Compressed Air Dryer for Auto Body Painting

I have a friend who restores classic cars.  He told me he was having issues with water in his paint, constantly needing to re-work the base coats and finish coats on cars he was restoring. The problems became more noticeable after he moved to low VOC paint.  Water borne (acrylic latex) paints are not as forgiving as solvent based paints, when it comes to wet compressed air.  I surveyed my friend’s compressed air system.  Water poured out from a drip leg near his paint booth.  Clearly he was pushing a lot of liquid into his painting equipment.

Ultimately it does not matter if a solvent based paint or an acrylic latex paint is used.  Wet and dirty compressed air has a negative impact on the surface finish.  You will see fish eyes and drips in the paint finish if the compressed air is not clean and dry.

I sold my friend a coalescing filter to remove the compressor oil and single tower deliquescent dryer to remove the water vapor.  He reports great results.  No more costly re-work on paint finishes.