Silica Gel put to good use!

[tech2487]

so my parents are lazy bums and won't turn on the AC. its hot and humid and i live on the second floor. i got the wild idea to collect silica gel packets and just put em in the bottom of my case. not bad thinking, i feel. it can't possible hurt anything, unless they pile high enough to block airflow, but who really is ignorant to do that? no one i hope. but seriously, i want your opinion on this. what do you think about it? you gonna try it? do i got something goin here? is it worth it?

[Slayer2003]

......you mean the things you put in the fridge/freezer?

I would think either it wouldn't last long enough/have much effect, or would produce slight condensation....

[dicecca112]

no silica gel is the stuff they put into clothing and the like that absorbs moisture. FYI its not good to be around that stuff, so having it exposed at the bottom of your case, being circulated by the fans might not be the best idea.

[tech2487]

its not exposed, its still in those little white packages.

[kimochii72]

They're not harmful, they are small 1-3mm blue/red/clear balls. It's the sililca-gel sieving powder that you have to be careful of. Those packets are probably already holding all their water weight and need to be dried again. You'd have to put them in an oven at 250-300F for 2 hours for them to absorb humidy again. If you do that with the paper still on them, that paper will probably burn up or turn brown. At most your probably reduce rust if that even happens in computers. It won't hur unless you let them collect so much that they become saturated. When I used them I don't think they became saturated and you could only tell if they were in need of drying if they had blue indicating dye. I think they held up to 60% of their weight in water. In the end I doubt you'll notice a difference unless you plan on taking pics of two different systems with and without gel over a 2 year period.