Which moisture absorber should I use?

December 15, 2014 9:30 AM

Amazon sells a bunch of different kinds of moisture absorbers, mostly silica based. They are variously "rechargeable," by plugging them in or putting them in the oven for hours (!). Reviews are all over the place. I need to be able to store some mattresses wrapped in plastic in my damp basement. Which absorber(s) do I want for placing inside the plastic?
posted by OmieWise to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

I asked a somewhat similar question here once.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:41 AM on December 15, 2014

I've used powdered drywall compound as a moisture absorber.
posted by bdc34 at 10:21 AM on December 15, 2014

Response by poster: Dag, no one else is prepared to answer?
posted by OmieWise at 6:45 AM on December 16, 2014

I've gotten these canisters for all my camera equipment in storage. The page I've linked to has all different sizes. One 40gram canister goes into every 9L plastic box with stuff inside.

Best I can say for a review is that I haven't gotten any mold or sticky leather bits on my equipment (Sorry, hard to prove a negative.)
posted by Cog at 11:49 PM on December 16, 2014

In case anyone can''t be bothered to read the other thread, the punchline is crystal cat litter. I've sometimes used it stuffed into socks.
posted by tangerine at 10:29 PM on December 18, 2014