Metal building condensation

I have been dealing with the the same issue as you for several years. I have three ocean containers on my property for extra storage. Two of them sweat, one doesn't. Ever. The only difference is where they are sitting. The one that sweats the worst is very much exposed, nothing around it. And during the cooler winter months, especially if it's a frosty morning, it will literally rain inside the container when the morning sun hits it. But on the same day, the inside of the third container will be bone dry. That container is placed directly behind my shop, on the north side of it. The north wall of the shop is over 20 feet tall. So the sun never hits that container. Inside is always dry.

I figured the ones that sweat have to do with the warmth of the morning sun which warms up the space inside the container, but the objects in there are still very cold. Which leads to condensation. My plan was always to install a fan or two. Not to circulate the air that's in there, but to bring in the outside air, which will of course force the warm, humid air out thru a couple louvered vents. I'm fairly certain it will work because it should make everything come up to the same temperature at the same time.


Rob, I hope you can implement some of the ideas that have been posted to save your stuff from water damage. I feel your pain bro, it very frustrating. The unfortunate thing is that the moisture is coming from the air. So unless you can utilize the proper (costly) construction methods, your best bet is to do as suggested with shrink wrap, oil, plastic, light bulbs inside of your cabinets, etc, etc.. On an earlier post I mentioned that dehumidifiers don't work when the temps are low, but that was just my experience, there may be models that can work better. Good luck.