installation nightmares

Nightmare of an installation: Part III

Ask and you shall receive…Here is Part III of Nightmare of an Installation…
 
This service call started like any other. Our unsuspecting technician opened the door slowly…
nightmare of a compressor room
Looked to the left and saw it…Oh the horror!
 
Dust was so thick you could have written a ransom note in it with your finger. The poor dryer’s fins looked like they had taken a beating and barely lived to tell the tale.
 
Our technician turned to reach for some rags in his toolbox to begin the task of wiping down the equipment, when lo and behold…In the far, right corner—
compressor in bathroom
I guess you can say this gives a new meaning to the term “multi-purpose room”.

The problem with dented dryer fins

All kidding aside those dented dryer fins are a big problem. Dirt and other contaminates accumulate much more easily in dented fins. Heat exchangers are an essential part of the operation for any air-cooled dryer and when dented, the cooling airflow is restricted, resulting in a poor pressure dew point. The dryer can even overheat if it’s too restricted. A higher pressure dew point can also cause issues in downstream equipment such as filtration and at the point of use.

Repairing dented dryer fins

Repairing dented dryer fins is tedious. If slightly dented, you can use a fin comb to straighten them out. If they are too dented for the comb, you can trying using a small screwdriver to carefully work each fin section until it is as straight as possible and then use a fin comb.
 
For this poor dryer shown here, it would take a considerable amount of time and, the fins might be so damaged that they would begin to tear loose from the condenser tubes. It may be time to simply replace the condenser.

Additional resources:

Print page