Desiccant bags

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Hey everyone,

A few months ago I attempted to dry some desiccant bags for my gun safe. I put them in the oven for an hour at about 150 degrees. I'm not sure if I left them in long enough or if it was hot enough. I haven't noticed any rust on my guns though. Does anyone have a suggestion on the time and the heat? These bags weigh about a pound a piece.

Thanks
 
I use two 900 gram boxes and one 450 gram packages of silica packets. And several 3 gram packets for small areas. I can dry all of them out in a 200 degree oven for 3 hours.
 
What's the dessicant? If it's a salt, just crank the heat up some - you don't have to worry about it decomposing
 
I use this type of Desi Pak in my safe. Only because we use them at work so I get them free. I also use the humidity cards shown in the link. When they need dried out I place them on an oven rack at 200 degrees F. for a few hours.

During the summer here with higher humidity I dry the Desi Paks maybe once a month but with dry winters I can go about all winter. When the indicator cards start turning pink it is time.

Ron
 
What's the dessicant? If it's a salt, just crank the heat up some - you don't have to worry about it decomposing
Click to expand...
Silica gel can be damaged if you get it too hot. It works very well, though, if you treat it right.

I got a pallet of it at my last job. It came in with with materials packaging and they disposed of it in the dumpster. I figured out how to efficiently dry and repackage it, bought a bunch of those cards to go with it, and made good money selling it on ebay. I wish I had known a few years earlier. It's all gone now, but I think I still have some indicator cards left.

By the way, a clean food dehydrator works very well at drying them out. The one I used didn't get too hot; I just filled it up and let it run overnight.
 
Right you are, although up to 350 oF should be fine as long as you're not worried about not hurting the indicator dye. I should have looked into it a bit more before saying so though - it doesn't decompose the salt per se, but it makes it lose it's hygroscopy. And then there are things like bicarbs that definitely will decompose. So my mistake, typed too quickly and without enough though!
 
If you have a friend that works retail, just ask them to keep the packs. The little things come in everything.

I also wouldn't suggest trying to dry them in a gas stove. Burning gas' products tend to be Co2 and, ahem, water vapor.
 
Silica gel can be purchased with colorants that change with moisture content. Splurging for a little (hobby stores in flower drying section) will tell you when the rest of your gel is dry. Even better, there are some commercial packs (Remington and others) that you plug in when they're pink, they heat up, turn blue, and you're good to go..
 
I got mine from my local Harley dealership. MC's come with several large descant bags (as in lbs) in the crate. They just toss 'em, more than happy to dispose of them for "free".
 
I put mine directly on the rack in the oven overnight at 240 degrees F since I'm not opening the bags and spreading the material around. Anything less would make me unsure I've given all the moisture in the middle of each bag to bake out.

Remember that higher temps can melt synthetic bags leaving you with a ruined oven and desiccant.
 
Length of bake time is more important than exact temp. 180 to 200 degrees is plenty but give them at least four hours. Allow to cool and enjoy.
 
I agree with the last two posters. I have 5 big cans and they say 325 for at least 4 hours. I have found here in Houston, that overnight works best. 4 hours does not really reset the colors or really dry them out.
 
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