Hey Bill,
Luckily I only had a few of those little dessicant paper pouches (as found often in product packaging or boxes being shipped, similar size to salt/pepper packets), as well as a little tin of loose desiccant beeds in my safe deposit box, and not the stuff that liquified. The stuff that dissolved was in my separate storage unit, though would have absolutely wreaked havoc had they been in my safe deposit box (was almost sure I'd left some in there until I checked
).
The moisture those things created is really crazy and still a mystery to me. All my little cardboard baseball boxes that got soaked are
STILL nearly as wet 4 weeks later, as is a 8.5" x 11" paper JSA LOA. At one point a few days later, when I realized they weren't drying on their own, I put them all in the oven. After a few hours at 220 F, they appeared dry/crispy to the touch (even darkened like burnt toast), only to regain almost all the moisture once they cooled. A really foul smell also permeated the house after doing this, so I stopped after two tries.
I'm still at a total loss
. My wife is still insistent these were desiccants, and said she'd recognize them if she saw them. I believe her, at least that they were sold as such, but unfortunately she didn't keep the original packaging and threw the rest of them away before I could get a picture to post here. It had been suggested they were something else (bath beads, etc) on the board, but as is, I know my wife was shopping specifically for desiccants when she got these, and doubt she'd have mixed those with bath beads... Also, why/how would bath beads, or anything for that matter disolve after only a couple months and with no direct contact to water, and then saok things with what's basically proven to be an irreversible moisture?? IMO, it defies all reason that all this paper is still wet!!!!
Anyway, sorry, didn't mean to get side tracked. There is definitely moisture in my bank's vault, though no one at my bank has acknowledged it. You can feel the stuffiness/humidity in there, and this moisture seemed to cause a few items to stick to their plastic sleeves, ruining a few... most notably my 2010 WS ticket stub which really bummed me out, and which prompted me to add desiccants. I am admittedly a little gun shy now, but am probably gonna keep using the little paper pouches, and maybe put one of those tins back in. I don't think it needs much for such a small area though, just probably need to change them every so often.
I hope my story doesn't make you paranoid, I'm sure you'll be fine doing whatever you choose.
BELOW ADDED is a pic of my LOA. It's hard to see, but the slightly darker areas at the folds is moisture that's lasted 4 weeks and two 2-3 hour trips into my oven. The blackened/burned portion at bottom is result of being in the oven, yet the moisture is still bound to the paper.
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