Low Cost Compressed Air Dryer – the Moisture Boss, up to 35 CFM at 100 psig.

Van Air Systems is launching a new compressed air dryer, specially designed for the under 10 horsepower market.  We’re calling it the Moisture Boss!  It’s rated for up to 35 CFM at 100 PSIG and is the most economical air dryer available anywhere for the light industrial and the DIY markets.

Large industrial compressed air systems usually have filtration and air drying equipment to remove contaminants.  But many small shops and hobbyist systems with air compressors less than 10 horsepower do not install air treatment.  Purchasing, operating, and maintaining an air dryer and filters can be expensive.  Even low initial price, desiccant-based dryers are expensive due to high media replacement costs.  The CT-30 from DeVilbiss and the ATD Tools 7763 are examples of the “razor and razor blade” low initial cost / high media replacement cost model.

We’ve run tests and concluded that the Moisture Boss is up to 90% less expensive to operate than these dryers.  And with an MSRP of $500 the Moisture Boss has a competitive initial price too!

Let’s talk a bit about why and where the Moisture Boss should be used.

Small compressors under 10 HP are usually mounted on a wet receiver tank. There’s usually not much cooling between the compressor pump and the tank.  Hot and saturated air cools in the tank causing water to condense which can then be drained from the bottom of the tank.

If the compressed air is used intermittently (e.g. in short bursts throughout the day), the compressed air has time to cool within the tank, and most of the water will condense there to be drained away. This works to keep most liquid water out of the compressed air lines.  But even well cooled air can lose some additional heat in the air piping, regulator, tools, and paint equipment.  This heat loss causes additional condensation.  Water is especially problematic and costly for painters and media blasters.

Water problems are greatest in warm and humid months.  This is because water content in the atmospheric air is higher in warm, high humidity months.

Also, if you run the compressor hard, not much cooling occurs in the tank.  As the hot, wet air travels through the air lines it can continue to cool, condensing copious amounts of moisture in the line.  Your tools, abrasive blasting cabinet, and spray paint gun turn into water hoses.

These problems are easily managed with the Moisture Boss dryer when installed as recommended.  The Moisture Boss is designed to dry up to 35 CFM of compressed air by absorbing moisture which collects at the bottom and is easily drained away.  For the engineers out there, the Moisture Boss reduces the water content in your air line from 100% relative humidity to as low as 55% relative humidity.  That’s a dew point suppression of about 20⁰F.

Install the Moisture Boss in your shop air system and it will keep liquid water out of your air lines with low cost Dry-O-Lite® moisture absorbing tablets.  Dry-O-Lite® slowly melts as water is absorbed. Simply add to the desiccant bed as needed via the easy to fill quick opening fill closure. The outlet filter is also long lasting and easily replaceable through the fill quick opening closure.

The Moisture Boss doesn’t require electricity, and it doesn’t reduce the dew point to unnecessarily low levels.  (Word to the wise: a dew point that’s ultralow looks good on paper, but it costs a lot of money.)  Most importantly, the Moisture boss has a very low operating cost.  In fact the Moisture Boss can reduce operating costs by nearly 90% when compared to other solutions.  During a recent test, we ran the Moisture Boss for 30 hours at 82°F before needing to add $5 worth of Dry-O-Lite® desiccant.  That’s performance!

The Moisture Boss includes an initial fill of Dry-O-Lite®, integral outlet filter cartridge to remove oil and solid particles, a mounting bracket, and a manual drain valve.

The Moisture Boss is a simple low cost solution to managing your shop air.

We’ll begin selling the Moisture Boss in March 2015.