Argon Dryer

[cbmkr]

Thought i would try and rig up an argon dryer will waiting on the new machine to arrive, had several different options, Some clear water filter housing's that would hold about 3/4 of a litre of desiccant thought that might a little to much. I found a milton air filter that i have had for a while and i think it will hold enough desiccant to do the job. It had an automatic drain valve in the bottom and already had a sintered bronze filter. I removed the drain and installed a shorty schrader valve in the bottom of the valve. I do not see any reason why it would not work it will hold about 6.61 cu inches of desiccant which is a little less than 1/2 a cup.

[Odyknuck]

The larger the canister is the longer time between refills or service on the desiccant.

[cbmkr]

Thats what i was thinking , I will see how long this one goes on a fill up and try to find a larger canister. Might be a suprise on how long it goes on a 122 cu ft bottle.

[ShaneJackson]

I was thinking of adding one to my tank as well. I ordered color change desiccant from McMaster. It was granular instead of beads.... but should work fine. I think a filter like yours will work better than just suing a large tube like Jody did....

[sportbike]

Are you guys really having issues with moisture in argon? compressed air I can see, but argon is typically very dry as compared to compressed air. We sometimes need to test teh dewpoints of gasses in order to use them for spec welds. The argon we get is typically in the -60to -70F dewpoint range. This is about as "dry" as it gets.
I'm not sure that typical desiccant will gain much with decent bottled shielding gasses. If you are buying from some guy in a back alley that opens up his trench-coat and says, "wanna buy some argon", I guess there could be issues.

[cbmkr]

This is a comment i left in another thread about what i found out yesterday.

I am building a new Argon dryer as when i was at Praxair this morning the employee there that i have known for 35 years confirmed my thoughts on moisture in bottles, I commented that this last bottle came from the local farm supply and was in outside storage in the sun, He stated if they get hot and cold they can condensate and cause moisture problems. They should be stored in the shade.

[sportbike]

There is no way for moisture to get into the bottle just from having it sit out in the sun / cold. While it is true that it could condense in the cold, the bottle woudl have to be below the dewpoint for it to do so. If you are getting argon that has a dewpoint at normal ambient temperatures, you really need to find another supplier as you likely have nothing but issues when trying to weld with it.

[ShaneJackson]

I think the problem comes from customers running out of gas and leaving the valve open. I seriously doubt most gas companies pulls a vacuum on the bottles prior to filling....

[cbmkr]

That is straight from Praxair, he said he has seen it happen before, The only thing i know is the one i just turned in had moisture in it they confirmed that and wanted to know where i picked it up as it was one of there bottles. From what i gathered this bottle had been there in storage cage for approx 12-14 months he stated it was an old fill maybe over a year.