Bodyshop guys: How do you keep your air supply clean & dry?
Discussion
In the 'everything has to be perfect' world of paintwork there's always something causing a problem!
We seem to be fighting some occasional water-in-air issues and the moment and I would be grateful if anyone who specialises in paintwork can tell me what their air supply setup is please? And if you are happy with the quality of air reaching the gun.
We use a Kaeser SXC8 compressor system which is a pretty much top end screw crompressor and refrigeration air dryer in one unit. It's only done 120 hours (making air, not including standby/idle) but recently I've noticed there is quite a lot of yellow water (water and some oil?) being blown out of the bottom of the receiver tank when doing the weekly blow-out. I did it today and probably got a half a mug full after about 10 days running.
The receiver tank is plumbed directly to our air ring main which feeds a Devilbiss 3 stage 'Finish Line' filter bank just before it goes into the booth and to the gun.
The glass bowls of the Devilbiss filters have started filling with water and needing drained daily, and I now suspect a few drops are sneaking past the final stage filtration and coming out the gun, leaving the odd bleb in the lacquer which needs touched in.
It's really annoying!
Someone told me that I might have to have the air dryer re-gassed or the dew-point adjusted if water is coming down the lines. Others say that screw compressors always put a bit of oil and water down the lines and there's nothing you can do...
Any advice?
We seem to be fighting some occasional water-in-air issues and the moment and I would be grateful if anyone who specialises in paintwork can tell me what their air supply setup is please? And if you are happy with the quality of air reaching the gun.
We use a Kaeser SXC8 compressor system which is a pretty much top end screw crompressor and refrigeration air dryer in one unit. It's only done 120 hours (making air, not including standby/idle) but recently I've noticed there is quite a lot of yellow water (water and some oil?) being blown out of the bottom of the receiver tank when doing the weekly blow-out. I did it today and probably got a half a mug full after about 10 days running.
The receiver tank is plumbed directly to our air ring main which feeds a Devilbiss 3 stage 'Finish Line' filter bank just before it goes into the booth and to the gun.
The glass bowls of the Devilbiss filters have started filling with water and needing drained daily, and I now suspect a few drops are sneaking past the final stage filtration and coming out the gun, leaving the odd bleb in the lacquer which needs touched in.
It's really annoying!
Someone told me that I might have to have the air dryer re-gassed or the dew-point adjusted if water is coming down the lines. Others say that screw compressors always put a bit of oil and water down the lines and there's nothing you can do...
Any advice?
finlo said:
We have automatic tank drainers on our compressors, they're not used for spraying though so don't know if it would help your problem.
Our compressor does have an auto-drain to expel condensate/water but this doesn't stop it going into the air receiver, just stops a build up in the dryer unit as the air passes through.paintman said:
I'd say the first port of call would be to raise it with the suppliers and/or manufacturers of the compressor, surely with that low usage it must be under some sort of warranty?
Sadly not.We bought it second hand and about 3 years old, but with only 39 hours use on it.
The engineering company we bought it off simply had it as a backup unit, and we bought it for £3000 inc VAT. We couldn't resist it, as those models are usually £8600 inc vat. It was literally like new.
But no warranty.
We've had a couple of local compressor engineers round and they say that a screw compressor putting out a bit of oil and water in the air is 'normal' hence why the tank should be blown out using the drain valve once a week as routine maintenance.
But I was wondering what filters people have between their air compressor and spray booth to catch any moisture or oil vapour that may be in the pipes?
I have these units fitted to 8 mobile vans I have, sorry for link to eBay, only place I could find them, Hunter website worse than useless.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOMINICK-HUNTER-PORTABLE...
They work perfect for us, they contain a cartridge that lasts about 6-9 months, turns pink when it needs changing, cost about £35 to replace.
We refurbish alloys so need good clean air when spraying, find these much much better than the refrigerated units I had in early vans.
We do also drain the tanks daily, it's the last thing the lads will do when packing van away, open tank valve, shut doors, go home, close valve when starting again the next day, on a humid day we may empty half way through the day.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOMINICK-HUNTER-PORTABLE...
They work perfect for us, they contain a cartridge that lasts about 6-9 months, turns pink when it needs changing, cost about £35 to replace.
We refurbish alloys so need good clean air when spraying, find these much much better than the refrigerated units I had in early vans.
We do also drain the tanks daily, it's the last thing the lads will do when packing van away, open tank valve, shut doors, go home, close valve when starting again the next day, on a humid day we may empty half way through the day.
Quattromaster said:
I have these units fitted to 8 mobile vans I have, sorry for link to eBay, only place I could find them, Hunter website worse than useless.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOMINICK-HUNTER-PORTABLE...
They work perfect for us, they contain a cartridge that lasts about 6-9 months, turns pink when it needs changing, cost about £35 to replace.
We refurbish alloys so need good clean air when spraying, find these much much better than the refrigerated units I had in early vans.
We do also drain the tanks daily, it's the last thing the lads will do when packing van away, open tank valve, shut doors, go home, close valve when starting again the next day, on a humid day we may empty half way through the day.
Cheers for that.http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DOMINICK-HUNTER-PORTABLE...
They work perfect for us, they contain a cartridge that lasts about 6-9 months, turns pink when it needs changing, cost about £35 to replace.
We refurbish alloys so need good clean air when spraying, find these much much better than the refrigerated units I had in early vans.
We do also drain the tanks daily, it's the last thing the lads will do when packing van away, open tank valve, shut doors, go home, close valve when starting again the next day, on a humid day we may empty half way through the day.
Interestingly, someone just recommended this filter to me: https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/230969817201
Also a Domnick Hunter unit. They said to install it after the compressor to catch any oil or water before it heads off runs the air pipework. Then in theory the bank of Devilbiss filters we have should just be a final catch of anything before it goes in the booth.
My vote would be to get the refrigerant air dryer checked over and cleaned. After at least 3 years it may be running low on gas / evaporator and condenser blocked up etc. The colder you can get the air here, the dryer the air coming out.
I was surprised as to how much moisture we got out of the bottom of a vertical pipe when we installed it, 9 inch diameter if I remember correctly, possibly worth a very quickly dismissed thought? (Air in the bottom, slowly rises to the top, any moisture settles on the sides and slides down, take off at the top.)
I was surprised as to how much moisture we got out of the bottom of a vertical pipe when we installed it, 9 inch diameter if I remember correctly, possibly worth a very quickly dismissed thought? (Air in the bottom, slowly rises to the top, any moisture settles on the sides and slides down, take off at the top.)
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