# Hand Warmers in place of Oxygen Absorbers



## Taboo_oh

I saw the man on the preppers show say that not many people know this, but the hand warmers are the same as oxygen absorbers. I would figure there is some type of difference in the materials and on top of things the cost difference. Right now I can get hand warmers at 75 cents each.


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## acidlittle

Is this after they have been used that they will function as oxygen absorbers?


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## DiscountMylarBags

Although I sell oxygen absorbers for a living, this message is not about keeping sales or preventing folks from using hand warmers as oxygen absorbers if they want to; I love DIY!=)

However, hand warmers are meant to create heat, oxygen absorbers to remove oxygen. While they both are made from the same material (a form of iron oxide that when it rusts, removes oxygen from the atmosphere and produces heat as a side effect), they are packaged in ways appropriate for their primary function. Oxygen absorbers are created so the heat they produce is diffused to lessen the risk of spoiling food near the absorber. They also work over a longer period of time, where handwarmers are kind of a 'burst heat' mechanism. Plus, the outer material of an oxygen absorber is FDA approved for contact with food; handwarmers are not.

Also, if you go to our website (www.discountmylarbags.com), you can get many sizes of oxygen absorbers for less than $.75/each.=) And in bulk, you can get ALL our sizes of oxygen absorber for less than $.75 each.


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## survival

Very good post! I figured this since they would label them differently anyway. Esp with FDA requirements. Thank you for your post!


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## Taboo_oh

Thanks everyone for your post. I think DiscountMylarBags hit it on the head with the FDA also.


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## Arklatex

Kauboy mentioned this in another thread and I had never heard of it. Found this after a search rather than starting a new thread. Do any of the current members use hand warmers instead of oxygen absorbers? post number 3 seems to warn away from it. Just curious. How many hand warmers would it take for a 1 gallon mylar bag?


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## MrsInor

I'm all for do it yourself projects, but this is food folks. I am not going to screw around with something that is so important. If you are going to store food - do it right.


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## Arklatex

I definitely agree Mrs Inor. However the argument stands that hand warmers and oxygen absorbers "are the same thing" in different packages.


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## Kauboy

Yes, they work on the exact same principle.
That said, they are not used in the same manner, thus not packaged for the same use.

O2 absorbing packs for food storage use a different wrapping material around the contents to ensure air goes in, but NOTHING comes out.
My experience with hand warmers has been that the cloth mesh can allow particles of iron/rust to fall out.
Not much, but some.

Also, food use ones will have a "cc" that will give you an expectation of effectiveness.
Hand warming ones don't, so it is a guess or would take trial and error to get right.


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## LanceM

I realize this is an older thread, but I did a bunch of research and testing and wanted to report my findings. I personally think using handwarmers in large barrel storage with more open air space would be the only application we would use the handwarmers Preferably barrels that you don't intend to move. I'd also put the handwarmer in a paper bowl or on a paper plate when putting it in the barrel. Here's the blog post where I put my research if anyone's interested. Oxygen Packets 101 - Apocalyptic Prepping


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