I've got a few packs of desiccant in my safe,
so far they have worked well, however I plan to put a 60W light bulb in it soon. I figure the heat will keep the moisture down.
Anyway, the desiccant packs say that they can be reactivated in the oven @ 200-250 deg. for 12 hours. Has anyone ever done this? Does it work or is it a waste of electricity?

Not a waste of electricity; it does work.  The hotter and longer the better, but you are limited by the temp limit on the plastic or paper wrapper.  If you stay to the cooler side, leave them in longer.

You can cover the packs with foil loosely and place them in a toaster oven, too, with the temp set in the proper range.  

DO NOT use a microwave.  

Noah

Desiccants absorb moisture, heat them up and they will release it. If you plan to use a bulb a 25w will do fine.

What about making jerky and drying out the desiccant at the same time?

Two birds with one stone!

Slacker,

I work in a warehouse that ships out electronic equipment frequently, and find sometimes the hardware guys actually have dessicant cooking in the microwave to restore it when I'm going to nuke my lunch.

I am not a dessicant expert, but they seem to do this prior to packing stuff for long distance shipment, and claim it works.

What I use instead of buying dessicant "cans", is a craft drying medium used for drawing the moisture out of flowers (you can buy large containers of it at craft stores).  This stuff is basically dessicant "sand" and works just as well.  The grains are white and have some pink grains mixed in.  The pink grains are there so you know whether the dessicant is still able to do it's job - drawing in moisture from it's environment.  If they are saturated, the pink grains turn blue.  Anyways, what I do is take an old pair of my wife's nylons (it works better when you don't tell them you've taken them) and pour some of the dessicant into one of the "feet".  Then I knot the nylons off (forming kind of a ball of dessicant sheathed in nylon).  You then double the excess nylon over the ball and knot it again (this will effectively double the thickness of the nylon - to prevent the really small dessicant dust particles from messing everything up).  Just cut off the extra nylon and voila, you have a dessicant ball that you can sit at the bottom of your safe/cabinet.  One good thing about this method is that you can make the ball (or whatever shape you want to make) as big or as small as you want.  When you want to re-activate the dessicant, just rip the ball open, put the dessicant sand into a baking pan, and heat in the oven (following the package instructions on the original dessicant container).  Then you just use another nylon to make a new ball.  Again, you can tell that the dessicant has been reactivated when the coloured grains change colour - as per the package instructions.  I usually re-activate the dessicant sand every year.  I know this was long, but hope it helps someone out...

Cheers!
hsld

Dessicant helps rdeuce the amoutn of H2O in the air.  In doign this, it reduces the chance for rust to develop.

Here are some commercial models meant to be put in the oven and will last basically for ever.
www.triplebreakproducts.com/Hydrosorbent/hydrosor.htm

Sincerely,
Mark Buda
Triple Break Products
[email protected]
www.TripleBreakProducts.com
(603) 424-0923
FAX: (603) 429-0479