Silica gel for drying

[Steve Walker]

They just throw the salt away - it's not used as a dessicant, it's just soaked every time you pick the van up ;)

SteveW

[Terry Fields]

I used the silica gel technique to dry out the substantial roof timbers of a Victorian processing building that had in later years been used as a laboratory.

The little group I worked for moved back into this building after it had been abandoned for a number of years. Although double storey in height, it was nevertheless a single volume, about 60 feet by 25.

I was fortunate enough to have access to laboratory ovens and trays of silica gel, about 3' x 2' and 4" deep. I used to put the three trays of wet gel in the ovens first thing in the morning, replacing them in the bulding with trays of dry gel. Ditto in the evenings.

Although it took several months, the RH gradually fell to 'normal' levels, suggesting the roof timbers had reached a new, lower, equilibrium. I calculated I'd removed about a ton of water from the timbers.

The building is now part of a heritage museum.

So, yes it can be done, and is a good idea, but you will have to change the trays of gel quite frequently.

HTH

TF

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Jules saying something like:

I have a small Peltier DHM which works rather well inside a car/van, but it draws 2A from its 12V supply, so isn't really a go-er for battery use.