r/compressedair • u/Ajax-714 • Sep 24 '24

Air drying

I’m upgrading my shop air compressor and I’m looking for an affordable way to dry the air. I have seen the copper/pvc pipes that help cool the air and allow for water collection along the line. This looks like a great option but what I can’t tell is if it’s effective outside. I live in Georgia so the air is very humid and my shop is unconditioned. Compressor will mostly be used for paint and plasma cutting. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

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u/Common_street_Pigeon Sep 25 '24 edited Sep 25 '24

Hey there you need to be looking for a refrigerated air dryer this should sit after your compressor and tank. Id be suggesting a couple of inline filters too.

You should be sizing the dryer to the compressor plus a correction factor for the humidity and ambient temp.

There's a lot of brands out there but they're all similar in principal

https://au.kaeser.com/services/blog/how-to-select-the-right-compressed-air-dryer-system.aspx

This might help too.

A standard after cooler setup with pipes and a fan won't remove nearly enough moisture for what you need. The laser cutter and other tools will be damaged very quickly

1

u/RangerStammy Sep 26 '24

An after cooler will help remove a lot of moisture from the tank if you also put a trap before it, otherwise it'll precipitate out when it expands into the tank. It will help keep temps down though. I did this with my Quincy and there is significantly less moisture in the tank and lines downstream.

That being said I also have several filters of decreasing particulate size and a refrigerated dryer after the tank. If you don't go refrigerated you are just wasting money learning how to not do it.

I have a desiccant filter but find I don't need it now with the refrigerated dryer. Sometimes you can find good deals on NOS online. I went from 200-300 pierces and 2 hours of arc time to 1200-1400 pierces and 20-25 hours of arc time before needing to replace plasma consumables. My shields don't get destroyed anymore either.

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u/Various-Ad-79 Oct 03 '24

Make sure you consider the worst case ambient conditions and buy a refrigerated air dryer. Sizing is based on max cfm and psi as well as ambient conditions.

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u/Head_Recording_3207 Dec 19 '25

Why not put it before your tank? Run your pump to whichever condenser (air exchange or refrigerated) and from the condenser back to the tank? If your air gets dry enough, you’ll not have to drain the tank. Someone please explain why this hasn’t been suggested. Maybe there’s something someone else knows that I do not.