Drying Desiccant

[SuperBuickGuy]

desiccant is cheap, I get it, but this little, handy tip can save you time along with a little bit of money.

I run an air dryer on part of my air system - it uses desiccant as the final step
it turns pink when it's wet


you could buy more - or you can spend 3-6 minutes drying it yourself in the microwave
*WARNING THIS IS NOT A WIFE-SAFE ACTIVITY*
be sure your spouse is gone. there is no danger, however, that usually isn't an excuse worth using as most times there is danger and she knows it.

microwave safe pan, 3 minutes 900 watts.... I ran this at 4 minutes at 1100 watts

thankfully this bloodhound is all about snitches get stitches so we're fine
and it's ready to use again this picture is after 3 minutes, took one more minute to go deep blue

[Eric]

Heard that years ago. never knew if it really worked.

[silver_bullet]

We have pouches of it at the lock and dam, as well as breathers....I use a dehydrator to rejuvenate it....otherwise it's 100 bucks for each breather (we have 16), and 600 bucks per drum of desiccant pouches....dehydrator runs 15 hours at 150 degrees F.... when I was a boiler technician in the Navy, we would bake off pouches at 350 in the mess deck ovens for 6 hours...

[anotheridiot]

the special colored stuff can be done like this. We bake powdercoat all day, so our oven is at 400. I usually put a gallon paint can in there, it turns brown. Never knew the microwave would do it. Thanks, I got spare microwaves. They say not to cook in a old oven you might use to cure powder, so I could pretty much figure that not doing this in a food microwave would probably follow that rule.

[SuperBuickGuy]

the special colored stuff can be done like this. We bake powdercoat all day, so our oven is at 400. I usually put a gallon paint can in there, it turns brown. Never knew the microwave would do it. Thanks, I got spare microwaves. They say not to cook in a old oven you might use to cure powder, so I could pretty much figure that not doing this in a food microwave would probably follow that rule.

I did in ours.... remember the wife advice portion?.... there is no smell

[SuperBuickGuy]

We have pouches of it at the lock and dam, as well as breathers....I use a dehydrator to rejuvenate it....otherwise it's 100 bucks for each breather (we have 16), and 600 bucks per drum of desiccant pouches....dehydrator runs 15 hours at 150 degrees F.... when I was a boiler technician in the Navy, we would bake off pouches at 350 in the mess deck ovens for 6 hours...

I have a vacuum pump and container - I thought about using that.... maybe next time.

other things I didn't know - desiccant doesn't dry below 40% humidity.... I know to those in the South that is any day ending in Y but up here, I've seen 16% (which seems odd given the trees and green - but there it is)

[DanStokes]

Several of my meds come with desiccant packets. Guess I could start saving them up......

Dan

[anotheridiot]

I did in ours.... remember the wife advice portion?.... there is no smell

well, there are things that you cannot smell that can hurt you, hell, you dont even know you are sick when you have this virus.

The silica packets say do not eat. The moisture is evaporating somewhere, most probably on the walls of the microwave where they can probably end up on or in the next meal.

Just not worth the risk man.

[SuperBuickGuy]

well, there are things that you cannot smell that can hurt you, hell, you dont even know you are sick when you have this virus.

The silica packets say do not eat. The moisture is evaporating somewhere, most probably on the walls of the microwave where they can probably end up on or in the next meal.

Just not worth the risk man.

you've never done it, but now you're an expert on risks associated with it. ah the internet....

[RockJustRock]

Interesting you keep FFDP next to the microwave. The wrath of Ivan speeds cooking?

[AndyShane]

desiccant is cheap, I get it, but this little, handy tip can save you time along with a little bit of money.

I run an air dryer on part of my air system - it uses desiccant as the final step
it turns pink when it's wet


you could buy more - or you can spend 3-6 minutes drying it yourself in the microwave
*WARNING THIS IS NOT A WIFE-SAFE ACTIVITY*
be sure your spouse is gone. there is no danger, however, that usually isn't an excuse worth using as most times there is danger and she knows it.
www.kraftyowl.com
microwave safe pan, 3 minutes 900 watts.... I ran this at 4 minutes at 1100 watts

thankfully this bloodhound is all about snitches get stitches so we're fine
and it's ready to use again this picture is after 3 minutes, took one more minute to go deep blue

Set the oven for 275 deg. F. Place the silica gel in an appropriates container and dry the gel until it turns medium blue. The oven drying method takes approximately 1 ½ hours per quart of gel.

[silver_bullet]

I have a vacuum pump and container - I thought about using that.... maybe next time.

other things I didn't know - desiccant doesn't dry below 40% humidity.... I know to those in the South that is any day ending in Y but up here, I've seen 16% (which seems odd given the trees and green - but there it is)

This is the dehydrator that we use: https://www.wayfair.com/Weston--West...d=BR49-WEN1051

[dave.g.in.gansevoort]

Dan Stokes probably doesn't remember that we dried dessicant back at the lab, he's old after all. If you have a vacuum oven (I know not in everyone's garage), you heat the dessicant while under vacuum, or better set up the oven to flush with nitrogen or co2. A flush with dry gas (both are cheap compared to the cost of the dessicant) while heated will dry to very low humidity. We use dririte at the lab I work at now, which comes in 5 gallon pails with gasketed sealable lds. And yes I glom on to them whenever one gets emptied. A can like this could also be used as a means to make a nitrogen flushable sealable container to heat and store your dessicant in.

[anotheridiot]

you've never done it, but now you're an expert on risks associated with it. ah the internet....

common sense man, I get this is your identity, cutting people down, but sometimes you just do not realize what you might be doing to yourself so you hopefully have someone witrh a little bit left chime in.

Breathing in very small ("respirable") crystalline silica particles, causes multiple diseases, including silicosis, an incurable lung disease that leads to disability and death. Respirable crystalline silica also causes lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease.

Safety and Health Topics | Respirable Crystalline Silica ...

[SuperBuickGuy]

common sense man, I get this is your identity, cutting people down, but sometimes you just do not realize what you might be doing to yourself so you hopefully have someone witrh a little bit left chime in.

Breathing in very small ("respirable") crystalline silica particles, causes multiple diseases, including silicosis, an incurable lung disease that leads to disability and death. Respirable crystalline silica also causes lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease.

Safety and Health Topics | Respirable Crystalline Silica ...

common sense says don't talk about what you don't know. just sayin'

and all of what you just said has nothing to do with drying it (heck, that's the same advice they give for sanding).

given your penchant for jumping to conclusions. let's shut that down now... the second thing I looked (after "can I dry it") at was safety of what I was doing.