Dry heat sterilization involves heating an item in an oven or heat chamber to kill infectious organisms, even in porous materials. It takes one to two hours and requires preheating to 320-340°F. Non-solid items should be placed in a heat-resistant container. Objects should be allowed to cool before removing from the oven. It is commonly used in medical and laboratory settings. Items should be placed 6cm apart for proper sterilization.
Dry heat sterilization generally involves placing an item to be sterilized inside an oven or heat chamber and heating it until it is fully heated through. This process usually kills infectious organisms, even in porous materials such as ceramics. Many people use dry sterilization as an alternative to boiling for items that can’t get wet, such as water-soluble powder, oil, or items prone to tarnish.
Those who eschew dry heat sterilization in favor of other methods may not understand exactly how it works. This method must be used correctly to get a completely clean object. It also takes some time and typically takes one to two hours to fully sterilize, depending on the temperature used. A regular convection oven or even a toaster oven can be used for this process. The object or objects to be cleaned must be placed on a clean surface, not directly on the oven rack. This helps prevent any organisms already in the kiln from being transferred to the item.
Oils, powders, and other non-solid items should be placed in a clean, heat-resistant container before undergoing dry heat sterilization. The oven should be preheated to 320° Fahrenheit (160° C) for two hour sterilization or 340° F (170° C) for one hour sterilization. Preheating should be done for around 20 minutes before placing the item inside the kiln, to ensure the kiln is hot enough to do its job. The item should then be placed on the middle rack of the oven and left to warm up.
After the item has been heated, it should be allowed to cool inside the kiln for an hour or two. This prevents the item from being contaminated as it cools. The user should then remove the item from the oven with a clean, heat resistant glove. Medical instruments and items used in laboratory experiments are sometimes sterilized this way. Laboratories often contain large dry heat sterilization chambers, where sterilizer vents blow superheated air into the chambers and clean the items inside.
When sterilizing many items at once, they should typically be placed in the oven approximately 6cm apart. This allows warm air to flow freely around the items, which is necessary for proper sterilization. Those who don’t subscribe to dry heat sterilization generally don’t like it because it can be time consuming if many items need to be sterilized.
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