What did I get here and what can I do with it

[1930]

It has a tag that says
Puregas Heatless dryer
Model HF 200-106-117
Serial No BC 33437
General cable Corp Apparatus Div. Westminster Co
I did plug it in and it runs quietly. I have not removed it from the wooden box it is in yet cause it is bolted down thru the wood.



More than likely it is useless to me as is, I bought it thinking of the possibility of running compressed air thru it and getting the moisture removed. That was just a guess based on the name.

Chances are this would not be my best most economical way of removing water from the air lines so any other suggestions on what I might do with this thing would be appreciated.

Maybe it would help if I knew how the thing worked?

[rusty]

Given who made it, I would guess it is for drying telephone trunk cables out. In which case it either slowly pumps in nitrogen or air from a dessicant pack, or sucks air out with a little vacuum pump....

[wvtools]

It looks like a vacuum pump with a bunch of attachments.

[bleonard]

I say Vacuum Pump I use them all the time
Bob

[oldgoaly]

if it's for a cable it is most like a compressor with a "heatless" dryer in line. Which probably a desicant of some sort, what I have seen them on is commercial radio station heliax cables from the transmitter to the tower.

[1930]

Definitely blows air out the missing fitting on the bottom of the tank,  some other added stuff and it builds pressure very quickly but now the question still remains what can someone do with it.

I was hoping that I could buy/sell it and make a few bucks but at this point Im thinking there isnt going to be a huge market for drying out cables so any suggestions how it could be re-purposed?

[Charles Garrett]

Sadly I tend to buy retail and sell wholesale and believe me I don't make it up with volume.   Chuck

[oldgoaly]

What range of pressure does it operate at?
my thought was an air brush?

[1930]

What range of pressure does it operate at?
my thought was an air brush?

Thats what I thought as well, not sure of the pressure it will generate, not even sure if there is any sort of shutoff switch that will automatically kick it on and off. It would be nice if there was one.

[1930]

Sadly I tend to buy retail and sell wholesale and believe me I don't make it up with volume.   Chuck

Story of my life, I dont typically buy to sell and when I do it comes back to bite me. It could have been worse, its not like I sold the farm but yes it was enough to sting.

Sometimes I just set things like this out by the curb so they go away, no point in the constant reminder of my bad decision.

[bleonard]

The plastic box on it is a shutoff switch
Bob

[oldgoaly]

here is a pic of mine, it probably a replacement pump, the cabinet it fit into is more 1950's. the stuff on the floor is from a linseed or turpentine can that rusted and leaked. 

[rusty]

Yes, like bob says, the plastic boc on the vertical pipe is the pressure switch. Also, the tube from the compressor to the dryer has cooling fins, so this thing makes at least somewhat decent pressure, else there would be no need to cool anything. The tank seems reasonly beefy also, it's not a #6 soup can. Betya it will make enough pressure to fill a tire, and from the head size, faster than those little cheesy Bennys special tire fillers. Not gonna run a paint gun or an impact wrench tho.

I would ebay it for $150 and see what happens tho ;P
There may just be some radio fellow looking for one....

[Aunt Phil]

Designed to sit in a telephone switching office and provide low pressure air to cable leaving the building.  The compressor you have is part of the system.  Between the compressor and cable was a pannel full of flowmeters to adjust flow to each cable.  There was also an alarm in the cabinet that went off if a cable started dumping too much air so splicers could ride along the cable and find the injury to the jacket.

Pressure in the cable itself would have been 3psi maximum.

[1930]

Designed to sit in a telephone switching office and provide low pressure air to cable leaving the building.  The compressor you have is part of the system.  Between the compressor and cable was a pannel full of flowmeters to adjust flow to each cable.  There was also an alarm in the cabinet that went off if a cable started dumping too much air so splicers could ride along the cable and find the injury to the jacket.

Pressure in the cable itself would have been 3psi maximum.

This was also in the packing crate