What dryer to get?

[ZKB]

Hello,
What dryer do you prefer and why? A big desiccant or a refrigerated? The harbor Freight dryer is on sale with a 15% of coupon @339.99.
I like the dryer that this site sells and after shipping and a warranty for the Harbor freight unit there is not a big difference money wise.
Thanks in advance

[Rodw]

It depends on how humid your climate is but I had no luck with dessicant driers and setled on a refrigerated one. Cost me about AUD $2300 so it was not a cheap solution but it was 100% necessary.

[weldguy]

I have had great results with the 3 stage desiccant dryer sold here. The problem with many desiccant dryers is they are too small and hold so little desiccant that it performs well for a VERY short period of time. Mine holds 5lbs of desiccant and lasts a long time before you have to dry out the media. If your cutting for hours each day a refrigerated unit with good filtration in front of it will be best as you will not have to do anything but turn it on. Ultimately I ended up using both as I grew into cutting for many hours each day so I ended up putting stage 1 & 2 of the desiccant dryer in front of my refrigerated dryer for proper filtration and the desiccant stage after the refrigerated dryer. Desiccant has a lower dewpoint so after the refrigerated dryer has removed a majority of the the humidity the desiccant removes more. I am very happy with my setup and my electrodes burn super clean, no black stains on them or in the nozzles

[Rodw]

IUltimately I ended up using both as I grew into cutting for many hours each day so I ended up putting stage 1 & 2 of the desiccant dryer in front of my refrigerated dryer for proper filtration and the desiccant stage after the refrigerated dryer. Desiccant has a lower dewpoint so after the refrigerated dryer has removed a majority of the the humidity the desiccant removes more. I am very happy with my setup and my electrodes burn super clean, no black stains on them or in the nozzles

The key to refrigerated driers is that the air must be cool enough on the inlet so the refrigerator can bring the temperature right down to near freezing
So all the water condenses. If it can't do this, there will be water left in the air. If you look at industrial design specs or those of the drier, the usual case is that a precooler is fitted between the compressor and the storage tank (with an auto drain) and the drier is in line after the storage tank. This is hard to do on a normal horizontal tank. I fitted a transmission cooler between the compressor and the storage tank so the water entering the tank is back to room temperature. The fan on the compressor pulley draws air though my DIY precooler. You still need a pre filter and a post filter (which came with my drier) and I have never had water issues. There is no need for any other driers. Its possible that the filters you add just slowed the air down to cool before entering the drier.

[ZKB]

So far I haven't been doing a lot of cutting. If I go the refrigerated route do you have to start it up and let it run for a while before I can start cutting?

[Rodw]

So far I haven't been doing a lot of cutting. If I go the refrigerated route do you have to start it up and let it run for a while before I can start cutting?

Probably, mine has a LED bargraph display that shows how cold it is. But usually, I just turn it on first, then by the time I turn my compressor on, and sort out the machine ready to cut something, its had enough time. So don't really worry about it. I try and remember to turn the compressor off overnight becasue a hose let go once and there was a gallon or more of water in the tank by the time I got to work....

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