JNiolon@uss.com wrote:
snip
> I get very little water from the drains on the individual drops but a good
> bit from the compressor tank when drained every week or so. Can I assume
> that a dryer would remove even more water from the air ???
Snip
OK John, I'll take a crack at this.
Basic principles: air can hold a certain amount of water for a given
temperature before
it reaches saturation (100% humidity) at which point it can hold no more water.
When
air is compressed it is warmed (and can hold more water). A problem can occur
when you
use large volumes of air. The compressor runs at a higher duty cycle, the air
in the
tank warms up (and holds more water), this warm, moist air runs out the line
and starts
to cool off. As it cools off and the air exceeds 100% humidity water condenses
out. In
the galvanized lines that you have the water will condense on the pipe walls.
If you are
spraying paint, the air is further cooled by expansion and water droplets can
form in
the paint spray itself. Have you used a die grinder continuously for a few
minutes? You
will feel it get cold and will probably notice water vapor condensing on the
tool.
Now if you are not using air hungry tools you may never see this. Your
compressor only
cycles occassionaly, the air which is heated by the compressor cools in the
tank and the
water condenses in the tank. As you use air, it is already relatively cool and
so does
not condense as much in the lines or in the tools.
I think that the idea behind using coils of metal is to cool the air. The
water that
condenses out can then be removed by a water separator. A water seperator can
remove
water droplets but cannot remove water vapor. By following the TIP guidelines
you will
already get a fair amount of cooling as the air travels through the pipes.
Does this make sense?
-Roger
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