Desiccant Air Filter

[wyshadow]

I have a JoeB Alpha high pressure filter on my high pressure side of my shoebox but I wanted to further remove moisture on my low pressure side to protect the shoebox and to help the Alpha filter by installing three desiccant filters.

So far, the three desiccant filters remove most of the water because I don't see any moisture when I unplug the line between the Alpha filter and shoebox. I use to have only one Drierite filter but I would only get to fill my tanks twice before I had to bake the desiccant rocks again.

I ordered another desiccant filter from Drierite Co. LTD and I also order a water filtration system and desiccant beads from Amazon. I converted the water filtration system to filter water out of the air and this setup is really nice. The three desiccant filter do a great job taking most of the moisture out before the water gets to shoebox.

Here is the video I followed to convert the water filtration to air:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPeTSEyP7lM

 

[TheIceman]

You got me for a second there with the water filter, until I saw the conversion video. Some are going to think your setup is overkill, but if it makes you happy, who cares? One thing is for sure, moisture doesn't stand a chance against you! I really like my Shoebox F10. I've found that blowing off the drain valve on the shop compressor every once in a while removes a good bit of water. Anything that remains is captured by a molecular sieve between the Shoebox and my SCBA tank. If it's really humid, I have a homemade refrigerated air drier I use just before the Shoebox. Your setup looks awesome!

James

 

[wyshadow]

If someone wanted to follow what I did, I would suggest buying the 8 mesh desiccant media from Drierite and buy the water filtration from Amazon. This system would be exactly the same as mine but at a 1/3 the cost.

https://secure.drierite.com/catalog3/page4b.cfm?activeMenu=0

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003VT7ERY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Guest]

Amazing work and +1 for sharing. Lots of people don’t take the moisture seriously. Glad someone does.

 

[ChrisUSA]

Nice job! I have one small one ahead of the Shoebox with some desiccant beads in it (maybe 1 1/2 cup, measuring cup worth).

 

[Michel]

Very nice set up, but that compressor will need a long time to fill up all that filters, so a 'top on' for one airgun will take a wile..!!

 

[wyshadow]

This California Air Tools compressor is very fast and quiet. I've used my finishing nailer on this compressor with no problems. I've used this compressor with my framing nailer once and it did ok if you could wait a few second after three shots. Here is a video on this compressor:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DBNyTqYbg4

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYHYHEA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Guest]

Lol

 

[ChrisUSA]

I have the 5 gallon California Air model. Very nice and quiet. As I recall, 2 cylinders allows them to run at 1/2 speed to others. I highly recommend. I ordered on line at the Lowe's site and picked it up at the store. It sits 5' from the TV and I can run it and the Shoebox and not turn the TV up. After the initial run, it might cut on twice while filling/topping the Guppy tank.

 

[Humdinger]

The CAT compressor and just one of the input filters is all that is needed to get dry air from a Shoebox. I owned 2 Shoeboxes and used a Rolair JC-10 which is a re-badged CAT compressor. The CAT and Rolair are both quiet running compressors in a Shoebox system. I used Wilkerson X02-06-000 filter similar to the 3 first stage air filters from this thread . It was used for several years with desiccant recharging after each 10 hours of run time. There was never any moisture at the Shoebox output using this setup. It is the filtration recommended by Tom Kaye on the factory website. 

The 4 filter setup pictured in this thread is nicely designed but totally redundant. It adds to the fill time from an already slow filling Shoebox. No additional moisture is extracted beyond the first input filter unless its desiccant is never replaced. The added run time to compress the space inside the Alpha output filter is considerable.The Alpha high pressure filter is not ever going to see any moisture in this setup. Bleeding the drain valve at the first stage compressor tank base once an hour during a run will remove more moisture than the last 3 filters in this user's system.