"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news
I've got an inexpensive Harbor Freight refrigeration style air dryer. It
has worked pretty well since I got it. The day before yesterday I had an
airline blow out (rubber whip) and the compressor was running continuously
until I unplugged the whip. The air dryer had shut down. Thermal switch
tripped. I wound up with moisture throughout all my lines. I was in the
shop office working on a design and I don't know how long the unit was shut
down due to the trip.

I didn't run the shop yesterday as we were surrounded by thunder storms most
of the day, and I can not afford to lose a machine due to a lightning
strike, or lose a job due to a power loss.

This morning I've been in the process of trying to clear all the moist air
out and run dry air in, but the dryer does not seem to be working. I've got
a filter separator on both the input and the output of the dryer. The fan
has kicked on and the compressor is running, but I still keep getting
moisture in the down stream separator. The auto drain is working, and there
is no more than a little moisture accumulating in the auto drain float bowl.

I'm at a loss unless its just no longer working. The only other thing I can
think of is that the humidity has been really high for the last couple days.
(High for Yuma anyway.) On-line weather says we are sitting around 46%.
This is our "monsoon" season. The rest of the year we tend to run 8-15%.
Maybe this cheap dryer just isn't up to handling that much humidity.

Ideas? Suggestions?

Run out and buy an Ingersol Rand air dryer is not an option for today.
Maybe next time I get a big job.

Throw away desiccant filters on the individual machines might be ok, but
they use continuous air on the spindle nose air seals. I suspect I'd be
replacing them every day if not sooner.

*********************

A little more. I checked the input and output lines of the dryer's
compressor. One is warm and one is cold. As I would expect. I do have a
larger vertical rise from the output side separator. I am wondering if
moisture is just still draining back down that riser. The last few times
I've checked the separator there is has been almost zero moistures. Still
not ready to run that air through any machines just yet.

Still contemplating a run to the store for some disposable desiccant dryers.
Problem is the cheap ones are rated at 90PSI max and I distribute my shop
air at 125. I have regulators on each machine, but those are set at about
15-20 PSI for the air seals. I don't really want to drop my shop air to
90PSI because I also run other equipment off of air. Impacts, air wrenchs,
drills, sanders, grinders etc. Equipment that requires lower pressure gets
its own regulator. I have two on the Hurco. One for the air brake, and one
for the oiler. FYI: It was the whip to the Hurco that blew. LOL.