refrigerated air dryers

[projectPONY]

thinking about getting one for the home garage/shop. I do quite a bit of painting and up until now I've gotten by with just a series of water traps and desiccant dryers. this does fine as long as the weather is not too humid, but I live in TX, and here it could be nice and cool one day and humid as $^&* the next. with high humidity I tend to get more moisture in the lines, it's understandable, so I have to limit the amount of work that I do in the summer months to smaller, more controllable jobs.

so what are the things I need to look for when shopping for one? my compressor is a CH 7hp/80gal unit.

TIA

 

[HAP]

Most important is CFM and psi rating of the unit. It should at least compliment that of your compressor.

R,
HAP

 

[930dreamer]

Dryers are rated for cfm, are you looking for new or used?

 

[Chris.Santamarina]

thinking about getting one for the home garage/shop. I do quite a bit of painting and up until now I've gotten by with just a series of water traps and desiccant dryers. this does fine as long as the weather is not too humid, but I live in TX, and here it could be nice and cool one day and humid as $^&* the next. with high humidity I tend to get more moisture in the lines, it's understandable, so I have to limit the amount of work that I do in the summer months to smaller, more controllable jobs.

so what are the things I need to look for when shopping for one? my compressor is a CH 7hp/80gal unit.

TIA

At minimal you would need a 30 CFM air dryer. Voltage ratings would be based on what you have available at home 110 or 230 single phase. If it is a 7 HP compressor. If its a 7.5 HP a little bit bigger would be better. Compressors are usually judged by a 4 CFM per Horsepower rating. Also, consider the approach temperature of the air going to the dryer. Refrigerated air dryers are most efficient at 100 degrees approach temp or less. This just means you will remove more moisture from the air as it enters the dryer at 100 degrees or less. A HIT (High Inlet Temp) Dryer is what we sell to customers using Reciprocating Compressors such as yours because they run their **** off to make air. If your using it at home then a HIT will probably not be necessary.

Good luck,
Chris

 

[projectPONY]

Most important is CFM and psi rating of the unit. It should at least compliment that of your compressor.

R,
HAP

So basically I need to match the max cfm at max psi of the compressor?

 

[projectPONY]

Dryers are rated for cfm, are you looking for new or used?

I'm currently looking at a few used ones made by hankisson(sp) on eBay. I'd like it to be new but it seems a little out of my budget.

 

[Primered Thunder]

spend the money and get a Kaiser. you can thank me later.

 

[projectPONY]

spend the money and get a Kaiser. you can thank me later.

Really? I had always heard that the hankisson were the better ins. I'll look into them.

Sad thing about all this is that several years ago a friend had one he was trying to get rid of. He offered to give it to me and I turned it down. I think he ended up scrapping it cus he couldn't sell it.

 

[MatthewM]

One thing to consider is that the pump can only supply CFM based on the rated HP of the motor. However; the tank if plumbed with a large enough line, and can feed a much higher short term CFM. In essence, you can overload you dryer and negate it's benefits if you have large impulse loads. You can prevent this by hooking the dryer up before the tank to create what is called a "dry receiver." You may have to consider high inlet temps in this situation though. The other added benefit is that it keeps as much moisture out of your tank as possible.

-Matt

 

[projectPONY]

One thing to consider is that the pump can only supply CFM based on the rated HP of the motor. However; the tank if plumbed with a large enough line, and can feed a much higher short term CFM. In essence, you can overload you dryer and negate it's benefits if you have large impulse loads. You can prevent this by hooking the dryer up before the tank to create what is called a "dry receiver." You may have to consider high inlet temps in this situation though. The other added benefit is that it keeps as much moisture out of your tank as possible.

-Matt

Wow, there is more to this than I expected.

 

[Txchevy18]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SPEEDAIRE-Refrigerated-Air-Dryer-3YA52?Pid=search

I picked this one up on ebay after dealing with gulf coast humidity in my dads cabinet shop for years. (We're less than 2 miles from the water) I started a fab shop there and running the plasma table more often was becoming a problem from moisture eating tips.

Ive got an old 10hp 35cfm 3ph speedaire compressor running to 250ft of 3/4" pipe and probably 20 drops. The air comes from the tank via 3/4" lines to a way overkill spx Coalescing filter with 3/4" in/ out to the dryer and then to the air supply lines. I drain 5 -10 gallons of water a week from the tank on average.

The air is so dry on the very last drop that after 3-4seconds of air from a blow gun across your hand, it feels like your skin has dried out. I hooked the blast cabinet I used to hate this weekend since it was always plugging up and it ran like a dream for almost an hour of continuous blasting.

The dryer was probably the best improvement I've done to the shop to date. I couldn't dream of working with out it.

 

[projectPONY]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/SPEEDAIRE-Refrigerated-Air-Dryer-3YA52?Pid=search

I picked this one up on ebay after dealing with gulf coast humidity in my dads cabinet shop for years. (We're less than 2 miles from the water) I started a fab shop there and running the plasma table more often was becoming a problem from moisture eating tips.

Ive got an old 10hp 35cfm 3ph speedaire compressor running to 250ft of 3/4" pipe and probably 20 drops. The air comes from the tank via 3/4" lines to a way overkill spx Coalescing filter with 3/4" in/ out to the dryer and then to the air supply lines. I drain 5 -10 gallons of water a week from the tank on average.

The air is so dry on the very last drop that after 3-4seconds of air from a blow gun across your hand, it feels like your skin has dried out. I hooked the blast cabinet I used to hate this weekend since it was always plugging up and it ran like a dream for almost an hour of continuous blasting.

The dryer was probably the best improvement I've done to the shop to date. I couldn't dream of working with out it.

That seems like a very good unit but at $1500 its waaay out of my budget.

 

[projectPONY]

Ok, it seems like I need to find out the specs of my compressor first. Then match the air dryer to it. I'll do that as soon as i get home from work.

 

[BWS]

I'd run a by-pass line around it.....keeps shop in air when doing maint.,and also not all your air needs to be "that",dry.Good luck,BW