Gun Safe Accessories; Dehumidifier why you need one!
Youve taken the financial plunge and have finally invested in a gun safe to give you that piece of mind you are looking for but are there options for your safe that your local safe retailer has not told you about ? Or worse yet did you purchase your safe at a box store and had no idea that you need some sort of dehumidification device.
Dehumidification; you can achieve this with an electric dehumidifying rod or a silica gel pack. But why do you need these? Whenever you have an installed box, like a safe, the air inside the box does not circulate. When the air becomes stagnate it settles and the moisture particles that were in the air settle on your paper work, firearms, jewelry, etc etc. This moisture build up causes rust, mold, mildew. How do they work?
Electronic dehumidifiers , heat up to the touch and in turn this heat creates a slight circulation of air in the safe, this circulation does not let the moisture particles settle but rather keeps them suspended in the air inside the safe. On the other side of the coin you have
Silica Packs, are just that silica, lots of it, think of those little packs of stuff that say do not eat that you get in beef jerky and boxes of shoes. Essentially the silica sucks the moisture up getting rid of the moisture completely.
Which one is right for you? When I purchased my first safe from a local office supply store I was unaware of moisture issues, needless to say my safe ended up rusting so bad that it was a bear to open. However, there are differences in safes fire protection causing differences in moisture released into the safe. Gun Safes, like Liberty, Champion, Fort Knox, use sheetrock as their fire insulation material and have pre-drilled holes for electric dehumidifiers. On the flip side of the coin many of the home fire safes you find at your local retailers use concrete for their insulation. Concrete creates exponentially more moisture then a dry fire lined safe. In addition, most concrete safes are not drilled for running the cord from your electric dehumidifier to an outlet; in this case a silica gel pack will be needed.
Ease of Use: Electric Dehumidifier, they stay plugged in and work 24/7 as opposed to Silica packs which need to be recharged or put in the oven to bake out the moisture when they are saturated.
Cost : Silica Packs tend to be slightly cheaper.
Effectiveness: Electric Dehumidifier, and the only I reason I say this is because most people who have silica packs do not re-charge them when they are saturated, which in turn renders them useless.
Warranty: Electric Dehumidifier, companies like goldenrod offer a lifetime guarantee, whereas silica packs like eva-dry only offer a 5 year warranty.
Overall: Electric Dehumidifier with the win, do yourself a favor and invest in one you will be happy that you did.
