I can attest to recently having to spent at least four hours per
fixture to many Lighting and Electonics Inc.
Leko's in just saving them. Fixtures that were in storage in the
orchestra pit below grade and in a masonry area - though not exposed lime from the brick or any flooding. 1990's cheap fixtures were in a worse condition than some I have worked with 100 years old or older. Talking by way of rust in some I couldn’t even extract the
shutter plate assembly other than soaking a few days in
Thread Locker stuck.
Huge work for not that old fixtures and in this case some that should have just been scrapped short of my saving them. Wonder how well it’s going with the other buyer of the lights that I trained but probably doesn’t have time to detail
restore them. Big mistake on my part - I didn’t "field strip" the entire fixtures I was viewing, and what I didn’t see was really bad. This was not the
road house fairly un-cared for gear I thought I was seeing, it was much worse I think by way of storage. I did a huge disservice to the other buyer in rxcommending buying these lights - won’t make that mistake again.
1911 theater with some lights stored in the brick catacombs that had lime dust off the brick peppering on them for at least 50 years, and also below grade location, the fixtures were in better condition than the also
road house from 1928 with 1990's fixtures that were just stored in the
orchestra pit below the extension of the
stage perhaps for a few years at most if even that long. Granted a lot of the problems were of the
fixture brand and care for the lights which were probably marginal at best for what condition they were really in. The L&E lights in general had one coat of spay paint at best on any surface and little to no graphite was applied as done. Other metals were just left un-painted and exposed. Fixtures might have been well on their way to "bad" condition before storage, brand was crap in quality it would seem in comparison to lights of alternate brands, but storage finished them off. Toast and hours of work just to
restore.
Up a ladder and into an area that isn’t wet, in a
basket that isn’t in a wet area, hung from a pipe
etc... Storage is often best on un-hung pipes local to the
stage - flying or not, but often the best areas. After that air movement perhaps for storage areas and in general storage conditions. Can also depend on the brand of light - if you buy a cheaper light, it might have a service life such as the L&E version of a
Leko that takes hours to refinish and possibly will have been toast before they went into storage.
Recently bought some drill press vises - this amongst other tools or materials. They were waxed paper oiled in keeping the bright work fresh for as long as it took to sell the product Who cannot remember having to wipe down the oil from fresh Sch. 40 pipe or steel so it can get painted. I see best storage if going to be stored for an unknown amount of time... store it in the live - above
ground (not worried about dust) somewhere after full service
call. If no time for that, bag it and add little spray of WD-40 to that bag, than seal it. Later
wash the lenses in a dish washer with Jet Dry, but the rest of the
fixture should be as good as you left it.
Don’t know but options protected gear. Mostly I would think what is done if not too wet is a great storage place. How long the storage and how well maintained the gear a better question as with what brand of gear in storage. Some gear stores it would seem better than other gear.