Hello all,
Where I live the average temp from winter lows to summer highs is 50's up to 80's.  The garage is the only place I have to store my ammo cans, but I have so many I don't want my neighbors to notice when the garage door is open.  i know I could easily cover my deep stack of ammo cans, but I do have a small room that houses my water heater and HVAC that connects to the garage.  Its small, kind of like an under the stairs closet that opens to the garage (not accessible from inside the house).  One upside is that I could keep my ammo out of sight and even put a simple locking door knob to discourage someone stealing my ammo if I ever have the garage door open and I am else-ware.  Now the room is about 4' by 8 or 10'.  Half is taken up my the water heater and HVAC, but the other half where the stairs (from above) come down at an angle would be perfect for ammo storage space wise.

Now... I need to know if this is safe?  All my ammo is either in ammo cans or sealed wooden crates.  There would be at least a door width distance (30" or so) physically between the water heater/HVAC and the closest ammo can.  The door would separate them, and it has 3 inches cut off the bottom to allow ventilation.  It does get noticeably warmer in this room, but only say 5-10 degrees warmer then the garage itself.  

Would this be dangerous to do?  I feel that it may be okay, but thought it prudent to ask for advise first.

Thank you

Maybe I've seen more than my share, since I was a plumber once upon a time.  But have you ever seen the mess created when a water heater lets go?

I figure that since everything is in cans it should be okay if worst case scenario happens and the water heater leaks.  Plus if that does happen, I should know about it and things wouldn't be long and drawn out.  Perhaps I can put a couple 2x4's to give some stand off space off the floor.

This, it should be fine, I would only worry about the temp during the summer. Does it get pretty warm in there or is it a internal closet???



 

Put the cans in plain cardboard boxes... mark the boxes Christmas ornaments... Halloween stuff... Easter stuff... Labor day stuff... no questions will be asked.

Temp is fine, a few 2x4's on the floor 1st are fine, I have my cans in a similar room. but...


That would be the biggest reason to me not to use that room.

Very often water heaters don't "leak", instead they have a catastrophic failure and dump 40-50 gallons of water almost instantly.

My view is to hide in plane sight.

Putting your 'stuff' in a closed room with heat and water doesn't go well with me. I don't like the idea of having my breaker box in close proximity with my water heater.

I don't know what your garage area looks like, so. Put up some storage shelving. This will keep the 'stuff' off of the floor and moisture/ temp transfer.
Build very solid and put thin plywood doors up with locks. Don't go overboard and keep everything simple. Don't put up flags, 'Look in here, this is the place to brake into.'

You can only keep the honest people out and make it too visible/loud for a quick grab and run.

Cheap metal cabinets may be an option.
Remember, metal setting on concrete will eventually rust.

OSOK

Personally I would not even consider doing it on general principle. You should research the incident rate of fires with HVAC units and hot water heaters. I would bet that if a fire did start in the utility closet with your ammo in there your insurance company would be difficult to deal with.