The Basics: BirchSorb v Silica Gel
Silica gel is sometimes chosen as a dehumidifier for the home, or as a moisture absorber in leisure vehicles and storage buildings (sheds, garages etc). Though it’s reasonably effective at doing what it’s supposed to, silica gel wasn’t actually designed for this scale of use. There are also scientific reasons why it’s not really as appropriate for the home as people might first imagine it to be. Particularly when compared to BirchSorb.
What makes BirchSorb so superior to silica gel products? To explain this we have to look at both products and work out their benefits… Then it’s a simple case of ‘doing the math’.
What is Silica Gel?
Silica gel is an odourless, non-toxic, non-corrosive, and chemically inert substance. As it’s absorbing moisture from the surrounding atmosphere, no chemical reaction happens and there are no by-products. It’s relatively unsophisticated and in chemical terms it is a basic desiccant which can absorb approximately 27% of its own weight. That’s actually a reasonable amount, you might think. But when you consider that BirchSorb increases this moisture intake dramatically, silica gel begins to feel like a false economy.
Silica gel is mostly used for shipping, even then ideally for smaller items only, such as shoes, clothing, technology, medicines and certain food items. This is actually the best case use for silica gel - and it’s a different story in the home or leisure vehicle environment where much larger coverage and greater effectiveness is required.
BirchSorb
Because it’s odour-free and highly effective, BirchSorb can protect your caravan, motorhome, boat, car or vintage car against moisture damage. It’s also perfect for use in your house, flat, garage, shed, shop, storage facility, library, or office, and it will do a great deal to keep these places damp free. Anywhere, in fact, that you need an absorber because the space has some sort of moisture issue. It's also incredibly easy to use.
What exactly is BirchSorb?
Our scientists discovered a remarkable molecule during lime production which is highly effective at drawing in moisture, and they created an exclusive formula from it. This was developed into the product BirchSorb.
Once it’s installed, a BirchSorb unit starts drawing in moisture from the surrounding atmosphere and begins to set it into a solid form. In slightly more scientific terms the moisture is chemically ‘bound’ during an exchange between the fast and slow acting components of the formula.
This unique blend of multiple active ingredients ‘locks in’ the moisture it removes from the air so well that there is no subsequent spill, leakage or re-release of humidity over the minimum eight weeks of BirchSorb’s life. That’s impressive enough, but perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that it can ‘handle’ at least twice its own weight. Upwards of 200% is a staggering level of performance.
The maths, therefore, becomes incredibly simple. It’s immediately apparent that BirchSorb is far more effective than silica gel, and you need much less of it to do the job.
It’s also incredibly easy to install around the house or in your leisure vehicle, and because there is less of it to put in place it is less time consuming than silica gel (or other alternatives, which we’ll discuss in future editions of this blog).