Tricks to getting dry Compressed Air

The invention of compressed air running tools to make jobs easier is amazing and can make our lives much easier when working in our home shop. Unfortunately some tasks to require clean, dry air to allow the tool to work as it should. For instance your media blaster HATES moisture in the air and will clog the blaster nozzle up quickly if your air isn’t very dry. While your paint gun doesn’t care if it’s spraying 100% water or paint; your paint DOES car and you will have issues with a paint job if your air isn’t dry. Not to mention the lifespan of your air tools can be greatly reduced if you don’t have dry air running through them! We put together a few products that can be life-savers if you can’t afford an expensive filtration system at the compressor (the CORRECT, long term way to solve air moisture issues).

1. Air Maze- Adding piping from your compressor to your air dryer or your hose reel can help if you add a “maze” for the water to get through. Have your hard lines go in a series of “U” bends to allow the water to get stuck in the valley of those areas. Add a petcock or drain at the bottom of each of those and drain them regularly. You’ll see the water gathers there because it is heavier than the air and can’t make it through the maze as easily as the air can.

2. Desiccant Snake- This is one of our favorite tricks to assuring clean air on our paint guns when we want to be 100% sure we get clean air! A desiccant snake is added inline to your air hose and just before the paint gun or air tool. This is a long hose filled with a desiccant filtration system that pulls any moisture or contaminants out of the air before it gets to your air tool or paint gun. These are consumable, but will last for a few jobs if your compressor isn’t putting out an insane amount of moisture.

3. Last Chanced Filter- While these are the most disposable solution on our list, they do have their place and are cheap insurance. These last chance filters go directly on the bottom of your paint gun, air tools, or powder gun to give one last ditch effort to remove water or contaminants. Don’t expect these to work miracles on a worn out old water-pumping compressor, but they can be a nice peace of mind item to keep on the shelf!