What on earth is this substance in my dehumidifier?

[usagora]

I've had a Frigidaire model FAD704DWD dehumidifier since 2014, and although I regularly cleaned the air filter, I could see their was dust completely caked on the evaporator coil fins, so I took the outer shell off to get to the coils to clean them. On the back left of the dehumidifier, to the left of the refrigerant canister there was a semi-opaque plastic container that I could see some nasty brownish substance through. It was held on by come screws, so I removed it, and inside is some weird brown substance wrapped in plastic (see pictures below). Does anyone have an idea what this is? There is no inlet/outlet into this container, so I have no idea what this could possibly do except add weight to the dehumidifier (it's fairly heavy). Sort of smells like modeling clay.

 

[rman]

the first thing that comes to mind for me is a counter balance, since you said it is little heavy and looking at the picture, the device appears that is may be top heavy.

 

[usagora]

the first thing that comes to mind for me is a counter balance, since you said it is little heavy and looking at the picture, the device appears that is may be top heavy.

Yeah, that would be my only guess too. The only thing I find weird about that is why they would put it in a semi-transparent shell like that, which would imply you're supposed to be able to see it for some reason. I guess whatever it is must be cheaper than metal weights, if that's indeed what its purpose is.