Storing & Preserving Vinyls in Hot Weather

[Andrew Signs]

Hi All,

Did a search and couldn't find anything similar...maybe this problem is just us.

So we are based in a fairly hot high humidity area and have run into the ongoing problem of heat damaging our vinyls. When we leave any vinyl on a machine that is not in use it kinks and waves and is completely not useable. We also find that anything on a roll that isn't super tight is also damaged. This means that we regularly loose a few feet daily per roll.

We run a print room with air con which is always on a constant cool temp whilst printing for 10+ hours a day.

The problem only happens when we close for the night and the temp build up in the rooms. We are attached to a warehouse also which gets very hot.

Has anyone dealt with this problem and come up with any good ideas. I asked our rep and the perfect storage temp for vinyls on a role is 24 degree Celsius. Our days are 30 degrees celsius on average with 70 + percent humidity.

I would rather not have to run the air con 24/7 but at the same time loosing expensive rolls of vinyl isn't cheap either.

Any ideas or input would be appreciated!


Thanks.

 

[AF]

Humidity + heat is the killer. The heat is not the end of the world, just make sure your printable vinyl is stored in poly sleeves.

 

[Andrew Signs]

Thanks AF.

When you say poly sleeves do you mean like the plastic slip over cover they come in? If we make sure they are stores in poly sleeve air tight do you think that will fix the problems?

Any thoughts on the rolls which stay on the machines over night and the damage they are having?

 

[JTBoh]

Well... from a quick-fix type solution, I think a portable AC unit and an enclosed "media storage room" would fix your problem. Can't imagine a small AC cooling a 6' x 6' x 6' box costing more than several feet of vinyl per night.

 

[2B]

agree, your print room and or vinyl storage room needs to be climate controlled 24/7.
in our case, we built a dedicated print room in the larger building and have the humidity and temp monitored constantly

If you are wanting an added layer of protection, place the rolls back into the sleeves and use the core plugs to create a snug fit

 

[Marlene]

Maybe a dehumidifier to work with the AC might help the AC from having to work so hard and can be set a higher temp over night.

 

[Andrew Signs]

Thanks for all the help and responses.

I will look into the dehumidifiers and try running the AC as a higher number constantly. What kind of temp do you all keep your print rooms at 24/7?

 

[Johnny Best]

74 degrees in my print room 24/7. Same way you keep your beer cold. In a foam made box. Keep your rolls in there and seal it up at night.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I'm in hot and humid Texas and I run dehumidifiers 24/7. AC runs at a constant temperature, don't turn it off. With all that money tied up in your vinyl don't worry about the few extra bucks a month it may be to keep your place dry and cool 24/7. During the day I'm at 72° but at night I'll set it to 82. But dehumidifiers stay on!

 

[HandsomeBob]

Use a glass front refrigerator unit like the image. Restaurants going out of business usually have them cheap.

If you need to store more build an insulated box with an AC attached.

 

[TimToad]

The simple answer above and beyond what everyone else has added is to remove the media from the printers at the end of the day, pull it tight around the core, place a piece of tape at the top and bottom and put them in the plastic sleeve they arrive in and even put them back in the boxes they come in. Keep the room they are stored in reasonably dry and not necessarily "cold" but cool. Any artificial means of cooling a space creates condensation because of the unit pulling moisture from the air and not knowing what to do with it.

Why invest in other artificial means beyond a dehumidifier?

I'm sure the media we all buy sits in its original boxes and plastic sleeves for months on end in a variety of variably climate controlled settings.

 

[Andrew Signs]

Hi All

Really appreciate the responses. Good news is out print room currently running 3 printers is now set to 74 degrees and w heavens lost a inch of material!!!

My next battle is working out our factory area. We have additional space in a factory and with the printers in the room we now have no storage.

We are thinking about sectioning off a area as a clean are for weeding, cutting and applying etc.

What I have found is if the humidity hits a roll that’s already been printed it often distorts the vinyl (curls corners, stiff vinyl etc) and even sometimes cause prints to mark.

Has anyone on here kept there finished prints in a non temp controlled area with any success? A few ideas seems to be a store room with air con although our prints go out within 25 hours so seems crazy to build another air con space.

The only real way we have thought of is to ceiling the whole factory and air con but that will be a big task and expensive.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[decalman]

I live in hot as hell Arizona. It's a dry heat. I don't think it wrecks the vinyl too much. I do think that the transfer tape suffers.