Dryer air, Desiccants etc

[blacksheep10]

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...ight=desiccant

I've read through this thread, and have talked to a couple other guys with tables. I'm trying to put something together now to get my consumable cost down and quality up. I produce gallons of water in no time, tube rusts even with the factory coating on it in days here, and you can see water shooting out of air tools on the right days. I need a better solution than coalescent filter/dryer combo
I'm looking at several desiccants, but don't know what I'm looking for. Google took me here:
http://search.eastwood.com/search?w=...FQet7QodBTcP7Q

And Ken at KORE told me to look at Grainger

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/eca.../Ntt-Desiccant

this one keep catching my eye:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SPE...C92?Pid=search

Now, I'm not opposed to hacking a hole in the beer fridge and running copper through it, I have a bunch of 3/4" copper that has 2"x 2" heat sink AL squares on it every 3/8" that would be very handy for a dryer loop pre desiccant. I'm wondering what else I need. I could go with the HF, but that is another thing to plug in, have in the way and suck energy. Fridge is always keeping things cold as it is.

In a couple of threads and searching, I see an M60 listed. I'm getting that this is the "toilet paper filter" some have told me about?

1st issue to address:

Ideal system with what I have would be what? There is plenty of copper to be had, a fridge, some more or better coalescing filters, M60 if I need to buy one (sounds like I do), and a desiccant.

2nd issue to address:

Desiccants. Are there different kinds, I keep seeing silica gel. Are there others that are like beads (from my conversations with Ken)?
More importantly to me, is the desiccant reusable/dryable? I want to be able to have 2 sets of media or 2 dryers that I can have in service and dry the other batch/dryer. My compressor is a 60 gallon stand up 2 stage cast iron, low double digit cfm at 100 psi. Table doesn't use that much, but I would like the whole shop to be dry. I guess I'm asking if there is a certain desiccant that has reusable stuff that I can buy once and then service.

Another thing on this subject is a desiccant intake filter. Take the water out before it gets in. Is this just asking for clogged filters and starved compressors that run all the time trying to get to 150? Again, my air is WET!!


3rd issue to address:

Auto blow offs. I really really want something like this to drop the water out of my my loops/tank/somewhere. Pressure sensitive would be cool, but whatever, I don't care. I'm assuming if I refrigerate with copper, the low point will fill up very quickly. I don't want to be walking in there all the time to drop it (compressor room is a 40' walk with a large step, PITA)

Thanks for any and all replies, I just want to get things more streamlined around here

Edit: Subscribing

[jettscott]

I'm not sure if it'll work for you, but out here we run screw type compressors thru alternating air dryer tanks. If it works in the GOM, it should work where you are. Downside to it is, it's dump valves are run from a DCS system, but... if you could come up with a simple float/cup system, it'd drain itself.

Upright tanks, air flow from bottom to top, layer of small ceramic balls on the bottom, dessicant above that. I'm thinking that if the tank is 8ft tall, there's at least a two foot layer of ceramic balls (1/4" btw), then the rest is dessicant. Then filters after that for any residual dust, etc.

We run a huge air volume out here off of a pair of Quincy 750 cfm and 1000 cfm. One pair of dryers per compressor. One dumps/drains, the other takes on the load.

I'd take pictures, but it's a lot of red tape to go through.

If you'll PM me and remind me, I'll look up some specifics when I get time.

[blacksheep10]

Wow, that's a much larger scale than I'm proposing, and probably a 100k system
I'd love love love to have a rotary screw, but it's not in the cards. I'm hoping for this to be a sub $1k system
Kelly

[jettscott]

I'm running an 80 gal IR. I might try it with one of the 60 gallon tanks I've got... let you know if it works out.

[Shefron]

If your having that much of a water issues there are a couple things I would install on your system.

1. auto drain for the compressor. Pretty cheap
2. A refrig air dryer. The unit from HF gets stellar reviews
http://www.harborfreight.com/compres...yer-40211.html

3. a water seperator unit before the dessicant dryer.
4. Dessicant dryer/Oil seperator/filter setup.
Place in the system in that order.

Should take care of the water issue but will be around 700 dollars total if not less.

[bigtoy302]

I am running a HF refrigerated air dryer, Motorgaurd m300 separator, and then a m60 filter. Not a drop of water or oil going to my plasma. I would pass on the desiccant systems if you a producing that much water. they will just saturate fast and stop working. Same thing on the m60 filter. make sure the air is dry before the filter. I think I have about $500 in my air drying system.

[blacksheep10]

Originally Posted by Shefron

If your having that much of a water issues there are a couple things I would install on your system.

1. auto drain for the compressor. Pretty cheap
Is there a specific one that anyone recommends or has experience with. in a couple other threads electric ones were mentioned and a guy said it wasn't cheap. Are there ones that work on pressure to be had cheap that are reliable?

2. A refrig air dryer. The unit from HF gets stellar reviews
http://www.harborfreight.com/compres...yer-40211.html
I'm planning on a refrigerant system, I keep seeing this pop up so I'm fairly certain I'll go this way

3. a water seperator unit before the dessicant dryer.
Meaning a coalescent unit or something different. The cheapo's can be had for dollars, are there $100 ones that are actually badass and worth the extra pop? brand or model anyone has experience with. Again, I don't want to buy something and be dissappointed

4. Dessicant dryer/Oil seperator/filter setup.

In the links I've posted, I've seen several sizes that range from just over $100 to $500+. Which ones would be better. Again, I don't want to overspend if there is no added benefit, but at teh same time am not scared to spend what it takes to make it right.
Place in the system in that order.

Should take care of the water issue but will be around 700 dollars total if not less.

Originally Posted by bigtoy302

I am running a HF refrigerated air dryer, Motorgaurd m300 separator, and then a m60 filter. Not a drop of water or oil going to my plasma. I would pass on the desiccant systems if you a producing that much water. they will just saturate fast and stop working. Same thing on the m60 filter. make sure the air is dry before the filter. I think I have about $500 in my air drying system.

I googled the sep in red above, and only came up with this thread, although I suck at searching. I copied and pasted what you posted.


I guess this still leaves the question of where do I refrigerate (pump to tank or post tank) and where do I drop the water (low spot, duh, but run several low loops and drop in all of them or what).
Thanks for all the input thus far, and looks like I'll be giving HF more of my money.

[bigtoy302]

Originally Posted by blacksheep10

I googled the sep in red above, and only came up with this thread, although I suck at searching. I copied and pasted what you posted.


I guess this still leaves the question of where do I refrigerate (pump to tank or post tank) and where do I drop the water (low spot, duh, but run several low loops and drop in all of them or what).
Thanks for all the input thus far, and looks like I'll be giving HF more of my money.

Here is the link for the filter.Motor-Guard-M-300

The refrigerated dryers have a built in drain in the bottom. You put the dryer after your tank and the m60 filter right at your plasma. I mounted my dryer and filters under my plasma table.

[blacksheep10]

One more question then, what about an auto blow off for the tank. Can anyone give me a link, type, name, source, etc
Thanks for all your help guys, time to go shopping.