Six Mistakes Companies Make with Moisture Control

Moisture is one of those silent killers that doesn't announce itself until it's too late. You open a container expecting pristine product & instead find a clumpy mess or corroded components. I've seen it happen more times than I care to count, and it's almost always preventable. Companies spend thousands on manufacturing, logistics and packaging, but then stumble on the basics of moisture control. It's baffling, really.

The truth is, most businesses don't realise they're making mistakes until the damage shows up in customer complaints or returns. Perhaps it's because moisture control seems straightforward on paper? But the gap between theory and practice is where things go sideways. Let me walk you through the most common blunders I've encountered.

Underestimating the Humidity Factor

Here's where things start to unravel for many companies. They'll do their calculations based on average humidity levels, completely ignoring seasonal spikes or regional variations. I once worked with a manufacturer who shipped electronics across the UK using the same moisture protection year round. Worked fine in winter. Summer? Absolute disaster.

The problem is that humidity isn't static. It fluctuates wildly depending on geography, time of year, storage conditions & even the time of day. Your warehouse in Manchester might maintain decent climate control, but what about that shipping container sitting on a dock in Southampton during August? The temperature inside can hit 40°C easily, and relative humidity can spike to 90% or higher.

Companies need to calculate moisture control needs based on WORST CASE scenarios, not average ones. It seems obvious when you say it out loud, but you'd be surprised how many logistics managers skip this step.

And it's not just about external conditions. The products themselves can release moisture. Freshly manufactured goods sometimes contain residual water from production processes. This moisture gets trapped inside sealed packaging and creates its own little humid microclimate. Fun times.

Picking the Wrong Desiccant Size

This mistake drives me up the wall because it's so preventable. There's this tendency to either massively overdo it or, more commonly, underestimate what's needed. I think people see those little silica gel packets and assume one size fits all situations.

Wrong.

The amount of desiccant you need depends on multiple factors including package volume, product moisture sensitivity, expected exposure duration, and the permeability of your packaging materials. A 5 gram sachet might be perfect for a shoebox, but utterly useless in a large shipping container. I've seen companies try to "save money" by using smaller desiccant packs, only to face product degradation that costs them ten times what they saved. Penny wise, pound foolish.

What really gets me is when businesses don't recalculate after changing their packaging. They'll switch from cardboard to plastic containers, completely altering the moisture dynamics, but keep using the same desiccant specification from three years ago. The packaging engineer left the company & nobody questioned the original decision.

Neglecting Proper Seal Integrity

You can have the best desiccant in the world, but if your packaging isn't properly sealed, you're basically pouring water into a bucket with holes. Seems obvious, right? Yet this is where I see companies fall down constantly.

The issue isn't usually complete seal failure. It's the tiny imperfections that slowly let moisture creep in over weeks or months. A slightly misaligned seal. A microscopic tear in the barrier film. A poorly crimped edge that looks fine to the naked eye but allows moisture vapor to penetrate gradually. These small defects acommodate just enough moisture ingress to ruin products over time.

I've watched warehouse workers toss desiccant packets into boxes right before sealing, then wonder why moisture damage still occurs. If the packaging material itself isn't moisture resistant or the seals aren't airtight, that desiccant is fighting a losing battle. It's like bailing water from a sinking boat without fixing the leak.

Quality control on sealing equipment matters enormously. Heat sealers need regular maintainence. Sealing bars wear out. Temperature settings drift. But how many companies actually have a preventive maintenance schedule for their packaging line? Not enough, from what I've seen.

Using Substandard Desiccant Materials

Not all desiccants are created equal, and this is where things get interesting. Silica gel is probably the most recognised option, but even within that category there are massive quality differences. Some companies go for the cheapest option available & then act shocked when it doesn't perform.

I remember a pharmaceutical company that switched suppliers to save maybe £200 per month on desiccant costs. Within two months, they had stability test failures because the bargain basement silica gel they bought had poor adsorption capacity and started releasing moisture back into the package at higher temperatures. The regulatory headaches alone cost them tens of thousands.

