Desiccant useful life

[outlawaggie]

You can probably bake those wimpy, flat, essentially one-time-use Oly packs, or you can buy some real ones.

If only I knew a good source for cheap, new, better-than-stock-Olympus silical Gel packs...

Wait - it'll come to me...

K

10,000 packets for $100. http://www.texastechnologies.com/

 

[archman]

-If you are using desiccant packs with an indicator (turns blue or pink depending on the indicator) when recharging, don't rely on the color of the indicator as the indicator used (mostly Cobalt Chloride) will change color faster than the desiccant dehydrates, hence my recommendation that you bake them for a couple of hours at least.

Good information to know!

 

[miketsp]

When I'm travelling I don't normally have an oven available so I carry some silicon tubing to hold the small bags against a normal (incandescant) light bulb for a couple of hours. I find that the surface temperature of a 60W bulb dries out the bags nicely.

 

[lanwu]

Miketsp....& where would one get silicon tubing from?? never heard of the stuff....

 

[miketsp]

Miketsp....& where would one get silicon tubing from?? never heard of the stuff....

If you run a search on Google you should find about 561000 pages on silicon tube.
This is common flexible clear plastic tube with good temperature characteristics - up to about 180C.
In the UK you may have to ask for silicone tube.

This is widely used in medical applications, hospitals, laboratories, industry etc. Just check the temperature grade.
The stuff I use was specifically for industrial use, bought for insulating jumpers on printed circuit boards. It withstands soldering temperatures.