Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

I was looking through youtube for videos about food storage when I came across this. This fellow makes a case for using pocket hand warmers as large oxygen absorbers to use in a 5 gallon bucket.

I know O2 absorbers are cheap, but sometimes I'd like to only open one or two, and not worry about storing the rest of them.


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What do you guys think about this idea? Is this guy nuts or is he on to something!?!

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

I'll have to give it a shot. I get fairly big ones for about .75 a piece.

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

I've got (6) 5 gallon buckets of rolled oats using hand warmers and mylar bags.

It works.

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

I worry about the effect that the heat may have on the food.

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

After the O2 is consumed the heaters stop working.

Take a hand warmer and activate it then place it in a zip lock bag, it quits working.

Take it back out and it will start up again.

It produces heat by oxidation (consumption of O2).

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

And after the O2 is used up the warmer saturates your food with the smell of lighter fluid. No thanks. If you want to be cheap, use steel wool. That's all an oxygen absorber is. You have to put it in something that lets the air circulate but won't let the rust flakes fall out.

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

Got the wrong hand warmers there ... http://www.besportier.com/archives/z...and-warmer.jpg

Even if that line is totally bogus its a great advertisement for the prep retailers.

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

There are several different types of hand warmers and only one type uses lighter fluid. Avoid that type for food preps:) Actually only the first type will work as an oxygen absorber for food preps. From Wikipedia:

Air activated (iron)
Some hand warmers contain cellulose, iron, water (catalyst), activated carbon (speed up reaction), vermiculite (water reservior) and salt (catalyst) and produce heat from the exothermic oxidation of iron when exposed to air.[1][2]


Crystallization-type hand warmer with scale showing metal disc trigger[edit] Supersaturated solution (crystallization-type)
A second type generate heat through exothermic crystallisation of supersaturated solutions and are usually reusable. These can be recharged by boiling the warmers and allowing them to cool. Heating of these pads is triggered by snapping a small metal device buried in the pad, which generates nucleation centers that initiate crystallisation. Heat is required to dissolve the salt in its own water of crystallisation and it is this heat that is released when crystallisation is initiated.[3]

This type typically has a shorter heat duration of 20 minutes to 2 hours.[4]


Lighter fuel warmer[edit] Lighter fuel
Another type uses lighter fluid (lighter fuel) or LPG which is reacted with a platinum catalyst to release heat by oxidation reactions. These can be used on many occasions by simply refuelling.[5]

[edit] Battery
There is also a battery operated handwarmer. In this type, electrically resistive heating devices are used to convert electrical energy in the battery to thermal energy. Some use disposable batteries, but others are rechargeable, like cellphones, and can be used for many hundreds of cycles with the same battery. This type is not disposable.

There are also HeatBands which work by insulating the blood vessels at the wrist and by reflecting the body's own heat back to that area in this way they provide a natural remedy for cold hands.

Re: Hand Warmers - Large, cheap O2 Absorbers?
 

The ones I get have the heat generated marked on the packages. I generally get the 30C ones since I have small children, but they also have 50+C ones ... but I wouldn't worry terribly about the heat, since the non-handwarmer ones generate it as well and don't do any harm