We just finished a substantial remodel of our basement and I'm scheming about where to dry/store my gear.
As part of the remodel, we switched from a gas furnace for heat alone to a gas boiler (Lochinvar, see Search Results) for both home heat (radiant floor these days) and hot water. The "boiler room" would be an ideal place to dry my dry suit between dives for several reasons:
1. It's warm, both from the radiant heat in the floor and the fact that all the heating pipes connect into the boiler at that space and are exposed to air. If I shut the doors to the space, it's the warmest spot in the house. (I wouldn't do this, though, for reasons unrelated to drying dive gear.
2. It's got ceiling height to hang the whole suit with none of it resting on the ground.
3. The floor is polished concrete, so I'm not worried about some dripping. And the suit is compressed neoprene so I'm anticipating it'll drip less than my old neoprene dry suit.
Is there any reason NOT to hang a suit in such a space? I'm thinking of fumes damaging the suit, but in theory no fumes should enter the living space, right? (FWIW, our local dive shop will hang suits in THEIR commercial boiler room (think pool heater) to dry. Also FWIW it's a brand new DUI suit I'd be hanging most of the time.
The alternative spaces are either our laundry room or garage. Issues with the laundry room are as follows:
1. It's not a specifically-heated space. It'll be cooler than the living quarters in our house by 10-ish degrees F (or 5-ish degrees C).
2. It's a space that's not been remodeled since the house was built in 1929. Think very low ceilings. There'd be no way to hang it from a dry suit hanger. It'd be put over some kind of PVC bar structure I'd build.
3. This space does have a vent fan, but it's on a timer that only runs for up to one hour.
The garage has these issues:
1. Not heated, and coldest of the space option. (One passes through the laundry room to get to the garage. That puts two doors between any source of heat and the space.)
2. Same issues with low ceilings as laundry room.
3. On the plus side, I do have a dehumidifier rigged in that space that drains to the utility sink where I'll rinse gear in cold weather. My plan is to dry other gear in this space prior to storage.
Thoughts? TIA for advice.
As part of the remodel, we switched from a gas furnace for heat alone to a gas boiler (Lochinvar, see Search Results) for both home heat (radiant floor these days) and hot water. The "boiler room" would be an ideal place to dry my dry suit between dives for several reasons:
1. It's warm, both from the radiant heat in the floor and the fact that all the heating pipes connect into the boiler at that space and are exposed to air. If I shut the doors to the space, it's the warmest spot in the house. (I wouldn't do this, though, for reasons unrelated to drying dive gear.
2. It's got ceiling height to hang the whole suit with none of it resting on the ground.
3. The floor is polished concrete, so I'm not worried about some dripping. And the suit is compressed neoprene so I'm anticipating it'll drip less than my old neoprene dry suit.
Is there any reason NOT to hang a suit in such a space? I'm thinking of fumes damaging the suit, but in theory no fumes should enter the living space, right? (FWIW, our local dive shop will hang suits in THEIR commercial boiler room (think pool heater) to dry. Also FWIW it's a brand new DUI suit I'd be hanging most of the time.
The alternative spaces are either our laundry room or garage. Issues with the laundry room are as follows:
1. It's not a specifically-heated space. It'll be cooler than the living quarters in our house by 10-ish degrees F (or 5-ish degrees C).
2. It's a space that's not been remodeled since the house was built in 1929. Think very low ceilings. There'd be no way to hang it from a dry suit hanger. It'd be put over some kind of PVC bar structure I'd build.
3. This space does have a vent fan, but it's on a timer that only runs for up to one hour.
The garage has these issues:
1. Not heated, and coldest of the space option. (One passes through the laundry room to get to the garage. That puts two doors between any source of heat and the space.)
2. Same issues with low ceilings as laundry room.
3. On the plus side, I do have a dehumidifier rigged in that space that drains to the utility sink where I'll rinse gear in cold weather. My plan is to dry other gear in this space prior to storage.
Thoughts? TIA for advice.
