for a while. Nothing gets me more upset when I woud see a tiny patch of rust on a vintage rifle. I do not have air conditioning in my house, so the air even in the house goes from dry to moist all the time. After I found them to work very well on my rifles, I started using it for my welding rods. These heating rods only draw about 10 to 20 watts and they last forever. You can place them in most any kind of box, even an old cardboard box, just plug them in, and forget about having to check lightbulbs. They are kind of expensive at first, but great if you are like me, and forget to check stuff. I would not buy them directly from the Goldenrod Company, too expensive. I got my last batch from Cabelas (the outdoor folks). Here is the link for the Goldenrod Company:

http://www.goldenroddehumidifiers.com/models_specifications.htm

[DAVID M]

Thank You

I want to thank everyone so far for the much needed advice!! The gentlemans reply is very familiar with my situation as he lives just about 65 mils north of me and the Gulf warm very humid air is a Killer here on certain things. I will havew to sart with light bulbs but maybe for Christmas my little santa will get me the dehumidifying rod!!!

[Iron man]

Try a dry box like you can pick up at walmart in the sporting goods they are for keeping emergency supplies dry on boats, and work great for welding rods
and they are not very costly.

[HILRUNR]

Re:Storing Electrodes

I use the Army surplus mortar shell tubes. They hold about 10# of rods and have an o-ring seal under the cap to keep out moisture. Most surplus stores have them. I have also used the old refrigerator with a 100 watt lamp inside.

[jfsmith]

I would use the refrigerator method, but I want to make sure the Freon has been recovered properly.

I do like the idea of the frig and would put a lock of some kind on it just for peace of mind.

Jerry