wood carbinets with drawers are isolated from air?

[timoinsects]

i heard many saying the best condition for insects storage is isolating from air. this also preventing from moisture.

however,i saw the pictures of wood carbinets from websites. can't tell if they are good sealed or not when close the "door"

does anyone have carbinets can tell if wood carbinets are isolated from air?

or some new types which covered by stainless-steel are isolated from air? thouse on sales from webs are normally wood made. so i don't know.

[Adam Cotton]

I don't think my cabinets are anywhere near isolated from air (airtight), and probably nearly all wooden cabinets aren't airtight either. The lids should be tight fitting so that it is difficult for insects to crawl through the gap between lid and draw, but even this does not completely prevent pests from entering the draws. I tend to concentrate on fumigating the room they are housed in, more often that putting pesticide in the draws.

The other main problem is humidity (especially here in a tropical climate), which even airtight wooden containers cannot control. In my (windowless) room I have airconditioning on 24 hours a day, keeping the temperature at 25C, but more importantly keeping the humidity very low. I also have a backup dehumidifier, which is programmed to turn on automatically if the humidity rises above 45%, although the airconditioning normally maintains humidity at about 29%.

Adam.

[leptraps]

In my career I manufactured Museum Storage Cabinet. Not only did I manage plant operations, I also did some design work. The best cabinets are made of steel, the best steel cabinets are made by the Viking Metal Cabinet Co. (They acquired the Interior Steel Equipment Company's SafeStor product line in 1995), and by Steel Fixtures Museum Cabinets in Topeka, KS. Lane Science Equipment Co. makes a good steel cabinet, the door seal is foam and it deteriorates quickly. BioQuip makes a nice wood and metal cabinet with a lift out door.

Wood cabinets are Okay, but you must keep moth crystals to keep out dermestids.

I have 16 Interior Steel Cabinets, one Lane, one BioQuip and two Steel Fixtures. The best were the old Interior Steel Cabinets. They were air tight and light tight. It was said that you could fart inside an Interior Steel Cabinet and close the door. If you left the door closed for 30 years, you could open it and still smell the fart 30 years later. Now that is a great seal.

[prillbug2]

All of my cases and cabinets are made by me, and I can definitely say that they are not air tight, although many of the lids of the cases are tight fitting. The cabinets are open faced. I don't have much problems with Dermestids in the house because I bug bomb the house every spring. To make my cases more airtight, I tape the sides with metal tape.
Jeff Prill

[bichos]

How would you test for air tightedness? especially in timber cabinets and store boxes, I'm sure many of you would have the same problem; with only a select couple of boxes always getting pests and not the rest, when they are seemingly the same with reasonably tight seals. i'm not sure about farting in them, I'm just reluctant to try. What if someone finds out, no way!

I heard some people systematically freeze their whole collection once a year thus no need for naphthalene. Or airtight cabinets :s