Comment by geor9e

Comment by geor9e 2 days ago

I do microwave. It's pretty easy to not burn, just undershoot it - 10 seconds, see how hot it is, another 10 seconds. Once it's blazing hot shake it back and forth to get the steam off. If it's the colored kind (white when good, pink/blue when full of water) it's easy to tell when it's good. Takes about 30 seconds all together - I recharge my dessicant packs before every use. Of course, people are welcome to spend hours doing the oven method if they want. I just don't personally see an advantage, unless you have an industrial amount of packs to recharge.

lazide 2 days ago

FYI, but some desiccant coloring agents are cancerous

Reply View 3 replies

JohnBooty a day ago

Yeah. Unless it's advertised as "food grade" and has a specific "Cobalt chloride free" I would def. not put it in food -
These fit the bill. Assuming they're not straight-up lying or anything...
https://www.amazon.com/Rechargeable-Desiccant-Dehumidifiers-...?

Reply View | 0 replies
hilbert42 2 days ago

It's cobalt chloride—the same stuff that used to be used on those little weather indicators where a little man or woman would pop out to indicate whether it was going to be wet or dry. They usually had a spot of blotting paper about 2cm round soaked in it. Cobalt chloride is blue when dry and pink when damp.
All ionic cobalt salts are toxic so cobalt chloride is not used as an indicator in silica gell packaged for use with food. That said, it's an excellent indicator for telling whether your silica gell is still working or not.

Reply View | 1 reply
- lazide 2 days ago
  
  Silica gel for industrial purposes sometimes is soaked in it as an indicator.
  
  Reply View | 0 replies