PSN-L Email List Message

Subject: Source for Desiccant Packs?
From: Dave Willey davewilley@.............
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 15:02:48 -0800 (PST)


 Does anyone have a source for small amounts of desiccant packs such as bentonite clay or silica gel?  (Something non-corrosive.)  Similar to the canisters/capsules  found in the bottom of some medicine pill bottles.  I've found a bunch of suppliers on the web.  But I only need 2 or 3 , not 4000 per 25 lbs pail!!

I'm trying not to hit up the local druggist/chemist if I can help it.  But I will if I cannot find another source

I'm about ready to seal up a 2" PVC container with three Mark L15b's geophones & bury it 10 feet down.

As an aside:
As Chris pointed out in a separate e-mail to me, don't forget to seal the OTHER end of the cable.  Water and air can still enter inside the "sealed" container via the inside air space between the wires in cables.  

I used to work/run a engineering reliability lab & have autopsied 100's of marine shore power cables that boaters had carelessly dropped one or both ends into the water.  Water gets wicked up  inside the cable amazingly far.  Even after only a very brief dunking.  

Water traveling 10 to 30 feet or more inside a 50 or 100 foot long cable wasn't all that unusual with some of the fiber twine used in power cable.  Many of the data cables I've looked at often use some sort of thread added along with the individual wires in the bundle. Perfect path for water and damp air to travel down.

So the desiccant packs would be a great last ditch effort to keep things dry around the geophones..


Dave Willey




 Does anyone have a source for small amounts of desiccant packs such as bentonite clay or silica gel?  (Something non-corrosive.)  Similar to the canisters/capsules  found in the bottom of some medicine pill bottles.  I've found a bunch of suppliers on the web.  But I only need 2 or 3 , not 4000 per 25 lbs pail!!

I'm trying not to hit up the local druggist/chemist if I can help it.  But I will if I cannot find another source

I'm about ready to seal up a 2" PVC container with three Mark L15b's geophones & bury it 10 feet down.

As an aside:
As Chris pointed out in a separate e-mail to me, don't forget to seal the OTHER end of the cable.  Water and air can still enter inside the "sealed" container via the inside air space between the wires in cables. 

I used to work/run a engineering reliability lab & have autopsied 100's of marine shore power cables that boaters had carelessly dropped one or

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