Air dryer

[Geerbangr]

Without breaking the bank what’s a decent air dryer for shop air? My compressor is in its own room about 60’ from where I’ll paint. I’ve watched some YouTube vids and that’ll confuse the shit out of anyone. So maybe one of you guys that do this shit for a living can get me dialed in a little better.

[jester]

I settled on a desiccant dryer for my garage, its the large long heavy schedule pipe filled with large desiccant. Before that i have 3/4" copper pipe plumbed with drains going to the desiccant then a quality filter and reg. Works flawless, and doesn't break the bank.

[outlaw56]

RTI here, but I've seen guys triple up on those Disposable inline moisture orange bulbs!

[Geerbangr]

Are the vertical runs of copper tubing with drains at the bottom effective? Kinda steampunk looking.

[HS professor]

I've had an Ingersol Rand dryer at home for about 10 yrs now, best money I've spent. Never any moisture in my airlines or traps. Not cheap, but if you paint at all, the cost of one moisture related problem will cover the cost ...............

[FRANKTHECRANK]

Originally Posted by Geerbangr

Are the vertical runs of copper tubing with drains at the bottom effective? Kinda steampunk looking.

They are effective, but can't count on just that. A refrigerant dryer is best, plumbed far enough away from the compressor so that the warm compressed air has time to develop moisture,...the dryer will cool it and remove most of the moisture. Then a good desiccant dryer is next so that anything that got by the first dyer, or developed after it, will get trapped in the desiccant beads.

If you don't plan on doing lots of painting in the future, a good desiccant dryer will do the trick. Of course, drain the water from the compressor often, and open the drains in your copper line often as well.

[Yoyodyne]

I bought a used Hankison, has been awesome for a long while.


I've heard of rolling your own by putting a coil of tubing in a small refrigerator, coil it downhill with a trap and an automatic drain at the bottom.

[jester]

yes i have drains at the bottom of all portions of vertical pipe. It runs from the compressor to the wall then to the ceiling with a drain on that portion,then down on a slight angle about 12 ft. Before the end its t'd foot up, foot back, then down 12ft where it comes back up for 12 ft back down 12ft, 12 up for the final 12ft down t'd to the descendant drier,filter and regulator.


this is for a home shop not a pro facility

[89 FOX 351]

bought 2 harbor freight dryers for our shop. didn't last for 4 months. Switched to ingersoll D25IN and that lasted all of 2 months. kept freezing over and customer support wasn't much help. Still looking for something better in the less price category.

That said we have 1 ingersoll rand in front of our CNC plasma that has run very well for nearly 5 years. I believe it is a D54 and we paid out the nose for it, but solved all our problems, so very much worth it.

[IIbad4u]

We have a devilbiss set up at the shop. Was not cheap but re painting stuff is not cheap either. I have an old sharpe three stage set up in my garage at home. I got it for free but I think at the time they were like 500 dollars. I think the devilbiss one was 800.

[Geerbangr]

Looking at the devilbiss 130522 cam air ct 5 stage air dryer. All 5 stages really needed?

[RJAZE]

Originally Posted by Geerbangr

Looking at the devilbiss 130522 cam air ct 5 stage air dryer. All 5 stages really needed?

I have the DeVilbiss DAD-500. Can't have too clean or too dry. Good paint is expensive. Even screwing up a cheap paint job is expensive.

[NuKidOnDaBlock]

A old stand bye Motorguard "toilet paper" filter is still pretty good for low volume air use situations. The trick is plumbing it so it plugs in and you only use it when painting, so it is fresh' Drain the compressor good, blow the lines out for a good 30 seconds, plug in the Motoguard, good to go.