Amazing Uses Of Silica Gel At Home

Improvement

oi-Staff

By Debdatta Mazumder

Saturday, January 2, 2016, 10:29

You must have seen those little, white packets in your new shoes, purse, beef jerky or any other products. Have you ever thought what these are or what are their usages? If you ever look through these packets, you’ll find that these are packets of silica gel.

Usually, people throw away these packets, as the usages are unknown to many. However, if you go through any magazines or sites on home decor, you will find several uses of silica gel at home.

So, what are the best uses of silica gel? You can use silica gel packets in various ways. As silica gel is a strong desiccant, you should keep it within air-tight containers or inside your wardrobe.

It can also absorb the unwanted moisture, mildew and mold and keep things dry.

Also, you may have seen the lenses of your camera become foggy in the monsoon season. If you keep two silica gel packets within the camera bag, the lenses will be in a good condition. Isn’t this a wonderful use of silica gel at home?

You may think whether this chemical is safe or not. It is toxic to children, so keep eyes on them and keep these packets out of their reach. But, silica gel packets are not toxic to pets. Read on to know more about the best uses of silica gel.

1. Protects Vital Documents: Keep some silica gel packets inside your cupboard, where you keep your important documents like passports, birth certificate, marriage registration certificates, deeds and other crucial papers. These packets will keep those documents dry and safe from any unwanted bacterial growth.

2. Keeps Your Cameras Dry: One of the best uses of silica gel at home is this. The foggy streaks on lenses can damage your camera very fast.

The underwater cameras also get such type of condensation on the lenses. If you keep silica gel packets in the camera case, it will keep the lenses dry.

3. Keeps Clothes Dry: Winter is over and you want to store your sweaters and jackets. Molds and mildews are common problems and those leave an odour when you use them again that next year.

Keep 2-3 silica gel packets into the pockets or folds of winter wear and keep your winter wears fresh and free from any bad odour.

4. Saves Your Wet Cell Phone: Consider this among the best uses of silica gel. It happens to many of you that you mistakenly drop your mobile phones into swimming pools or a bathing tub. Don’t be tensed. Remove the battery and memory card from the phone and keep it overnight in a bowl with silica gel packets.

5. Takes Care Of Your Books And Albums: Books and albums are prone to attack of mildews and molds and thus become yellowish. Just insert some silica gel packets in between the pages of books and albums.

If your books are wet, keep them in sunlight to dry and store for few days into an air-tight packet with silica gel.

6. Extends The Longevity Of Razor Blades: What are other uses of silica gel at home? It becomes difficult to keep razor blades away from rust.

Take a container half filled with silica gel. After shaving, keep your blade inside it to make it dry. While storing, place some silica gel packets inside the razor case.

7. Stops Icing Inside Your Refrigerator: When you store anything inside your freezer or refrigerator, keep a bowl of silica beads or silica gel packets to stop icing. These packets also keep your vegetables dry inside the refrigerator.

8. Protects Your Jewellery: Due to moisture in the air, your jewelleries, especially the silver ones can get tarnished. If you keep some silica gel packets inside your jewellery box, those can remain dry and shiny.

9. Helps In Storing Seeds: In case of gardening, silica gel packets are effective to use. If you want to store harvested seeds for future, keep those into an air-tight container and slip 2 silica gel packets there.

Also, keep the containers in a cool dry place. This will prevent it from molds, mildews and premature germination.

10. Use It As A Room Freshener; If you think of the uses of silica gel at home, this can’t be ignored. Take your favourite essential oil and soak silica beads into it.

Hang those in an air-tight bag at the corners of your room or car. Your room would smell fresh and nice.