Silica gel

Cathy Atwood <catwood<-a t->mail< . >sos< . >state< . >mo< . >us> writes

>The silica gel will probably be in small cloth pouches.  Rather than
>using an oven to periodically dry the silica gel, can a microwave
>oven be used?  What amount of time would work?  Use full power
setting on the microwave oven?

Yes, it is perfectly possible to dry silica gel in a microwave oven.
Silica gel in bags takes longer to dry than loose gel, so it is
probably best to cook the bags for about five minutes, open the door
to let the water vapour escape and the bags to cool down a bit, then
cook again.  Carry on until you don't seem to be getting any more
water vapour--or, if you're using self-indicating gel, until it's
blue all through.  (You can always put some self-indicating gel in
the microwave along with the bags so you can monitor what's
happening.)

Barry Knight
English Heritage
London

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:88
                 Distributed: Thursday, April 10, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-10-88-006
                                  ***