Do I need a water seperator?

[Moabdude]

A friend of mine said I do need a water seperator at the tank for my airride system. Water will damage the system right?

I have the shockwaves, a 3 gallon tank and a Viair compressor.

[britt@ridetech.com]

Typically we do not use a filter/dryer/separator on our systems. They are not like your shop air compressor that creates a lot of water that accumulates in the bottom of the tank and flows through the system damaging your air tools.

It is true, when you compress air you create moisture. However, we need to look at how much moisture is created, and what happens to that moisture.


Filling a 3 gallon tank with a Thomas 327 (standard parts list) from the compressor on point of 135psi to the compressor off point of 150psi takes just under 1 minute (on average it's 57 seconds, so we'll us a minute for easy math).
If you drive your air suspended vehicle every day, and you deflate the vehicle when you get out, and inflate the vehicle when you get in you do this 3 times per day (once in the morning, one at noon, and once at night). If you then take the car to a show on the weekend, or just show it off to friends you may perform an inflate/deflate cycle 3 times that, or 9 times per day. So in an average week the compressor had to run 3 times each day for 5 days, and 9 times each day for 2 days, for a total run time of 33 minutes per week. This is not much.

But it still created moisture, so where does this water go? Each time you inflate the car the little moisture present in the tank is pushed into the air springs. When you deflate the system that moisture is forced out of the air springs, through the valves, and out to atmosphere. So if you run that vehicle a year, then take off the tank and drain the moisture, there simply isn't much in there.

Running a dryer/filter/separator is not a bad idea. Using one of these devices correctly adds insurance and state of mind.