Desiccants: An Overlooked Prep

Desiccants are a critically important prep to anybody who lives where there is humidity, and yet they are often totally overlooked.

New equipment manufacturers know how important they are… I mean, how many times have you opened up a new appliance, device, or product and found a package of silica gel descants stamped “Do Not Eat!”. It’s an everyday occurrence, right? 

We’ll come back to those little packets here in a bit.

So what exactly are desiccants?

Desiccants are drying agents that remove moisture from their environment. When you place them inside a sealed container, they “absorb” the moisture out of the container, making everything else inside the container drier.

What kind of desiccants are there?

Well, there are a whole bunch of things that are desiccants. Here’s a short list of four of the most common ones (there are a lot more than this, but these are very common and very safe so let’s stick with them for starters):

• Rice
• Calcium Chloride
• Salt
• Silica Gel

Each of these desiccants have their uses, so let’s take a look at each of them.

Silica Gel

I’m a SCUBA diver and underwater photographer, and I first met my old friend Silica Gel (treated with Cobalt Chloride as an indicator) about 10 years ago as part of a product called “Moisture Munchers” by a company called Sealife. The Munchers are small tubes of this seemingly magic substance that keeps the inside of your camera dry. The best part is that you can “recharge” the Munchers and reuse them.

Honesty compels me to admit that the Munchers are the ONLY product from the Sealife company that I have ever used without hating it, but I guess that’s a different story.

Basically, Munchers are small tubes of Silica Gel a desiccant that changes colors as it absorbs humid air & water because it’s been treated with Cobalt Chloride as an indicator. It’s not actually the Silica Gel that changes, it’s the indicator that does the changing.

I’ve since found many different products that use Silica Gel with a Cobalt Chloride indicator, and I use them extensively in all of my electronics (and some of my firearms) storage.

Here’s an example of how the indicator works:

Now let’s look at what a “used” module looks like:

Do Not Eat!

Of course, there’s also the little packages that look like Tic Tac breath mints that you get in everything from new toys to electronics to household appliances. You know, the ones that say “Do Not Eat” on them.

Did you know they can be reused by drying them in the oven or the dehydrator?

Personally, I use our dehydrator, it’s very quick and does a great job. 

Here’s how: Set your temperature at 275 and place your Silica Gel packets in an oven-safe glass container. Dry them out until the indicators change color (or, if you have the kind without indicators, try 90 minutes or so). 

Once they are dry, seal them up in a zip lock bag that you’ve removed the air from, and you are good to go.

Are Silica Gel Packs Food Safe?

Yes, they are food safe. You can use them in and around your kitchen and pantry.

The are food safe… but not food… so do not directly eat them. 

In truth, Silica Gel packs are even safe to eat, according to this article. While good to know, I have no desire to chow down on one. 

Calcium Chloride

A second common desiccant type, and one that we personally use a lot, is Calcium Chloride. There’s a bunch of different ways of acquiring the stuff, but Spice & I go the easy route and just buy it in the form of the DampRid product.

DampRid works where you need a bigger area dry, it’s great for something like a pantry if you can keep the pantry closed off from the rest of the house.

It’s also the perfect substance to re-charge other desiccants in, I store my Moisture Munchers in a container of DampRid so I never have to nuke them in the dehydrator.

Additionally, if you get a wet cell phone, DampRid is a much better way of drying it out than rice. 

Salt As A Desiccant

On the one hand, salt is great at absorbing water. On the other hand, it’s corrosive as all get-out. 

Unless you own a salt mine, salt is not a very practical desiccant overall. Having said that, if you DO own a salt mine, then salt is a KILLER great desiccant.

I offer in evidence the Hutchinson, KS salt mine. There’s a massive salt mine deep under the city of Hutchinson, KS, and the older part of the mine has been opened up as an underground museum. HIGHLY recommended, by the way, if you are in town (and while you are there, be sure to check out the Space Center where many of the most famous spacecraft in history have been restored and some are on display.

The salt mine is also used as a massive storage facility for paper records, and importantly to movie fans most of the props from Hollywood films are stored in this salt mine under Kansas. Seriously. 

Rice As A Desiccant

A lot of people use rice to dry out cell phones that have been immersed in water. Rice is, indeed, a desiccant, so that will work (to an extent) although DampRid works much better.

Another great way of using rice as a desiccant is to put it in salt shakers to keep the salt from clumping.

Other than that? I’d rather use Silica Gel.

Are Desiccants the same as oxygen absorbers?

No, they are completely different animals entirely. Desiccants absorb water, oxygen absorbers… well… absorb oxygen.

Oxygen absorbers are some of the greatest prepping tools on the planet when used in vacuum storing goods, but you generally won’t want to use desiccants in your food preps.

Don’t Overdo It Though

I mentioned guns earlier, I often put desiccants in with some of my firearms that are kept inside cases (like pistols) but if I do this, I make SURE I have any wooden parts of the guns (like grips) well oiled before I seal them up. I don’t want the wood completely dried out to the point it cracks. Just an FYI.