Stored cold, handled wet
On this page14
A temperature range is published on all 251 containers
Which is complete coverage, and this is the third shelf in this library where that field has no blanks.
And for a plumbing part that is the relevant field
Because the parts live in a garage, a van or an unheated basement, which is a cold problem rather than a hot one.
The cold end is where the margin is
The fire and light property measures three ratings on its shelf with floors at -40 and -100 F. A cold floor is the easy half of any rating.
So the ceiling is the half that separates containers
Which matters less here than in a kitchen, because nothing about a plumbing part involves heat in storage.
The real storage problem is moisture
A metal part in a damp container corrodes, and corrosion on a sealing face is the failure that matters.
Which puts the closure liner at the center
And the 288 closures on this shelf carry 67 heat induction seals and 44 F217 liners, with 27 recorded as No Liner and 32 unrecorded.
So 59 of 288 have no liner or no record
Which is the fifth of the closure shelf to rule out for anything stored long in a damp space.
And a wet hand is the other condition
Plumbing work is wet work, and a container opened with wet hands gets water inside it whatever the liner does.
Which argues for small containers and many of them
Because a small jar is opened for one part and closed again, where a large one stays open on a bench.
60 of the 251 containers are under 60 mL
And 22 are under 30. Which is a genuine small end on a shelf whose median is 177.
210 of 251 are jars
Opening to their full diameter, which is what lets a wet hand get one o ring out without tipping the rest onto a floor.
And 12 tubs and pails are the bulk end
For a plumber carrying a hundred of one washer, which is a different proposition from a householder with six.
The temperature field is the one axis where our data is complete
Which is worth taking, because on most shelves in this library the useful field is the one with the blanks.