In article ,
Ignoramus19820 wrote:

I was highly impressed with use of evaporator coils for drying
compressed air.

I called a few HVAC contrators from yellow pages, and, unfortunately,
none of them could give me anything. I would like to hear some
creative ideas on where to get them.

i

Don't use the evaporator. First, it's a mother****er to get out of a
car or anything else; second, it can't take a lot of pressure. Instead,
use the condenser--it'll be at the front of a car, right before the
radiator, and it's designed to withstand up to about 4-500psi before
bursting. If you pull one out of a compact car it'll even come with a
12VDC fan or two bolted on it, ready to go.
Find some friends with junker cars that have failed AC systems, and
ask if you can buy the components from them for a few bucks. Or go to
an automotive grave yard. Hell, at the rate you're scrounging, buy a
whole piece of **** car and part it out on ebay, keeping whatever you
find useful.
Usually the condenser will have two hoses with bolt-on flanges to
attach the hoses or hard lines. Go ahead and cut out the ends of the
lines and take 'em out right along with the condenser. That way you'll
have them to take to an AC shop and get some lines made that you can tie
into your air system. Or just braze your own fittings right onto the
condenser's lines.
Some Fords (and maybe Chevys--can't remember) will have what are
called "spring lock" connectors. With those you need a special tool to
disengage the spring so you can pull loose the lines. If you don't mind
destroying them, just cut the connectors off with a tubing cutter, or
dig out the spring with a pick. I think you can get new springs from
auto parts stores, but check on that before you rely on it.
Use some rubbing alcohol or brake cleaner and a blast of compressed
air to flush out the condenser so you don't wind up with an odd aroma
coming out of your air system. Nothing harmful, just a funky,
unpleasant smell.
You could do mass overkill: see if you can snag an outdoor condenser
unit from somebody's home AC system. It's huge, comes with a fan, and
handles completely absurd pressures. Of course, freebies are hard to
(legally) find, and since you're up north it'll be that much harder.
But if you get a chance to nab one (or even a window unit) jump.

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