Deliquescent or Desiccant Dryer

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 11, 2017 3:04 am
I've added a line to the air plumbing for the blast cab and plasma cutter and need some more moisture control. On the main line I've got an M60 and on one of the drops a filter dryer in addition to the reg/filter combo but I'll need another at the of this run. I considered the smallest of the Speed Aire refrigerated dryers (only $100 more than the HF knock off) but I'd rather keep it closer to a couple hun rather than $550. I've already burned through one of those Blinks desiccant snakes at that drop. The plasma drop needs to be as dry as a paint or powder gun. Duty cycle is pretty light in terms of flow 7-10 cfm @ 90 psi or so but heavy in duration as it will run for as long as an hour so so at that drop, more than a few times a day during a project. Then it might set for a week or two.

In shopping for a refillable desiccant for that run (leaning toward a small Wilkerson) I came across the Van Air deliquescent point of use dryer. I get the difference in the way each traps the water but don't know what advantages one may have other the other and didn't really find any real world use comparisons besides what was on the Van site.

Does anyone have any real world use with both kinds that could speak to any differences in performance for low volume hobby shop use?

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 12, 2017 12:01 am
Well, I don't know if this will help....but 25 years ago I had a similar situation with a point of use that I also wanted to make sure was "bone dry" and I didn't want to be changing/draining the thing all the time. I ended up using something similar to this....
https://www.gamut.com/p/parker-hannifin ... y-ODIyNDM2
Specs. on mine were similar except it had a higher flow rate of like 15 cfm. It also came with the gel media that I could "cook" to renew. It has like blue bead indicators that turn kind of brown color when the media reaches it's saturation point. I then just dump the stuff out in a pan and put it in an old oven I've got at 400 degrees until I see those beads change back in color. Let it cool and it's good to go again. I ended up buying about 20 pounds of it at the time so I would always have plenty in reserve for refilling it. Now keep in mind I run an air to air intercooler after my compressor and a lot of pipe with plenty of length/downlegs, etc. to get most of my moisture out before anything get's near point of use..... So get this....my usage is a lot like what you are doing there and..... I only have to change that filter once a year! And, nope, don't know much about that other methodology of moisture removal.....seems like a lot of bucks though.....
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 2:13 am
I have the deVilbiss DAD500 system only had to dry my media out once ever when It got left open to the system for a couple weeks Never had a problem or any moisture.
https://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/devilb ... DAQAvD_BwE

Don't know anything about the systems your looking at but I like this one when I first saw it!
http://shop.vanairsystems.com/moisture- ... xMQAvD_BwE

Have you made and installed a Water trap after your compressor??? It helps Big time!
I would go as far as saying my air is 95-98% totally dry before it ever gets near to my Dad 500. I also installed auto drain kits on my Tanks.
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 18, 2017 10:50 pm
Thanks guys. I've got trap legs in addition to the regulator filters and a Motorguard filter as well as an auto drain. I went with putting a smaller Wilkerson filter at the end of each line. Haven't been able to give it a full workout yet.



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PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 12:40 pm
Trap legs meaning what ? a water Trap is different I think.

Is this what your calling a down leg water trap? Because this is not what I am talking about.
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This is what I am talking about something similar to this. This is a bit elaborate being the pipe is all vertical the builder could have made it Horizontal and could have saved a few bucks using less drain valves. He has made his vertical adding lots of drain valves to it.
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Something as simple as this can be quite effective as long as horizontal sections are made of metal pipe and equal a distance of 20-25 feet after the compressor and before the water trap filter.
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A water trap Is the first thing you put in down stream of your compressor before routing air around shop with different air tap's and as many different filters as you like.

A water Trap/filter should be installed in system about 20-30 feet from compressor plumbing used preferably made from metal pipe (Copper or steel) Being so far from air compressor and tank allows air from compressor to cool so the water in the air can condense in the pipe allowing water to be extracted from shop air. The Trap is where the air can expand giving up more heat allowing water in the air to be trapped in the filter, This is a very effective way to extract water from your system, There have been many discussions on this throughout the years and it should be searchable.

I have a very crude but elaborate Trap on my system that is very effective at trapping water That's why I have never had to replace my desiccant in my drier system at my paint booth. It would be simple to add a Tap off my air drier to add a tap for a Plasma cutter air source.
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:59 pm
DarrelK wrote:Well, I don't know if this will help....but 25 years ago I had a similar situation with a point of use that I also wanted to make sure was "bone dry" and I didn't want to be changing/draining the thing all the time. I ended up using something similar to this....
https://www.gamut.com/p/parker-hannifin ... y-ODIyNDM2


I have a Wilkerson unit that is nearly identical, including the 1/4" inlet & outlet. My question is, would I be choking off my airflow if I use this as part of my system when painting? 1/2" preferred I assume? Or not a big deal either way? FWIW I have 60 ft of 3/4" pipe from the compressor to a 3/8" airhose.

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PostPosted: Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:03 pm
Yeah, I think I'd be concerned about anything that goes down that small. I have hi-flo everything in my shop pretty much. CFM is wildly different from gun to gun.....
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 27, 2017 12:50 am
Doright wrote:Trap legs meaning what ? a water Trap is different I think.

Is this what your calling a down leg water trap? Because this is not what I am talking about.


No, I'm talking about a method used for professional grade air plumbing systems. In some circles they are called trap or drip legs. They are stubs on the lower parts of vertical plumbing that have valves at the bottom to drain water and sediment. The drops come off the main line with risers and the horizontal main lines are installed at an angle to help drain any water back to the leg with the valve. I built the system several years ago using the TP Tools diagram as a starting point. I used copper because I wanted the flexibility of configuring and adding without having to thread black iron pipe.

http://cached.tptools.com/Images/airlin ... iagram.pdf

Here's two of the drops, the upper regulator is the overhead reel, the lower is the welding table drop. The drip valve for both drops are on the lower left side. I didn't put the point of use desiccant on either of those, only on the paint/powder coat and plasma/blasting cab drops. Just upstream of these drops is a Motorguard M60.

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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 1:51 am
So after a bit of using the new filters I got some more time before the air was too wet but not enough. The real issue is the compressor is too small for the duty cycle. It will do well if it doesn't have to run a couple/few hours full time when blasting or using a sander. I didn't need that kind of duty cycle until now and I'm not keen on replacing a perfectly good compressor. Moral of the story is 5 hp/ 80 gal if you are going to do even a lot of blasting or sanding.

To get by this I broke down and bought a refrigerated dryer. I've wanted one for a while. On eBay there is a industrial liquidator that has a half dozen Norgren D11 dryers removed from some plant in the midwest. It was $200, it works great. It's small in both size and capacity. It's only 10 cfm max, 200 psi max. The compressor tops out at 11 or so cfm @ 90 best case and under 150 psi when the tank is charged. I was a bit concerned with the age and size of the unit but the difference in temp is pretty good. Measured from the piping going into the chiller and coming out of the chiller there is almost 25* difference. I ran for about 3 hours today. More than I could sit at the cabinet. Now I wonder why I waited so long to get a chiller.

A shot post install before I put the tool shelving back in place.
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 10:17 am
Pretty "cool"...... :happy:
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