Sooz is refurbing the nearly new compressor from her car and found telltale white powder from failed air dryer desiccant. That explains the premature failure.

She's 75% through rebuilding a different valve block soon that's sorted.

We have air dryer refurb kits including foil packed desiccant.

Two questions:

1 Where else can we clean up residue while we're changing all the major elements? I'm hoping most has been blown through into the air springs.

2 Is the block currently on the car buggered or can it be cleaned and refurbished?

The main place, other than inside the valve block of course, where the dust will end up is in the two 8mm pipes to and from the dryer. Blow them both through to shift it. Block won't be buggered but will need a decent clean and refurb at some point. The presence of the dust will make it start to leak sooner than it would do ordinarily.

Spot on as usual GD. This is a parallel thread to my other post where we pulled fuse 29 and one corner sagged. I thought it would be easier to find with a dedicated title. Cheers for the guidance. I'll buy some aerosol air dusters as we don't have access to a compressor with a tank... Unless I fit a T-piece to my car!

I've got a spare compressor with a length of 6mm pipe on it that I use for blowing everything though so no real need for an additional compressor.

The desiccant is silica gel. Go online and search for it. It is cheap and easy to find, you buy it “by the pound” for a few dollars. However, get the stuff that is in little spheres, it maintains its integrity a lot better. Also if you get the orange stuff, it changes colour to green when it is “moist”. If you find it has changed colour, take it out, spread it out on an oven tray and put it in the oven at 100 degrees for an hour or so and then reuse. Given it is so cheap though, you could change it in your dryer every 3 months for a few shecklels and never have the dust ingress issue. Of course I’m assuming you have bought a few hundred grams or a kilo on line somewhere.

I dive a rebreather and the CO2 sensor is moisture critical, so any moisture from your breath plays with it, so you use a silica gel filter in front of the sensor to ensure the air passing over the sensor is at 0% moisture.

Something like this?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SILICA-GEL-ORANGE-SELF-INDICATING-GRAM/dp/B00A4CLZXA

That is exactly what I use in my rebreather. It will change colour to a blue green when it is no longer active. At that time, change it, take the old material, spread it on an oven tray and put it in a normal oven for about an hour on 100C. It will come out orange and ready to go again. Short of damage to the spheres of silica gel, you can recycle it forever.

NOTE - DO NOT try to short cut the regen process by using a microwave, as the stuff will explode. The water vaporises very quickly and the spheres will explode from internal pressure.

Marshall8hp wrote:

the orange stuff, it changes colour to green when it is “moist”. If you find it has changed colour, take it out, spread it out on an oven tray and put it in the oven at 100 degrees for an hour or so and then reuse.

Superb advice. I'll get that colour changing stuff, for sure. Thank you!