Heat, Humidity, HPA Pump = Serious Harm!

[Hepotter]

Friends, the heat index here yesterday was 115F, very very heavy humidity. Most of us have experienced these conditions the past few Summer months!

So my Hong Yeng is pumping up my little .5L bottle to 4000 psi, and when I'm done I looked at the fill hose's QD....there's a tiny amount of foamy water oozing out!

My efforts to filter out moisture with two sets of filters, including a long one filled with the blue beads, just didn't get the job done.

I believe I know why. I was pumping out in the garage...full heat/full humidity. When the Summer air gets this saturated with moisture you need to get the pump's air intake into a drier environment. The wife needs to be gone...because the pump is LOUD inside a room. No matter, reasonably dry air going into the pump seems to be a must!

End result...I had to drain my .5L bottle, my rifle, AND my 150 cu. ft. tank completely, and check for moisture. Now the buddy bottle is drying here at home, the big tank is getting "tumbled" at the dive shop to get the rust stains out of the insides. The rifle got emptied and cleaned.

I suggest you check your output hose before/after filling, while the pump is running. Hold the hose down and let it blow into your palm. 

This was one seriously unexpected nasty surprise, but I'm glad I found it early!





Greetings from Toad Suck, Arkansas...(located just South of Possum Grape, Arkansas...but several miles East of Monkey Run...)

Kindly 'Ol Uncle Hoot

 

[Smitty911]

I work at a test lab and we do testing up to 85ºC wih 90% - 95% humidity, Hot air can hold a lot of water. One way that might work for these high humidity locations is to have a tube over the intake, connect to a heat sink/small radiator, etc. and place that coil, or radiator under ice water, that will reduce the air temp and water will condense and be removed.

Dryer air in = Dryer air out.

Smitty

 

[cwcarrera]

I live in west central Florida and am going to be faced with the same problem when my new compressor arrives. The humidity here has been so thick you can cut it with a knife. In the garage it is 90%+ humidity depending on the time of day and I was thinking that was going to be a bad deal. I have a dehumidifier that I could use and feed the output directly to the intake on the compressor but I haven't experimented to see exactly what the humidity is coming out of the dehumidifier with ambient at 90%. I guess I could bring the compressor into the house to run it (humidity in house is 40% ish) but like you that would have to happen only when the wife is gone. I guess I better figure this out quickly...

Chip

 

[bandg]

I do run mine in an air conditioned room most of the time. I'm not married. Coincidence?

 

[Hatmike]

My wife lets me run mine is in fact it lives in the laundry room. Nice and A C helps keep air dry.i live in East Central Florida

 

[biohazardman]

It's good that you caught your moisture problem in time it could have ruined everything for sure.

I run mine in the air conditioned basement where the temp is always 65-70F and humidity is at 60-70%. The YH I purchased has two water separators, the aluminum blocks that the lines run in and out of. So long as I drain the moisture, by opening the valves on the blocks, every 3 to 5 minutes I get just a hint of moisture in the tiny YH air filter and none in my large filter, tanks or guns. The high pressure output line is at the highest point in the air system leaving the moisture to condense and be removed at the compressors water separators. 

You really need the YH in the house where there is a more controlled environment. That 115degrees and high humidity is definitely not kind to your compressor.

 

[far_shot]

My dehumidifier runs nearly non stop in the basement at 35% setting.Desiccant bead fill in my filter set up turns pink in about a week when it gets gooey out. Nearly lasts all Winter with the radiant heated concrete floor

 

[cwcarrera]

I got a chance to run a little test yesterday with my dehumidifier in the garage. I have two different hygrometers, a cheap and cheezy Sunbeam analog and a nicer Acurite digital readout device that I believe is relatively accurate. Data I collected is as follows;

Sunbeam Acurite

Ambient RH in garage 80% 84%

Output of dehumidifier after 10 min of run time 18% 20%

So that gives me a relatively warm feeling that by piping the output of my dehumidifier directly into my compressor intake I should be in pretty good shape as far as the air I am supplying to the compressor. I have a Tuxing gold filter on the way (the cheaper cotton filled one) that I am going to build into a molecular sieve for the output. All of this will be running with my new Hatsan Lightning that is supposed to arrive today on the big brown truck. I think I should be good with this setup.

Chip

 

[jarmstrong]

Hoot,I have only seen the blue beads used in a sight glass, down stream of the dryer, to indicate if the dryer was working, and not as the work horse for drying the air