Effective silica gel solutions aren't just about the raw material. It's about purity, particle size distribution, adsorption capacity per gram & regeneration characteristics. The packaging of the desiccant itself matters too. Those little packets need to allow water vapour through whilst keeping the silica gel contained. Cheap materials can tear or lose their permeability over time.

Then there's the question of whether silica gel is even the right choice. Sometimes clay desiccants make more sense. Other times you need molecular sieves. The decision should be based on your specific application, not just what's convenient to order.

Ignoring Storage & Handling Procedures

Here's something that doesn't get talked about enough. You can specify perfect desiccants, calculate everything correctly & seal packages beautifully. But if your warehouse team doesn't understand proper handling, it all falls apart.

Desiccants start adsorbing moisture the moment they're exposed to air. IMMEDIATELY. I've seen workers open bulk containers of desiccant packets in humid warehouse environments and leave them sitting out for hours. Those desiccants are already partially saturated before they even get into a package. Useless.

Proper storage means keeping unused desiccants in sealed, moisture proof containers until the moment of use. It means training staff on why this matters, not just handing them a procedure document they'll never read. Companies invest thousands in moisture control systems but won't spend an afternoon training the people who actually implement them. Makes no sense.

The same goes for packaged products. Just because you've included desiccant doesn't mean you can store finished goods in a damp warehouse for six months. The desiccant has finite capacity. It will eventually saturate, especially if the packaging isn't perfect or if temperature cycling causes moisture migration.

Failing to Test & Validate

This one frustrates me more than almost anything else. Companies will implement a moisture control strategy based on assumptions, then never actually verify it works. They'll skip the accelerated aging tests, the humidity chamber validation, the real world shipping trials. Too expensive, they say. Too time consuming.

You know what's expensive? Product recalls. Returns. Damaged reputation. Customer complaints. All because nobody bothered to spend a few hundred quid on proper testing upfront.

Testing doesn't have to be complicated. Put your packaged product in a humidity chamber at elevated temperature and humidity for a few weeks. Open it up. Check for moisture damage, desiccant saturation levels, product quality. It's not rocket science, but it gives you real data instead of guesswork. I've done these tests and found supposedly adequate desiccant solutions failing within days under realistic shipping conditions. Better to find out in your lab than through customer complaints.

And testing should be ongoing, not a one time thing. Your packaging suppliers might change their film composition. Your desiccant vendor might switch manufacturing sites. Your product formulation evolves. Any of these changes can affect moisture control performance, but companies rarely revalidate unless problems surface.

Overlooking Product Specific Requirements

The final mistake is treating moisture control as a generic problem rather than tailoring it to specific products. What works for protecting electronic components won't necessarily work for pharmaceuticals or food products. Each application has unique requirements that need individual attention.

Electronics might need to maintain relative humidity below 40% to prevent corrosion. Pharmaceuticals often have specific stability requirements tied to regulatory approvals. Food products have to balance moisture control with other factors like oxygen levels and aroma retention. Using a one size fits all approach is asking for trouble.

I've seen companies copy moisture control strategies from completely different industries without considering whether it makes sense for their situation. Someone reads about how electronics are packaged, then tries to apply the same approach to nutraceuticals. Different beast entirely.

Product degradation from moisture can take many forms. Clumping, caking, loss of potency, colour changes, mould growth, corrosion, dimensional changes. The specific failure mode should inform your moisture control approach. But that requires actually understanding your product's vulnerabilities, which means talking to your formulation chemists or materials engineers instead of just guessing.

The Bottom Line

Moisture control isn't glamorous. It doesn't show up in marketing materials or product launches. But get it wrong & it will absolutely sink your operation through returns, complaints and damaged goods.

The mistakes I've outlined here aren't rare edge cases. They're happening right now in warehouses and manufacturing facilities across the country. The good news? They're all fixable with proper attention and a bit of upfront investment. Calculate your humidity exposure properly. Size your desiccant correctly. Ensure good sealing. Use quality materials. Train your staff. Test your solutions. Tailor everything to your specific products.

It's not complicated, but it does require treating moisture control as seriously as any other aspect of your operation. Because ultimately, that little silica gel packet isn't just an afterthought. It's the last line of defence between your product and expensive failure. Worth getting right, don't you think?

 

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