I have a questions I haven’t found answered anywhere, but maybe someone here can help out.

First, some background:

I have bought this silica gel with indicator a while ago and have used it in my AMS and also for storing my filament in ziplock bags.

I now want to dry some of the silica gel, and have looked at the various options there are. I want to rule out the use of my kitchen appliances, as I am not fully convinced of the silica with indicator being really fully non-hazardous. I also recently bought a Creality Space Pi dryer, which I would like to use for drying my silica as well. Of course I would need to print a container for that, and since I only have PLA and PETG available at the moment, I wouldn’t be able to drive the dryer too hot.

Online you can find many different opinions about the ideal drying temperature for silica gel, ranging from 60°C to 145°C.

Efficient energy usage is no big concern for me with this, as my PV modules produce a lot of excess power during the current season.

Question:

What temperature should I dry the silica gel at, and does a longer drying time at lower temperature equal the same results as a quicker drying at higher temperature?

Or does higher temperature actually remove more humidity overall, which a lower temperature can maybe not achieve regardless of time?

  • Owl@mander.xyzEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Silica with indicator is hazardous

    Yes, even the orange-green ones

    Buy some uncolored and use a microwave oven (Warning: only use very little micro power and check every 20 seconds, those things get hot enough to melt ceramic and are a fire hazard)

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 months ago

      melt ceramic

      If you’re melting crockery in your microwave, I assure you whatever it is you’re using is not ceramic. Even the earthenware stuff that cheap coffee mugs are made out of has to be heated to upwards of 1000° C just as part of its hardening process, never mind melting.

      You can absolutely get silica gel beads hot enough in a microwave to melt and deform plastic containers, though, including those faux stoneware textured ones. Beware if what you have is not actually Pyrex or ceramic.

      I cook the shit out of my silica gel beads in the microwave in an old ceramic pie dish I have no other use for. There isn’t a mark on it. Although I will say, you probably want to microwave your beads gently anyway because at high power levels the moisture flash boils out of them fast enough to cause them to split and shatter, or occasionally leap out of the dish like popcorn.

  • myplacedk@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    A little tip for when you try out different methods: Check the weight of the silica gel, to check your progress.

    For example: Take a container from the AMS, weigh it. Give it an hour in a food dehydrator. Weigh it. Repeat until weight no longer drops. Give it a couple hours or more in an oven that’s at least 100 °C. Then weight it again.

    Now you know how long it takes in the dehydrator, and how well it works.

    Later you can weigh it again, and compare to the weight out of the oven. Now you know how much water is in there.

  • GreenKnight23@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    get yourself a dehydrator for food that allows you to set time and temperature.

    you can get silicone trays for the beads and bonus, you can use it to dry filaments.