Conditioning silica gel

In Instance 12:11, Jennifer Brand asks about suitable ovens for
conditioning silica gel.  I take it that by conditioning she means
regenerating or dehydrating the gel--the most important thing is
that the oven should be fan-assisted so that the air circulates over
the gel and the warm damp air is removed.  Ideally the air should be
discharged outside as it may contain formaldehyde and other
volatiles off-gassed by the display cases and captured by the gel.
The oven should have a thermostat to keep the temperature down to
about 120C: a lower temperature will be inadequate for complete
drying and higher temperatures are wasteful.

I use a laboratory oven supplied by Griffin and George (now
obsolete), rated at 1800 watts, internal dimensions 96cm (w) x 59cm
(h) x 42cm (d).

Barry Knight
English Heritage
London

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:12
                   Distributed: Friday, July 24, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-12-009
                                  ***