Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Storing powder

I have a few jugs of powder stored in a spare bedroom closet,and I sometimes worry that if I ever had a fire my insurance wouldn't pay .I would like to move it to the garage at the bottom of my driveway,but I don't have heat down there,and I'm wondering if storing powder in a cold garage all winter will harm it..It's all in the plastic 1pound jugs..I live West Virginia,and we have a lot of freezing temps..Thank you

Since nobody else has jumped in, I will give you my two-cents worth.

If you have a house fire, a few pounds of powder is not much different than the aerosol cans that will be going off, and the paint thinner, and propane canisters, and the brandy snifter full of old book matches, etc.

In other words, I wouldn't worry about it. Your house offers a much better storage environment than a remote uninsulated garage. I don't believe your insurance would be any consideration at all, unless you went to them with the intention of talking them out of standing behind their coverage, for some reason.

If you think you need to do something to give you more peace of mind, just outlaw in your home the single most common cause of house fires in America: the common candle. Women love scented candles and frequently leave them burning unattended. Candles pose much greater risk to your home than your supply of reloading powder.

For fifty years, in several different houses, I have always stored my powder in a cabinet in my shop, which has always been part of my house. Take reasonable precautions and use common sense, and then don't worry about every remote possibility that "could" happen. Take care and enjoy your hobby.

Yep, Candles and Coffee Makers, the kind with a hotplate, are much bigger hazards.

I keep all mine an gutted out old refrigetaor in the detached garage.No heat,no cooling. Ther efrigerator keeps it from those big temp swings.

cool..dry..stable temp enviorment

I agree on the candles. My wife has bought those things that make a candle smell without lighting it. I know they are still a hazard but not as bad. When we finally got electric here my parents and grand parents were glad to get rid of candles and oil lamps because of the risk (my grandmother burnt her childhood home down with an oil lamp).

I wish I could fit all mine in an old fridge.

I have two. Old side by side door type.

DeereJohn,

Cold doesn't hurt powder at all. Heat does.

I store my powder in the garage in cheap plastic coolers, to prevent it from getting hot during summer. Don't worry at all about Montana winters.

I like the old fridge idea. Mine is stored in my reloading room in the basement but I have a mostly empty fridge in my garage.

An old fridge works great as long as it's not old enough to close with a latch, rather than magnetically. Suggestions (and even many regulations) for powder storage are to keep it in a container what will easily blow open in case of a fire.

JB, thanks for the tip on coolers. So what would the threshold be for higher temps. when bad things start happening to powder?

Store about 50 lbs in a plywood lined metal crate in my basement . Another 50 or so in the cabinets around my loading bench also in the basement. Cool dark place, desiccant in cabinets also.

SBTCO,

A lot depends on the duration of the warm temperatures. The best solution is not to allow them to get much above 70, if possible.

In my part of Montana it almost always cools off to no more than 70 at night, even in the hottest part of the summer. My garage gets considerably warmer, of course, even with the shade trees we planted on the southwest side. But the daytime temperature inside the coolers never rises above 75, and most days never reaches 70.

Don't sweat it. Like said, about as dangerous as propane canisters or any other container with a lid on it. If you have a reject jug, take it out and cook it off in a campfire.

Yep, my refrigerators are magnetic latches. Usually local Fire codes limit the amount of powder you can keep on hand The last time I checked it was about 50lbs. Safe or not, if it is above the code limit and you have a fire, you could be in for some serious negotiations with your insurance company.

Thanks for the tip on the fridge.
I have one that I have not been able to have time to get to the scrap yard.

power company here will give you $30 for old fridges...

we used to put a 3# bottle of Tannerite in an old fridge...

then spend all day cleaning up the mess...

Thanks for the advise folks,I have a big blue Coleman cooler that will fit all my powder.I think I'll pack it up,and take it down to the garage here in a little bit.

You guys realize a cooler stored in a hot garage will eventually reach the same temp as the garage itself, right? Same goes for an unplugged fridge.

Yeah, but only if the temperature stays REALLY warm all day and all night.

Garages get hot because the sun beats down on them during the daytime. If the temperature cools down at night at all, the inside of the coolers doesn't get very warm.

My part of Montana isn't the coolest in summer, but nights still cool down to around 70 at most during July and August. I've tested my coolers with a thermometer placed inside, and the temperature never rises much above 70 even during the hottest days. Of course, I have the coolers on the floor and in the shade, not in front of a window where the sun will hit 'em.

I've got my shop in an insulated metal building. The (unheated) building mitigates temperature extremes enough that a couple of nights of -11 degree temps wouldn't freeze water inside.

I"m code enforcement in town. I"m GLAD I don't have codes or enforcement where we live. We stick our noses way to much in other folks business IMHO.

Temperature SWINGS are not an issue for degradation? Say, -10 to +80 over a year?

Locally a recommendation not a code.I'll take my chances with my ability to do the right thing in terms of storing my powder.