Beware B & M Plastic Storage Boxes!

[Chris55000]

. . .In order to make some room in our living room I took several large 42L B & M storage Boxes with the grey clip–on lids outside the house whilst I attempt to make room in the shed (also cram–jam!) for them!

. . Unfortunately the grey lid on the top of one of these cracked almost right across, due to being left some weeks outside in the sun during the long spell of fine weather, and then the rain arrived!

. . .My friend Steve ranted at me about the boxes yesterday, and when I looked outside a Chinese Distortion Meter, a T.Q. D68 Manual, a Manor Supplies Pattern Generator and a large bag of assorted bits and pieces were swimming in almost a 42L boxful of rainwater, I must have poured two pints of it out of the Distortion Analyser!

. . . Fortunately neither the D68 Manual nor the Distortion Analyser were badly damaged, just a few brown spots round screw heads!

. . .(I've stuck the pages of the D68 manual under a large stack of new marble floor tiles to flatten them while the sheets dry out!)

. . .Beware, only use B & M Storage Boxes for long term storage indoors or otherwise protected from the elements, they crack when they're exposed to sunlight, and then only use them for items of low value or otherwise impervious to the elements!

Chris Williams

PS!

. . .The Water–In–The–Distortion–Analyser Debacle has given me an opportunity to start my project to document this item – there's no manual online for this!

[The Philpott]

Thanks. There's a fair amount of recycled plastic doing the rounds of course, some of which is made into containers. I think that (especially with PP) stresses set up during the moulding come out later, this could be the case with your vampire box. As with everything else, stuff is getting thinner and crappier as we go forward!

Dave

[factory]

Something we've learned over the years, plastic boxes (or metal ones) stored in sheds, garage, etc or outside need a drainage hole to prevent what you've suffered, as roofs can & do leak too.
And don't put stuff directly on the floor, I keep test gear off the floor using blocks of wood (if not on shelving), both here and the storage unit I rent, this kept the few items on the floor dry when the workshop flooded a year or two ago (drain was blocked with silt).

David

[emeritus]

When I used to do my own b/w film developing and printing, I used to use mum's electric iron to dry prints rapidly before I bought a proper print dryer. I have ironed wet pages of manuals to dry and flatten them when they got soaked due to a leaking shed roof. I removed the staples first. I would have thought that putting wet pages under solid tiles is unlikely to allow them to dry as the water needs to be able to escape, but it is not something I have tried myself.

[Goldie99]

Were these the black B&M tool storage boxes, spec'ed for external usage, or one of the other grades ?

It's maybe worth noting that plastics intended for exterior usage are normally formulated specifically for exterior conditions, hence the higher prices (the additive packages are typically the most expensive components).

[Reelman]

I have to say that clear boxes of other popular manufacturers also have a tendency to become brittle after being left in the sun.

It’s too late by the time you find out so don’t take chances!

Peter

[MotorBikeLes]

I used to have a "shed" that was originally a workshop in the back of a transit or similar.
Steel components in plastic Lin Bins suffered condensation and caused a lot of damage. If you must store stuff in areas where condensation is possible, the safest boxes are wood.
Wood is a fantastic material for all sorts of things, and I read a report of upright wooden pillars holding firm in a bad fire, whilst the steel ones failed. (sorry for going off topic).
Les.

[emeritus]

There are plastics and plastics.

PVC can emit chlorine compound vapours that can cause damage. In the 1990's it was found that the plastic used in a type of document wallet that was widely used at the time, emitted vapours that erased contemporary thermal fax paper. I was with GEC at the time, and we had to go through all our files and replace all the plastic wallets with card ones, as many of the faxed documents were indeed showing signs of fading.

At Plessey in the 1970's we were told of a hermetically-sealed module where the technician who had made a modification, had used a length of PVC wire instead of the specified PTFE wire, and the evolved gases had literally melted the polystyrene capacitors.

These days, plastic items are often embossed with a recycling info which might indicate which type of plastic it is made of, so if a box is not PVC, there might not be a problem.

[Uncle Bulgaria]

Yes, it is important to use the right thing - drainage pipe for instance comes in grey or brown. The brown is for underground use and must not be exposed to UV, while the grey can be. Having a soil pipe fail in the way you describe would not be pleasant!

Perhaps it's time for a new shed, or a trip to the auction house? I'm sure we're all in the same boat to some extent, but I think I'd start considering slimming down the test equipment if I had to leave boxes outside for weeks!

For interior use, I've found Wham! boxes excellent for small parts. Stackable and more sturdy than other types. Nothing beats the time-honoured elderly-relative-hand-me-down-Victorian-biscuit-tin or tobacco tin tower, however!