Simple cost effective air dryer

[Jake]

I was talking with a friend of mine this afternoon and the topic turned to air dryers and the money that can be spent on them. So I shared with him my simple cost effective method of drying air in my home and commercial shop.
We took an old 4'' x 12'' hydraulic cylinder and by sealing off the gland end we made a sealed container that could be taken apart as required, we put random shaped pieces of latex sponge inside the cylinder to absorb any moisture as the air passed through the our homemade dryer.
For lower volumes of CFM it seems to work really well, so far we have had zero problems with water in the lines.

[Chris Olson]

Air dryer idea

Jake, Another good thing is to throw in some of those 'do not eat' little satchels that come with new shoes... Silica gel absorbs a lot of water.
Princess auto also sells it by the bag for their version of a water separator.

[Jake]

Hey Chris,
You shop at Princess Auto as well?
The idea of using the little satchels should work well I would think.

[plymsatellite66]

The homemade air dryer we built for our shop was something my dad came up with. It's made of 1 1/2" PVC tube so it's cheap and easy to assemble. The air supply enters the unit at the top of the first PVC pipe and exits at the tops of the last pipe. The longer whole thing is about 8' tall and made of four pipes. The first and third pieps have a ball valve at the bottom to let the water out about 8" below where they connect to the second and fourth pipes. I hope the attached picture works as it shows it a little clearer.

The majority of the water is caught in the first trap with only minimal water in the second trap. We've never had a problem with with water in the air tools or paint jobs, but just as a precaution I always run a small disposable filter at my paint gun.

Corey

[74w300uteline]

Princess auto

thats a odd name for an auto parts store. kinda swisshy

[Jake]

Canadian humor eh!!

Princess Auto started out as an auto wrecker back in the day and has since grown to be a large retailer ofall things appealing to guys.

[74w300uteline]

Cinderella Lumber

Roccos manicures& pedicures

[Bruce]

Good Idea

The homemade air dryer we built for our shop was something my dad came up with. It's made of 1 1/2" PVC tube so it's cheap and easy to assemble. The air supply enters the unit at the top of the first PVC pipe and exits at the tops of the last pipe. The longer whole thing is about 8' tall and made of four pipes. The first and third pieps have a ball valve at the bottom to let the water out about 8" below where they connect to the second and fourth pipes. I hope the attached picture works as it shows it a little clearer.

The majority of the water is caught in the first trap with only minimal water in the second trap. We've never had a problem with with water in the air tools or paint jobs, but just as a precaution I always run a small disposable filter at my paint gun.

Corey

Hey Corey,
Thanks for the sketch!

[Kevin in Ohio]

The homemade air dryer we built for our shop was something my dad came up with. It's made of 1 1/2" PVC tube so it's cheap and easy to assemble. The air supply enters the unit at the top of the first PVC pipe and exits at the tops of the last pipe. The longer whole thing is about 8' tall and made of four pipes. The first and third pieps have a ball valve at the bottom to let the water out about 8" below where they connect to the second and fourth pipes. I hope the attached picture works as it shows it a little clearer.

The majority of the water is caught in the first trap with only minimal water in the second trap. We've never had a problem with with water in the air tools or paint jobs, but just as a precaution I always run a small disposable filter at my paint gun.

Corey

Please be aware that when PVC bursts it'll throw shards that will cut into you in a heartbeat. It happened to my cousin who used all thickwall PVC. Didn't kill him but had some good size chunks they had to pull out of him.

He shuts off the main when not in use and it happened when he loaded the line in the morning. If you want to use it, AT LEAST wrap a blanket around it to slow the pieces down if something bad occurs.

Compounding my concern would be if this is in an unheated shop the trapped water in the line could freeze and stress it as well. Be sure to drain them when quitting for the day. Not preaching, just hate to see anyone get hurt.