[meteorite-list] Re:Silica Gel Drying

From: Martin Horejsi <martinh_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:49:02 2004
Message-ID: <B7D109B1.2055%martinh_at_isu.edu>

Rob kindly wrote:
> One thing that's often forgotten during the re-charging process is that after
> heating, the desiccant must be allowed to cool in an AIRTIGHT container,
> otherwise it'll be part spent before you even get to use it again.

Hi Rob and all,

A while ago I recharged my desiccant in my oven and figured that I would
just let it cool in the oven because it was already dry and sealed fairly
well from the air in the house.

The next day, my wife was going to bake something so she preheated the oven
to about 450f. After about 15 minutes, there was this awful smell coming
from the oven. I'd forgot all about my desiccant in the oven!

In case anyone is wondering, the silica gel, especially the small packets
and the ones with colored indicator dyes are rather gross and destructive
when exposed to high heat. I had to throw away the cookie sheet I had used
as a drying container because the goop leaching out from the desiccant
packets burned onto the metal. I hope I did not kill to many brane sels
smeln' the smok frm da ofen.

Cheers,

Martin
Received on Fri 21 Sep 2001 05:13:53 PM PDT