How do you keep your shop air dry?

[Deleted]

The air compressor in my garage produces a lot of moisture in the air lines, particularly on very humid days. It quickly gets bad enough that it makes blasting parts/pieces in my cabinet impossible. The blasting gun and glass beads I use don't seem to work well in the presence of moisture. I bought a cheap inline filter/water separator recently but have yet to install. I was thinking about also buying a desiccant drier unit (around $180) I do generally drain the tank after every use....

I was just curious what others use to keep their air dry.

[eckertc1]

I use a water/oil separator in line on the compressor and I still had a lot of the same issues you are having. adding one of these....

www.harborfreight.com/automatic-compressor-drain-kit-46960.html

seems to have helped a bunch, at least the blast cabinet doesn't plug up anymore. just be sure to toss the plastic line in the garbage and get a good piece of rolled copper to replace it.

I also do all the usual things, make sure the lines run uphill from the compressor so water drains back, adding a second storage tank between the main compressor and the main air line connections seems to have helped collect some of the water too.

That being said, I would still LOVE to have a nice desiccant drier unit somewhere. There is always a bit of moisture getting through during heavy use.

[Topher]

I've been thinking of getting an air dryer off a road tractor for my compressor. You should be able to pick one up at a salvage yard for next to nothing and a filter for one is $40-$60. Should take moisture out for a long long time.

[furyrestored]

if you run your dryer/ seperator close to the compressor it will never remove all the water the air has to cool to seperate the air / water i run a 50 ft hose off my compressor then have a water seperator filter combo hooked up with a dessicant hose at the end of the line with my 25 ft hose plugged in then and i have never got any moisture out of the second hose!Now on real humid days i may have to drain my seperator after thirty min of high pressure use but the air coming out of my hose is desert dry.the problem i think most people have is that they install there dryer seperator filters to close to the compressor which is what i had done in the past, what a drag it is to spend 300 bucks on a filter unit only to have it blow water on your new paintjob!i had a dryer seperator along with a second seperator into my dessicant hose and it still sprayed water like a garden hose,and was getting hardly any water in my seperator till i installed the fifty foot section before the dryer seperators now the drains need to be drained constantly and i have dry air coming out of my hose,I hope that this will help some people out as it sure did fix my problem.

[Deleted]

I ended up mounting the cheap separator near my blast cabinet. Ran a 25 ft hose from compressor to separator. It worked well enough to use the blasting cabinet. I will do more upgrades before I start painting though.

[furyrestored]

I know when i had the same setup hooked right off the compressor i could use it for a week and get hardly any water in my seperator and sprayed water out of the hose,i bought 2 units from lowes and then bought a nice unit from eastwood still could water plants with it.Last year after moving i had the pieces off the compressor and just had the nipple screwed on my compressor for airing tires full pressure and i needed to sandblast a old 8n ford in my back yard so plugged the 50 ft section to the compressor and then hooked my filter seperators and dessicant hose( all plumbed together with pipe that i unscrewed from the compressor for the move) and put a male comector to the unit plugged it in the 50 ft hose and hung it in a tree by the tractor then used my 25 ft to the sandblaster after 15 min of sandblasting i noticed that i had no tip clogs only had to stop to refill the pod with sand!STRANGE i thoughtand then looked at the bowl on the seperator and it was about full of water!then it hit me the air coming out of thhe compressor is very hot and humid it blows right thru the seperator as humid air and it needs to run for a ways to cool and thats when the water seperates and is able to be trapped in the water trap and drained basically like making shine as it travels thru the tubing it cools and the liquid seperates and is able to be caught,though i dont recomend drinking the liquid that comes from your water trap!Also Tom that dessicant hose i bought from eastwood was pretty cheap and i run it straight up out of my filter sep unit and plug my hose in it seems to work great alot cheaper than a dessicant filter for someone who is just messing with there own toys and i have used it for over a year now,best of luck

[Deleted]

That makes a lot of sense. That a separator located close to the compressor will not be effective.

Earlier today, I dragged home an 80 gallon/5 hp Devilbiss that I bought from stepfather last year. I bought 2 inexpensive separators recently that I will use, plumbed in.... not too close to the compressor.