Trying to decide which dessicant air dry system to buy.I am not looking to spend over $100.00 as I am not opening a paint shop,but would like to have input from people who are in the industry.I have been looking at the Develbis snake system,the Air Guardian and also saw a filter called Motor Guard.So which is best buy for the money??????Jeff
If you are like a lot of us and trying to remove moisture from a home air compressor set up I doubt any of those mentioned will come remotely close to doing the job. The "add on" dessicant deals like the plastic bulb that goes on the bottom of the paint gun, the dessicant Snakes, smaller wall mounted water seperators, etc are meant to be used as a "final filter" to catch anything that might make it past earlier filters. If you are experiencing moisture/water problems then these "last chance" filters may be quickly overwhelmed if that is all you run. If you have to buy just one then consider the Motor Guard "toilet paper" roll filter set up that TPTools sells---it uses a large toilet paper roll sized paper filter and you can buy refills from them. I would still install a seperate water seperator in line ahead of this roll filter--likely one of the Motor Guard offerings that TP Tools shows. Then....I would use the dessicant snake or bulb at the gun. Go to their website and read the info they have on all the various MotorGuard filters and air line set ups. These home compressor setups really crank out the water as the lines aren't typically long enough at home to cool down the air much (or are PVC plastic which does nothing to cool off the air). Or you may only be running rubber air hose straight from the compressor---once again, does nothing to cool the air down and get the moisture to fall out of suspension. If you are asking this because you want to filter out stuff FOR PAINT SPRAYING then you really shouldn't skimp too much, if at all.
Thanks for the input.I have been researching the motor guard filter and had decided that would be the best way to go.It's always nice to get a second opinion thou,especially when there opinion is the same as you'resI do have a water seperater and small filter hooked up now,but need to upgrade before any serious painting.
I have a 60 gal. compressor in my basement, ran 1 inch copper pipe into the garage, maybe a 30 foot run to the first regulator, and no problem with moisture. The copper does a good job as far as cooling the air down from the compressor, I have two regulators with water traps on them in the garage and very little water ever gets in them.
TP Tools recommends using black iron pipe to run to your outlets as it cools better than other than other types of of tubing . I have it run in my shop and am very happy with it . A little more trouble to run but worth it in the long run . Be sure and put some type of flex coupling between the cmpressor and hard line .
copper pipe is actually better but not used much due to the cost. I have a friend that works at a high end collision shop nearby and when they built their new facility they had it plumbed with copper tubing for maximum cooling...expensive (they had to run hundreds of feet I suspect) but nice. Iron pipe, like TP recommends, is a good, affordable alternative
The copper tubing is definately easier to work with . I hate cutting and threading pipe , plus the extra work factor . Patton at the shop you mentioned did they use silver solder or regular solder ?
Mike--I will try to find out. The shop was built about 8 years ago and I remember going there as it was being built to check it out (you know...with people like us we'd rather see what someone's shop looks like vs a house,etc. The place is called Berli's Fine Auto Body in Pflugerville, TX (Austin suburb). I know that Joe (the owner) had a subcontractor do the airline piping and we noted how he was using copper. They just finished adding on another building so I'll see if they ran air over to it also and what they used. Will I be able to tell from the color of the solder? I also remember looking at the fancy MASSIVE air compressor they got to run the whole place....I think they just got another one...this time one of the screw type air compressors (THOSE ARE NICE!!!!) I "lucked out" on piping the garage here at my house...they had just built a Lowe's about 4 blocks away so I was able to buy the pipe there and on any odd lengths, just take a measurement, go up there, and have them cut and thread the black iron pipe that I used here.
Regular solder works fine, just like a water line, very little leakdown it holds 150 pounds for over a week before pressure drops a little.
I'm familiar with the screw types... yes they are nice. and run constantly. they just unload until they have demand. the resemble a gmc supercharger.. somewhat. they also have dryers that pull down to 30 odd degrees to encourage condensation before hitting a large water trap. out of your league... but... Here is some simple but effective advice. don't waste a dime putting a filter next to the compressor. it won't work. like the others have said long plumbing helps. I suggest copper. and yes regular plumbing solder will be fine. pic up a normal can of flux while your at it. you won't need silver solder till 2" or more. you don't need that. 3/4 will work fine. put the compresor as far away from your point of use as possible. this gives the water time to condensate. Heres another trick: at the end of the above described line.... find an old compressor air tank of at least 10 gallons plumb the air in to the bottom(this is important). take your air out of the top of it, and THEN put on your filter. most of your water and blown by compressor oil will settle in the bottom of this tank. just drain it there this will make easy work for your filter. you will get very little out of the filter. you will be blown away at what you get out of the tank on a humid day :eek2: don't buy your filter locally unless they have name brands. most don't. get a nice Wilkerson from Grainger and get rplacement filters for it when you buy it. then when you run out... you can give them the part number and they will still have it available for you. crack the bowl... who cares.. call Grainger or GPO and buy another. that simple. proper plumbing will get you quality air. this helps us at our plant. Take it from a guy who does a lot of house air stuff. we have 25hp,35hp,50hp screw compressors. all but the little one:laugh: has a remote tank. and that one just dumps into a remote tank anyway. I do most of the maint on all of these... so i have learned a thing or two.
Excellent info Rob---The air needs to cool down some so the water "drops out" before it hits a filter....put the filter too close and you'll just be letting hot air run through it (with the water still in it). I am going to try to find a smaller tank to set up as you suggested....ingenious solution. Thanks for the experienced and informative ideas.
Great info.I had no idea how many things where wrong with my system.I am glad the system was not set up for "good" yet.Now I know what I need to do to set it up properly.As much as we try to know everything this site certainly shows us all how much we can learn if we just ask,thanks again for the helpful info and for stopping me from wasting my hard earned green on stuff that would not have worked without the proper set up:TU: Jeff
