Are you a gym enthusiastic? You wish to commence training and your cross-trainer shoes are wet? No worries. Cause there are Numerous life hacks that can help to dry them out within a few minutes.
So, can you dry your shoes in the oven? The answer is No. Because Shoes these days are typically bound firmly together with glue. The oven produces a tremendous amount of heat which can make the glue compromise the adhesive properties.
And this will end up damaging the design of your shoes. There are quite a lot of alternatives for drying out shoes aside from using the oven. We recommend putting them outside under the sun during the afternoon time.
Sure, it sounds like a good idea but it will take longer to dry safely. But if you are the kind of person who cares for trying out new life hacks then the oven can be a great deal for you to try it on.
You can set the wet shoes in the oven but you are required to be extra careful. Cause the odds of you damaging your shoes are quite high. Also, You can try and dry your wet shoes in the oven by leaving the door open and keeping the temperature between 100-120 degrees Celsius.
The whole idea is rather exhilarating but you are at the risk of destroying or even burning your shoe. You are required to exercise a high level of caution by being close to the oven.
Keep removing the shoes from the oven at least every 5 minutes. The idea is significantly important since it will help minimize the odds of melting your shoes.
Is it Safe to Dry Sneakers in the Oven?
Walking or living in swampy areas with your sneakers can sometimes be both interesting and enjoyable. But the squishing sounds produced by the sneakers are often irritating.
Also, wet shoes create a conducive environment for thriving fungi which cause foot rot.
So, is it safe to dry sneakers in the oven? No. Sneakers have rubber soles glue and other made-made materials that help hold the shoes firmly together. The heat being produced by the oven can make them warp easily.
So do not risk destroying your sneakers by drying them inside the oven. Besides that, the vinyl label on the sneakers is going to be wrinkled permanently and may even cause the canvas to shrinks unevenly.
The solid construction designs of your sneakers are going to get ruin at the end of the day. So this is the reason why we recommend people to dry them under the sun.
Another interesting thing is the production of this smelly smoke. The lacing system of the sneakers is gotten from nylon or polyesters. These materials can easily catch fire and start burning to produce smoke.
Drying wet sneakers during winter can be a very frightening experience. Leaving wet shoes for long can trigger the sprouting of molds. This will increase the wear and tear rate.
You can use recommended alternatives like the hair drier machine. Never you put your feet in a sneaker with molds. The possibilities of getting foot athletes are quite high.
You are likely to incur an additional cost of treating the foot rot disease. Ensure your sneakers have dried properly before wearing them.
What Happens When You Dry Shoes in the Oven?
Ovens are designed for cooking, baking, reheating and warming food. Anything about drying shoes or clothing seems like a weird idea.
One thing about the oven is that they normally produce a vast amount of heat regardless of the setting. So drying your shoes in the oven on low heat isn’t that much of a good idea.
If the shoes are made from rubber sole then they’re likely to swell and burst. The heat being produced by the oven can even burn the lace and other canvas parts.
Imagine walking on a swelled sole with wrinkled canvas shoes? You’ll easily twist the neck of several people on the street. Unless you’re preparing for Halloween.
But it is not a reasonable idea to oven your most valuable shoes in the name of drying them. A more reasonable idea is soaking the shoes with dry clean cotton clothes overnight.
The clothes will absorb the wetness. You’ll only expose them to sunlight for a couple of hours and you are all ready to go reasonably than drying them in an oven.
Another reasonable option in the future is to always have an extra two pairs of sneakers. Just in case if you wet one pair you can wear the spare pair while the other pair dries safely in the sun.
How Long Does it Take to Dry Shoes in the Oven?
It is recommended to leave the door open and set the temp between 100–120 degrees celsius (210 – 250 degrees Fahrenheit). Leave off the heating elements, just use the fan-forced heater.
But ensure to keep an eye on them every 5 minutes and take them out early. They may still be kind of moist or sticky, but you don’t want to have melted sneakers.
Use your brains and stay by the oven if you’ve got kids or pets.
Leaving your shoes in the sun will as well work too – if you are in a place where you always get to see the sun. But if you want to wear them immediately your choice is restricted to the oven or the hairdryer.
If you wish to use a hairdryer, don’t burn yourself and keep some space between the dryer and the shoe. You’ll figure it out. Just keep a long way faraway from the bathtub, sink and water in general because it would suck if you died over a wet pair of sneakers.
Also, some high-end dryers have a shoe rack that blows in warm air throughout the chamber, which is not that hot enough to adversely affect the glue take about 20-30 minutes to dry the shoe depending on the shoe material Something like this may be an option when you are considering your next dryer purchase.
Can You Dry Shoes in the Microwave?
No, you can’t dry your shoes in the microwave, because there’s nowhere the moisture could escape to and by doing that, you may end up melting parts that you do not want melting.
However, in some very specific cases, using just the perfect pair of shoes might work.
Here are some of the design elements of a shoe that you should simply consider before microwaving it.
