Heat and storage

[Bellicose]

I've been grabbing extra sets here and there for the past couple years. I now have enough that it's becoming inconvenient to keep them in the extra bedroom closet, so I'm shuttling some off to my storage unit. Said storage unit isn't climate controlled, and I do live in the inland empire of SoCal...

So how hot until I start having issues? I was guessing the product would be fine stored up to, say, 110, but I was wondering if anybody had any input. I'm sure the bricks are good to go for awhile, but what about the boxes, the plastic bags for the sets? I'd like to keep these in decent shape.

[Draykov]

Found this in LEGO Customer Service/Help Topics/Products/General Product Inquiries FAQ:

How do I sanitize or wash my LEGO elements?

We recommend that you clean or wash your LEGO parts only by hand at max. 40°C or 104 degrees (F) Fahrenheit. Higher temperatures may affect the quality of the LEGO parts. You can add a mild detergent to the water, followed by rinsing with clear water. Please don't put your bricks in the washing machine or dishwasher or attempt to dry them in ovens, microwaves or with hair dryers. Any electrical parts, such as cables, motors, battery compartments, can only be wiped off with alcohol. Air-dry parts at room temperature. For disinfecting please use mild bleach.

Different context, but I imagine the max temperature still holds true.

[Mister Ed]

Found this in LEGO Customer Service/Help Topics/Products/General Product Inquiries FAQ:

How do I sanitize or wash my LEGO elements?

We recommend that you clean or wash your LEGO parts only by hand at max. 40°C or 104 degrees (F) Fahrenheit. Higher temperatures may affect the quality of the LEGO parts. You can add a mild detergent to the water, followed by rinsing with clear water. Please don't put your bricks in the washing machine or dishwasher or attempt to dry them in ovens, microwaves or with hair dryers. Any electrical parts, such as cables, motors, battery compartments, can only be wiped off with alcohol. Air-dry parts at room temperature. For disinfecting please use mild bleach.

Different context, but I imagine the max temperature still holds true.

Not necessarily. Heat transfers differently in water vs. air. I expect a somewhat higher air temp. would be OK, though the fact that it would likely be sitting in that temp. for far longer might make a difference.

Though if the storage place has insulation and no windows, even if it doesn't have climate control I'd expect it to stay cooler than the outside temp.

As far as the boxes go, if they aren't in direct sunlight I think it would have to get awfully hot to damage them. Humidity would be a much bigger concern, I'd think.

[Rook]

At 160F you can pull apart glued pieces and they still keep their shape. I would guess +110F combined with pressure would the actual issue. So using flat trays of keeping them horizontal in their original package. Should keep them from deforming. I'd experiment with a box or two before I put whole collection into storage. Or just check with anyone who has ever stored Lego in Texas or Oklahoma in the summer.

[HoboBob1138]

Though if the storage place has insulation and no windows, even if it doesn't have climate control I'd expect it to stay cooler than the outside temp.

Nope, it'll be hotter because the air wouldn't have anywhere to go. Trust me, I unloaded shipping containers one summer in 100 degree weather. If it's a 100 outside, it'll easily be 110 inside or more.

[Mister Ed]

Though if the storage place has insulation and no windows, even if it doesn't have climate control I'd expect it to stay cooler than the outside temp.

Nope, it'll be hotter because the air wouldn't have anywhere to go. Trust me, I unloaded shipping containers one summer in 100 degree weather. If it's a 100 outside, it'll easily be 110 inside or more.

Are shipping containers insulated? I didn't think they were, I thought they were just metal, which WOULD heat up quite a bit. I could easily be wrong, my experience is limited, but with insulation and no windows to let in sun, a space SHOULD heat up more slowly than the outside. Maybe the fact that it would cool down more slowly as well would lead to higher average temps over an extended heat spell, I dunno.

[buriedbybricks]

Probably depends on the storage place too, Ed. Most I'm familiar with are little more than cinderblock boxes.

I don't know what farenheit works out to in celcius and I'm too lazy to look it up, but I keep the sets I have stowed away for my son in my basement where the temp fluctuates wildly year round. Half of them are store on a shelf not 8 feet away from my wood stove so the temp in that area is between 30-40 degrees celcius in the winter and when the stove isn't going it can easily cool down to 10 degrees C. In a particularly cold winter the stove is blasting 24-7 from Nov-Apr and a good portion of those sets have been there for 6+ years.

Just recently opened some older sets and the boxes weren't exactly crisp, but everything inside was fine other than very curly books and stickers that still stuck perfectly.

YMMV, but I hope that's helpful.

[dWhisper]

I'd also guess that part of their concern surrounds using hot water and direct contact. Typical shipping containers, in the middle of summer, can easily top out above 150 F (65 C), and the sets work just fine. Not saying go bake your LEGO, but there are things a whole lot worse for sets than heat in storage (moisture, direct sunlight, to name a couple).

[Bellicose]

I do live in inland Southern California, so moisture and in this case sunlight won't be a worry.

Guess I'll keep an eye on this and see how it pans out - some of the sets in question are my investment sets...I'd rather nothing untoward happen to them.