What's Wrong with My Safe?

I put color changing silica packs in my safe about a week and a half ago. I also put 3M tarnish strips in too. The silica packs are already changing color. Is there something wrong?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Sounds like they're doing their job.

 

I was wondering why the change so fast, could my safe be getting too much humidity? I live in a dry climate.

 

Is it a fire safe?

 

I know very little about safes, but as an experiment I'd refresh the silica packs, and put one in the safe and one outside the safe, and see if they change color at the same time. Perhaps you're trying to dehumidify the entire planet, not just the inside of your safe.

 

It's a new safe. A month ago I put a bunch of silica packs from the Army Navy Store. A ton of them. I opened it and it smelled like leather. I don't know if it's low grade as I do not know much about them.

 

It's listed as fire proof

 

I have about 9 packs in the safe. I'll try this and see if the environment it's around is humid.

 

If it smells like leather, I'd be nervous about putting silver in it. Would it be practical to "bake it out" by exposing it to high temperatures with the door open for a few days?

 

How often do you open the safe per week or month?
Is it a "gun" type of safe?
Does it have shelving or fixtures?( other than metal)
Purchased as new or used?

All can have an effect.

 

Do you have firearms with oil on them in there?That could be a factor.

 

It smells like leather because the silica packs I used before were from leather products I used from the Army Navy Store. The smell is not to bad now. Airing it out may not be a bad idea though.

 

I open the safe several times a week. It is not a gun type safe. It has one shelf. Purchased new.

 

Ah. Baking them out should be easy. Of course, then your oven will smell like leather.

 

I now have the ones that change color that I bought off Amazon. It says I can recharge them in a microwave. How do I do this whyout packs melting?

 

Put your valuables in a tin in your garage. Don't worry about the safe, it is there to act as a burglar magnet and they will probably take it away before trying to open it.

No one can ever find anything in a tin in the garage, even if they know it is there, so security is not a problem.

 

This is the type of silica packs I have. It says reusable. How do I recharge them?

 

Put them in the oven for a couple of hours at a temperature high enough to drive out the water, but not high enough to melt the plastic. The Web site says to preheat an oven to 240, and bake for 3 hours, but it also mentions a "white bag" -- I'd be nervous about the clear plastic withstanding the temperature. Try it with one, and stand ready to pull it out if it starts to melt and smell.

 

Yeah, the plastic bag is what scares me. I'll try it.