Compressed air dryer idea, non starter or genius?

[Gareth J]

Was just about to scrap a hot water cylinder and thought I might as well pull the coil out and maybe try it as a compressed air cooler. Then I thought, why not leave in situ and fill the cylinder with water? Ready to go air cooler. Though I've no idea regarding head transfer rates or pressure ratings of those in tank coils mind you.

 

[bricol]

What's the price of copper scrap these days? Scrapping my old cylinder a few years ago paid for most of a PCL Dropout.

 

[dieselsamurai]

15mm pipe will take 60+ bar ive had some in my system for 10 + years no issues at all , as said above as long as tank not sealed should be no issues . You would need a water trap at the bottom to catch the condensation formed in the pipes i expect

 

[Gareth J]

I had imagined just leaving the uninsulated tank with a bit of a hopper on it that I could chuck a bucket of water into every now and then.

Would be a cheap experiment and, even if it did fail, would be a fairly well contained situation, being within a tank of water.

 

[Gareth J]

What's the price of copper scrap these days? Scrapping my old cylinder a few years ago paid for most of a PCL Dropout.

About 4000/ton. A cylinder might be ballpark £50?

 

[JOEPRO]

About 4000/ton. A cylinder might be ballpark £50?

It depends, the local travelling community have been known to fill theirs with sand before weighing in

 

[Erie Fred]

A water cooled air cooler, we use them at work.
Used to use city water with a temperator valve to conserve water (It went down the drain after cooling).
Now use cooling towers, to cool the cooling water using fan driven air......

However, we are only trying to get the air to 55 deg f.
Refridgerant dryers get you much cooler/dryer.

 

[brightspark]

i just use a secondary propane tank at the end of the flexible hose then couple my blast pot to it with the water seperator on the end its enough top cool the air using about 24cfm of air for about half an hour before a slight bit of moisture apears in the seperator

 

[Erie Fred]

i just use a secondary propane tank at the end of the flexible hose then couple my blast pot to it with the water seperator on the end its enough top cool the air using about 24cfm of air for about half an hour before a slight bit of moisture apears in the seperator

Yes, your simply slowing the air velocity down, for some water to drop out, and the tank's surface offers some cooling to whatever the ambient temp of the day is.

By using a water cooled set-up, (that the OP is suggesting) you can get more water out, because your using 52f (or whatever your water comes out of the ground at) water.

 

[MattF]

It depends, the local travelling community have been known to fill theirs with sand before weighing in

Scrap merchants aren't daft. They'll be wise to tricks like that.

 

[JOEPRO]

Scrap merchants aren't daft. They'll be wise to tricks like that.

Yes that's who I heared it from. Said they part filled with sand and crushed them down and took several together to try and get extra ££. They were sent packing They are up to all sorts at the scrappiesas you say they keep an eye on em.

 

[Erie Fred]

Yes that's who I heared it from. Said they part filled with sand and crushed them down and took several together to try and get extra ££. They were sent packing They are up to all sorts at the scrappiesas you say they keep an eye on em.

Most scrapyards I have been to have a list with pictures of all the Methheads not allowed on the premises.....ugly bunch.

 

[Gareth J]

Scrap merchants aren't daft. They'll be wise to tricks like that.

I try to be super honest at the scrappy. I doubt I'm rewarded with preferential rates, probably the opposite. But there isn't a lot of competition for them here and I'd rather be able to take it than not!

 

[brightspark]

was on the tv the old bill chased a car in to the travelers camp and the guy denied being in it on the deck was 4 cats out of vehicles cut up one was virtually new the cop picked it up and a load of sand fell out they dont miss an opertunity i bet the scrappys would notice