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Thread: Compressor drier desiccant
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16th Jun 2019, 08:43 PM #1Most Valued Member
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Compressor drier desiccant
Anyone know where to get a couple of kilos of indicating type desiccant for a compressor drier. Got a large stainless and brass filter housing I want to use to make a drier. Will hold about 1.2 Ltr of desiccant.
Nev.
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16th Jun 2019, 09:13 PM #2Senior Member
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Just did a Google and found this mob, https://www.silicagel.com.au/1-kg-bl...lf-indicating/
We used to use it at work, fun stuff.
Rgds,
Crocy.
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17th Jun 2019, 12:06 AM #3Golden Member
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G'day Nev,
I can get you heaps of desiccant packs used for shipping but they are non indicating. Everything we get shipped in comes with them, mostly 1kg or 500g packs. They can be used over and over again, just put them in an oven on low for an hour and they're as good as new.
Let me know and I can ship a few of them up if you like.
Cheers,
Greg.
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17th Jun 2019, 10:22 AM #4Most Valued Member
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I have 10kg of the stuff here.
but why would you want to use a desiccant on an air compressor..it will be saturated with moisture in next to no time.
what you need is a refrigerated drier....or some other way of lessening the moisture carry over by natural cooling and water traps, there's been plenty of discussion on here about that.
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17th Jun 2019, 12:00 PM #5Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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I've been using desiccant in my compressed air lines for about 4 months and there's no doubt about it producing super dry air.
However I also have been using a finned cooling coil , water trap and 3 in line automated water venting solenoids (150 ms vents every 60 minutes) and despite this it still doesn't take that long for the desiccant to saturate.
How quickly it saturates depends on use but I have not got more than a about 3 weeks of dry air out of my desiccant system.
Normally the desiccant dries out in an hour or so in an oven at 110șC, but if it "really" saturates it takes a lot longer to dry out, ie overnight in an oven at ~130șC.
The drying process is a bit of a PITA as I use a polypropylene 0.5 micron filter inside the desiccant holder to prevent bits of desiccant moving further on down the line. This means I can't put the entire filter in the oven but have to unpack it and beads of the desiccant go every where in the packing and unpacking process.
My approach to this is about to change - luckily I built in a by pass connection.
Hence I will operate my comp air setup without the desiccant in line and only connect it up when it is really needed.
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17th Jun 2019, 07:55 PM #6Senior Member
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17th Jun 2019, 08:26 PM #7Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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The blue and white stuff is being phased as the cobalt is not good for humans.
Its probably relatively safe in the silica beads but they can break or even shatter during handling and the resulting dust is probably not good for you.
The safer beads are brown/red due to an iron compound and turn greenish when wet. The colour change is not as pronounced as the cobalt ones.
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17th Jun 2019, 11:10 PM #8Golden Member
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I'm a cheapskate and would just use silica gel kitty litter and dry it regularly, I already use it for spills and other things so have a couple of bags on hand
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18th Jun 2019, 09:13 AM #9Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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All kitty litter is made primarily to absorb and neutralise odours rather that absorb water. As it starts to absorb water silica gel swells and can go mushy and clump together and could seriously restrict air flow. To reduce this problem you'd need to only partially fill the filter container which would shorten the air parts through it to absorb water.
At least The neutralisers and fragrances would make the air coming out of your air lines will smell nice but not sure what they would do to air tools etc.
It's the "Drying it regularly", that becomes a PITA, I'd be tempted to just change it.
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18th Jun 2019, 09:41 AM #10Golden Member
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Some of the desiccant packs used in our gear are filled with silica gel but most of them are just plain old bentonite, pretty much common garden variety kitty litter that's been treated to minimise dust production.
Cheers,
Greg.
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18th Jun 2019, 10:14 AM #11Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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18th Jun 2019, 03:34 PM #12Golden Member
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18th Jun 2019, 03:48 PM #13Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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18th Jun 2019, 08:11 PM #14Most Valued Member
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If I paint I use two air lines. Compressor has a filter regulator fitted. I run one air line from this to a second water trap then second air line to spray gun. Air is reasonably dry doing this but I want better. The silica gel filter will be between the two hoses and as I will not be able to see the silica gel inside this, I will add some to the second water trap mounted to the outlet of the main filter. It has a very fine bronze type filter in it. Not sure how many microns it filters but will see how it all goes.
Nev.
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18th Jun 2019, 08:24 PM #15Golden Member
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The packs I'm talking about are specifically for packaging so of course not.
However the desiccant canisters we used in pressurised wave guide dryers contained the same bentonite desiccant and they absolutely were.
Of course the flow rate in a waveguide pressure system is fairly minimal and not comparable to your shed compressor but desiccant is desiccant and I'm happy to leave the finer details up to Nev, just offering up a free source for something that might fit the requirements requested in the original post.
Cheers,
Greg.
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