1. Do they have metal rings on the shoelace holes?
As you almost certainly know you can’t put metal into a microwave. If you have not checked them out yet, run a quick YouTube search on people putting metal or, better yet, a light bulb into the microwave. The metal will generate tiny bolts of lightning while the light bulb will start producing light.
The problem with those sparks that will be generated by the metal rings on your shoes is that they will easily light the shoes on fire. Of course, you can choose to stop the process at any point by opening the door, but on the other hand, how are your shoes ever supposed to heat to a point where they would dry quicker?
2. Is the sole made out of soft, natural rubber?
Most types of rubber that we have on shoes do not react to the microwaves, but the issue is that a number of them do and they melt in the process. In either case, rubber isn’t designed to withstand a lot of heat and is the Achille’s heel in a microwave.
If you’re lucky, the water from the soggy shoes will attract all the heat, but it’ll not be able to boil because it is inside a microwave, so it’ll restore above boiling point and just corrode away at the rubber within the sole. If you’re re unlucky, the soles themselves will react to the radiation from the microwave and that way they’ll start bubbling and boiling.
It can take as little as 20 seconds for a tiny piece of reactant rubber to burst into flames, so that’s a much reasonable reason to stay far away from this physics experiment.
3. Is there leather anywhere on the shoe?
Leather, if we look right into it, is very reactive to microwaves. It may not burst into flames right away but all of its moisture content that’s making it supple and smooth will start bubbling up.
This will explode the fine surface of the leather into something that is going to appear as a small volcano side, filled with holes and scorched areas. Finally, if none of this fazes you, the edges of the leather will start pulling in as it shrinks from the water loss and your shoes will certainly become unwearable.
How expensive or important are shoes for you? Allow us to say, for the sake of the argument that the soles on your shoes are thick and not reactant to the microwave, and let’s say you don’t have any metal or leather on your shoes either, there’s still one important question to ask: are you sure there is nothing in the shoe except the excess water which will react to the microwaves?
Can You Dry Shoes With a Hairdryer?
Although is a bit controversial, the easy answer is that you simply can dry shoes with a hairdryer, but you are expected to take a few precautions. First of all the hairdryer has to be on a little warm heat, and secondly, it must be at least 10 inches far from the shoes.
There are so many ifs and buts that I feel it might be better to go into a little more detail, about how the outcome will be when you don’t do it a bit too carefully.
The high heat can damage the glue which holds the shoes together… Also, Don’t stick a hairdryer into your shoes for an extended time. You can only use a hairdryer for a minute or two for quick-drying, but an excessive amount of heat will damage the shoes and will also ruin the dryer.
5 Quick Ways to Dry Your Wet Shoes
1. Use Old Clothes or Towels
- Undo the lace and loosen the shoe
- Roll up your towel or cloth
- Stuff it inside the shoes and tighten the laces
- Prop the toes of the shoes on a wall or steps
PROS: Simple and cost-free solution, suitable for sensitive material
2. Use Your Fan
- Use a large fan, big and sturdy enough to hold your shoes
- Take the insoles out of your shoes
- Get the two “S” shape hooks or make them out of a wire
- Loosen the shoes and attach hooks to them
- Hook them on the fan with a 1″ space between them
- Air dry them on medium speed for 1-2 hours or low speed for longer
PROS: Easy and effective, no heat used
3. Old Newspaper
- Loosen the lace and shoes
- Take several pages of old newspaper and crumple them into balls
- Stuff the newspaper balls into shoes, until full
- Take more pages and wrap them around the shoes
- Tighten it with a string or rubber band and leave it in a well-ventilated area
- Make sure to replace the newspaper after an hour if it gets soggy
PROS: Gentle and cost-effective, absorb both odors and moisture
4. Use Refrigerator Vent
- Remove the insoles from your wet shoes and loosen them up
- Put them in front of the fridge vent, with the shoe opening facing the vent fan
- Leave the shoes to dry as needed, preferably overnight
- Just pick them up when ready to use
PROS: Good for heat-sensitive shoes
5. Make A Shoe Risotto
- Find a big plastic box or a barrel with a lid, big enough for your shoes
- Fill the boxes with rice and place your shoes on top of it
- Close the box tightly and leave it for a couple of hours, depending on shoe wetness
- You can also fill a pair of socks with rice and stuff them inside the shoes
- Take the shoes out and clean them from any rice residue
PROS: Remove odor and moisture, prevents bacteria growth
Conclusion
Although the different ways by which one can dry one’s shoes, it’s essential to note that you simply must be patient when drying wet shoes.
If this is not done properly, the lifespan of the shoe might be significantly reduced. Also, it’s vital to make sure that the method of drying the shoe is done correctly.
If this is not done, the shoe could develop some molds and start to harm one’s feet. Also, it’s important to know the kind of material our shoes are made of before we use various drying methods.
If we use methods that are averse to the shoe’s stuff, it could begin to crack. Above all, prevention is better than cure! So always try to avoid situations and things that could get your shoe wet!