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How Silica Gel Took Over the World

(www.scopeofwork.net)
225 points Hooke | 2 comments | 01 Apr 25 19:33 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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nvader ◴[01 Apr 25 20:18 UTC] No.43550901[source]▶
I didn't find this in the article, so:

You can "recharge" silical gel by baking in the oven at 120 C for a couple of hours. If you do, be careful to remove the casing before you do, unless it is heat safe.

I have a small collection of oven safe dessicant packs that I keep on hand for emergency drying electronics.

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jchw ◴[01 Apr 25 20:35 UTC] No.43551054[source]▶
I use dessicants for 3D printing. I've heard you can dry them out safely by just microwaving them for a few seconds. I wonder if that's good enough.
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bayindirh ◴[01 Apr 25 20:56 UTC] No.43551245[source]▶
You can get the ones with indicators, which change color according to how saturated they are.

You can check the color to see whether it's time to microwave them, and whether they are dry once you microwaved them.

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1. abracadaniel ◴[01 Apr 25 23:03 UTC] No.43552206[source]▶
The indicator is supposed to be toxic though. I’ve always seen warnings to never reuse that kind.
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2. adrian_b ◴[02 Apr 25 09:28 UTC] No.43554979[source]▶
If the indicator is cobalt chloride, which is blue when dry and pale pink (possibly almost invisible) when wet, that can be toxic or carcinogenic when ingested in great quantities, or when you inspire a lot of dust of it, but it is not dangerous to handle when in compact form.

It is certainly not something like a poison, where small quantities can have harmful effects, at least not for most people.

Like nickel, cobalt can cause allergies in some people, in which case repeated exposure can have serious effects even in small quantities, in those humans who are sensitive to it.