A different way to service your desiccant!

[RevvedAC]

I know this won't be helpful to everyone but for the professional shop guys that have Automotive A/C equipment on hand I had an "AHA!" moment today. I added a desiccant drier to my Hypertherm 45 setup about 3 weeks ago on the recommendation of my table manufacturer. We've had a lot of humidity and rain over the last three weeks and I have been watching that little indicator window quickly moving over to replace. Having worked on A/C systems for years it dawned on me that why should I spend $45 on a new desiccant filter every month when I can evac the housing and boil out the moisture the same way we do when servicing the A/C system on a car.

So tonight I cannibalized an old A/C line and added an airline quick disconnect to the other end so I could connect my evacuation pump to the filter housing. After about an hour the filter window was right back to bright blue brand new! I let it run for about another hour while I worked around the shop. Ready to go!!

[tnbndr]

Great idea!!

[srp]

you can also cook it in the oven.

[RevvedAC]

Mine uses a desiccant cartridge that I believe was in a plastic housing. I've read about other styles that have loose desiccant that you can dry out by baking in the oven. I have a buddy that does commercial refrigeration and he always gave me grief on the automotive side since it is a standard procedure to replace the Accumulator or Receiver/Drier whenver servicing for a leak because it contains the desiccant. Apparently in the commercial refrigeration world they use the oven trick to dry them out.

[beefy]

I used to do A/C & refrigeration too, and have thought about using vacuum for drying. I'm sure I heard somewhere that it won't work with silica gel crystals. I have no idea if that is true or not. Someone reckoned they had to be baked at a higher temperature to get the moisture out of them.

If you ever do that type of dessicant let us know.

Keith