Annoyed by all those silica gel packets you get with your shoes, electronics, jerky, and other commodities? Well, don’t be so hasty to throw them out, they can be reused repeatedly. A helpful Impact Lab post describes ways the packets could be reused.
Put packs in your ammo cans and gun cases/safes to keep dry.
Protect personal papers and important documents by putting some gel in a baggie wherever these are stored.
Keep with photos to spare them from humidity. Tuck a small envelope in the back of frames to protect even the ones hanging on your walls.
Leave a couple packs in your tool box to prevent rusting.
Use the material to dry flowers.
Place with seeds in storage to thwart molding.
Dry out electronic items such as cell phones and iPods. Remember after the device has gotten wet, do not turn it back on! Pull out the battery and memory card and put the device in a container filled with several packs. Leave it in there at least overnight.
Slow silver tarnishing by using the gel in jewelry boxes and with your silverware.
For items in storage, such as cars or anything prone to mildew.
Tired of buying big bags of pet food only to have it get soggy? Store your kibble in a bin and tape some silica packs to the bottom of the lid.
And once the gel gets saturated, you can recharge it by baking it on a cookie sheet.
[Image by flickr user pigpogm, Community Commons]
16 thoughts on “Reusing desiccant packs”
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Put one or two of them inside the housing of your underwater camera, to prevent condensation from forming on the lens when you go from warm air into cold water.
If I put them on cookie sheets to dry I guarantee someone will eat them. Probably me.
My girlfriend sewed a few packs into a long narrow tube of fabric. She soaks it in water for a couple of minutes and puts it around her neck when she goes into the desert. Evaporation keeps the “scarf” cool and the silica keeps it moist nearly all day. That stuff really expands and gets squishy when saturated. The tube is less than 1/4 full of silica when dry.
I know they mentioned toolboxes already, but I also keep packs in all of the cases with my power tools (cordless drill, circ saw, etc.) Those see a lot of moisture and the desiccant helps reduce it.
I use the plastic encased canisters (like come with medications and vitamins) and put them in the sugar and salt containers to keep them from clumping. I wouldn’t recommend doing this with the bagged variety, but to each his own.
I’ve just been eating them. Try it!
Cut them open and poor them into a urinal. They pop into the air and make a crackle sound when they get wet! :D
Silica Gel is poisonous – do not follow the advice of the moron DanYHKim