From: none@none.com99   
      
   Yesterday I was using an air drill on the work bench on my CNC machine   
   room.  I stage blanks on that bench and do some minor secondary work   
   there.  Mostly de-burring the backside of thru holes.  I keep an air   
   drill with a ball valve for speed control at that bench with a counter   
   sink tool for deburring and adding a slight chamfer to the back side of   
   holes.   
      
   When I picked up the drill it sounded funny and didn't run right.  I   
   turned up the air flow and water came out of the vents.   
      
   OH SHIT!   
      
   I bled the valve on the wall manifold where the drill was connected and   
   water came out.  Not a lot, but not a little.  Then I walked up stream   
   to the next down drop, that feeds a machine, and quite a bit more came   
   out of that one.  The FRL was also bubbling out the top of the oiler.   
   There was also a fair amount of water in the separator.  Fortunately I   
   have not used that machine in over a week (maybe two), so its not likely   
   any water got into the air cylinder on it that activates the tool   
   release.  It was the only on machine separator that had water in it, but   
   almost every air manifold on every down pipe drained water when I opened   
   the ball valve I installed on every one of them.   
      
   I think I was right on the edge of catastrophe.   
      
   When I checked the compressor and dryer there was a bit of water in the   
   air tank.  It might have been more than normal, but not much.  The   
   separator upstream of my air dryer had some water, but again it seemed   
   like a normal amount or only a little more at most.  I drain both of   
   those every day I am in the shop.  Sometimes twice.   
      
   Then I checked the manual drain on the air dryer, and it also seemed   
   about normal or just a little wetter than normal.  Finally I checked the   
   safety check separator.  The one directly down stream of the air dryer.   
   It was WET.  By that point I wasn't surprised, but it confirmed the air   
   dryer either wasn't working or wasn't keeping up.  Usually if I am   
   running every machine, and doing some manual air usage I'll get some   
   water past the air dryer on a humid day, but humidity was only 15%   
   yesterday according to online weather sources.  I wasn't running a lot   
   of machines or using a lot of secondary air.  It felt hot outside at   
   110F, but not that humid sweltering hot when the humidity climbs.   
      
   I'd already shut everything down, and was just testing off tank   
   pressure.  My air dryer is an older style Harbor Freight unit, and its   
   good for maybe 20-25 CFM at 100 PSI.  I've been running it over   
   pressure, and if I use an air blast on one of the machines it will get   
   overwhelmed pretty quickly.  All of my redundant separators and dryers   
   along with a 7 vertical up to feed are usually enough to protect my   
   machines.  Yesterday is the first time I ever had any water in a   
   separator on a machine.  Fortunately just the first one on the line it   
   looks like.   
      
   Of course I drained all the drop tube drains, and disconnected that one   
   machine from the air system.  If I have to use that machine I can use a   
   wrench, but I'd rather not.   
      
   Now I was confident as longs the compressor on the dryer isn't burned   
   out I can repair the dryer.  I might be able to repair it even if it is,   
   although its not as serviceable as something like a split system.  I   
   also have a spare, brand new, still in the box air dryer on the shelf.   
   Never opened.  In fact many years ago when I bought it from a closeout   
   company there was a mix up and they wound up sending my four of them.  I   
   offered to let them pay freight to return, and they offered me a huge   
   discount on the extra units to just keep them.  I sold off two, and kept   
   one as a spare.   
      
   I was steeling myself to swapping them out, but instead I walked in the   
   office, sat down at my desk, found a unit capable of drying 75CFM and   
   handles much higher pressure, and ordered it.   
      
   Not wanting to sit idle for several days I considered my options.  I   
   decided the first thing to do was check out the unit currently   
   installed.  I pulled the covers with it powered up.  I don't recall   
   noticing an error light (dumb idiot light only) on the front, and the   
   rests inside were not tripped.  The fan was running, but the compressor   
   was not, and it was so hot it was painful to touch.  Then I looked at   
   the other side and saw the condensing coil was covered in a layer of   
   lint.  I blew the lint off, hit the fins with some cleaner and   
   compressed air, and turned the unit on again.  The compressor pump   
   started up.  I shut it down and called it a night.   
      
      
   Now I am about to walk back out there and power up the air dryer again.   
   If it works I'll run a light load for the next few days until the newer   
   bigger dryer arrives.  I'm actually ahead of schedule on customer jobs   
   except for one I need to redesign so I might take a few days off rather   
   than swap in the spare if it doesn't work.  I picked up a new Insta360   
   X5 sport/action camera, so I might go out and shoot some fishing video   
   to promote some of my mold designs.   
      
   Oh, yeah.  I also ordered a brand new FRL from McMaster for that one   
   with water in it that was leaking out the top of the oiler.  I could   
   probably fix it, but I probably won't.  It was a cheap FRL anyway.  I'll   
   probably just save the filter regulator, and toss the lubricator.   
      
   Be back in a minute.......   
      
   Okay, all I think I feel putting my hand on the compressor in the dryer   
   is heat building up, and the vibration from the fan.  I seem to recall I   
   could feel the pump a little more aggressively doing its thing than   
   that.  I also didn't feel any temperature differential in the   
   refrigerant lines.  Depending on the refrigerant (modern ones like 410   
   or its replacement) you may not get the super hot  and super cold like   
   you did on the older stuff, but its still easy to tell by feel.   I   
   think I have a compressor burnout.  I learned to service refrigeration   
   when I was just barely a teen, so I am sure I could source a compressor   
   and repair it, but I don't think its worth it.  Probably save the fan   
   motor and cap and take the rest to recycler.  (Legal disposal of   
   refrigerant is a pain).   
      
   I left it running while I came into to type up that last paragraph.  One   
   last check (yes the air compressor is on and the shut off valve is open)   
   now that its been powered up for a few moments to see if its working   
   and...   
      
   Nope!  Still no temperature differential on the refrigerant lines.  Its   
   coming out.  I can't complain.  After the deal I got on the extra units,   
   and being to sell them off at a substantial profit it was almost free,   
   and its outlasted the original air compressor it was connected to and a   
   few years into the second one.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)