Question storing coins in my safe?

probably should mention that I also don't keep the coins right next to the warmed goldenrod.

 

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I'm alarmed at the "Goldenrod" thing.

First, I'm alarmed at the notion of putting a heat generator inside an enclosed space like a safe. I'm sure they're carefully engineered, and I expect we'd eventually hear about it if they started causing fires -- but there are a lot of failure modes for something like that, and I'd have a hard time believing that none of them would be able to cause a thermal excursion.

Second, raising the temperature doesn't lower the water content of the air. It lowers the relative humidity, but it doesn't lower the dewpoint -- a measure of how much water the air is actually carrying. It will prevent condensation, which is probably the biggest issue for firearms, and is certainly bad for coins, but I'm not sure that's enough. With coins, I'd think you'd also want to avoid chemical effects from the water vapor -- and raising the ambient temperature will actually speed those processes.

I'd use a can of desiccant, myself. I don't take the cobalt-chloride hysteria very seriously -- sure, it's toxic, but it's present in tiny quantities, and it stays put unless you mishandle the desiccant. To put it into perspective, if you scratch through the copper coating of a Zincoln and drop it in salt water, it'll start forming zinc chloride, which is of comparable toxicity. Most people don't lose a lot of sleep over that risk.

 

I should clarify after rereading FmrFiatFollower's post -- if you're using desiccant as well as heat, I'm sure you won't have any humidity-related problems. (Remember, though, that heating the desiccant tends to drive the moisture back out of it!)

Keeping items above ambient temperature also helps ensure that you won't get condensation on them if you take them into a high-humidity area. Even here in NC, summers can get humid enough that my glasses fog up when I step outside from an air-conditioned building.

 

What about these for corrosion problems?

http://www.jpscorner.com/images/Metal_Safe.jpg

 

I wonder if they work, or if they give off any adverse reactions themselves?

 

If you're just storing coins in a safe and not inside another container in your safe, you better have about 500 silica packs in there with them. I recommend investing in some Tupperware food containers (food containers are by law PVC free) and placing rechargable packs along with the coins in them in your safe. I don't remember who makes them, but there are silica packs that also indicate when it's time to change them.
Guy

 

Just get the large silica gel bags that are in boxes with indicators. Theyre rechargeable and a 4" one will take care of 33 cu. Ft. That is quite a bit of coverage for a small space. Most safes are not air tight but relatively air tight. One of those bags can work for months at a crack.
The cheap little throw aways are for shipping purposes only. Their usefulness is short lived.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

Well i have my "raw" coins in air-tites, and then my air-tites in an air-tite tube (tubetights). Those are all placed 8 inches or so from a 750 gram silica canister. Then all my slabs are in an NGC box which is about 6 inches from the silica 750 gram canister.

My safe is about 4-5CU ft. My 750 gram canister is designed for 55 CU ft.

Is my setup ok?