Should I turn on my refrigerated air dryer?
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Nope...but I've been turning the dryer on, just like I did during the warmer months.
That's a good point...when I'm using it to blow my skirt up, I might prefer a little moisture. :shaking:
Plasma cutting and air tools primarily.
I'm really just wondering if I need to cool down something that's sitting in 30 degree ambient temp air.
Right--maybe I wasn't clear with my question. I want clean dry air, no matter what. What I'm wondering is if the cold temps will do the same thing as powering up the air dryer.
In the meantime, I keep turning it on when I run the plaz table, just to be "safe". :grinpimp:
:laughing: I didn't know you swung that way!
The temperature is less of a deal to the air compressor -- remember, it is getting hot, huffing and puffing to compress those air molecules closer to each other. Any moisture in the air will go into the tank and cause you problems later. Once the water is in the tank, it may actually condense out easier as the tank cycles warm/cool, but pressure is a larger factor than temperature, with respect to water vapor.
Test it out on that skirt and see. :flipoff2:
Randii
After it comes out of the tank, it goes through the air dryer, which cools the air so the water condenses in the separator. (right? That's how I understand it works, anyway...) If those coils are cooled by the compressor, or cooled by the cold air around it, they should perform the same function?:laughing: I didn't know you swung that way!
The temperature is less of a deal to the air compressor -- remember, it is getting hot, huffing and puffing to compress those air molecules closer to each other. Any moisture in the air will go into the tank and cause you problems later. Once the water is in the tank, it may actually condense out easier as the tank cycles warm/cool, but pressure is a larger factor than temperature, with respect to water vapor.
Test it out on that skirt and see. :flipoff2:
Randii
I had no idea until I just looked it up....the Nat. Weather service says we average around 70% for the month of December. (Salt Lake City, UT)
Dunno. Put your hand (carefully) on the coils and see whether they are warm (not condensing the moisture inside) or cold (effectively condensing). Heck, you might even be able to just look at the condensate outflow from the air dryer... if you're pumping much water out, you'll know whether the air is being dried.
One of the reasons I like SLC is the solid condensate a few miles east of you, and a few thousand feet up from you... and that comes from some relative humidity, for sure.
Randii (let it snow!)
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Sorry, should been a bit clearer, what I meant was, run the paper test without the drier on.
I reckon you should run it anyway, I would but, then again, I'm a bit anal when it comes to clean dry air...living in the hunmidity I do tends to do that..:laughing:
BTW...Thanks for posting the link on the other site, I've been permanently banned from there for some obscure reason and, couldn't reply to JoeyD.....Cheers.
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You need to think of things in Dew Point.
If the temp outside is in the 20's your MAX dew point is in the 20's.
A refrigerationn air dryer isn't going to remove any more moisture more than that.
If you using refrigeration to remove moisture you are cooling down a surface so the water will condense on it and be drained away. So with refrigeration you aren't going to achieve a dewpoint below 32 degrees (if any moisture was to collect it would turn to ice and require a defrost cycle).
Dessicants can get you in to much lower humidities.
That's pretty much where my fuzzy logic was trying to take me--makes sense!
So essentially, when it's cold like this, the air tank on the compressor is just as effective at condensing the water as the air dryer is.
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Relative humidity does take into consideration the dew point, the two are associated with each other. The higher the relative humidity the closer the dew point is to the air temp. When the relative humidity is 100% the dew point will be the same as the ambient air temp and the air is completely saturated with water vapor for a given air temp.
Do you run water separators on your airlines?, especially on the plaz table. Check those to see how much water you are trapping, if it is a good amount, run the dryer. if it is nominal don't worry about it. If you can get by without it, save on the power bill.
I do have a water separator right at the plaz table, but since it's after the refrig. dryer, a good long run of copper pipe, and a desiccant dryer...it doesn't really ever get any water in it.
I have been monitoring the drains I have at a couple air outlet/drops between the dryer and plasma, and haven't seen any water at all come out. I think I'm good until winter ends.
I'm not nearly as concerned with the power bill as with having to walk into the cold garage (where the compressor lives) to turn on the air dryer. I'd rather stay in the warm shop.
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