Help with my Dryers..

[jubalr]

I have 2 bays that use identical dryer setup on the exits. Is there an economical way to make these more efficient? I was hoping there was a way to maybe add on to the side dryers with some sort of either knife edge or trunk attachments to have more effect on the sides. Thanks..

 

[MEP001]

If you can swap the outer blower covers and angle them in toward the car, it'll dry the sides.

 

[soonermajic]

Flip the dryers, so the air travels around & blows from the outside, not inside angle.
If your frame had legs, you could even put it just below the 90° angle, & that REALLY increases the cfm!

 

[Blanco]

You can't just swap the blower housings. Blower impellers are made in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction for air flow. Those look like old premier dryers. If they are, you can buy a new plastic housing from premier that will bolt right on and you can add elephant ears/air knifes if you wish, but you would want to swap the left and right blower so that the air exhaust is on the outside. Keep them In same direction though, blowing water back.

 

[MEP001]

You can't just swap the blower housings. Blower impellers are made in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction for air flow. Those look like old premier dryers. If they are, you can buy a new plastic housing from premier that will bolt right on and you can add elephant ears/air knifes if you wish, but you would want to swap the left and right blower so that the air exhaust is on the outside. Keep them In same direction though, blowing water back.

You're right, I didn't think of that. But he could swap the housings and impellers and reverse the motor direction. It would be a lot less effort than swapping the whole motors and accomplish the same thing.

 

[jubalr]

You can't just swap the blower housings. Blower impellers are made in a clockwise and counter clockwise direction for air flow. Those look like old premier dryers. If they are, you can buy a new plastic housing from premier that will bolt right on and you can add elephant ears/air knifes if you wish, but you would want to swap the left and right blower so that the air exhaust is on the outside. Keep them In same direction though, blowing water back.

I believe you are correct about them being Premier. I never knew what they were but went to their site and it appears that is what they are. I was going to try to swap the covers but what you said about motor direction makes sense. These units are untouched since installed in 2004. Do they usually run this long and have much more life in them?

 

[MEP001]

Do they usually run this long and have much more life in them?

If they aren't making bearing noise yet, they should still have years of life in them.

I used to install both D&S and Belanger equipment, and their dryer setups are almost exactly the same as yours except the outer two are swapped and aiming at the side of the car as I mentioned above. It does a very good job of drying the sides. Swapping the covers and impellers would be fairly easy, and reversing the motors only requires swapping two of the three wires.

 

[Blanco]

I believe you are correct about them being Premier. I never knew what they were but went to their site and it appears that is what they are. I was going to try to swap the covers but what you said about motor direction makes sense. These units are untouched since installed in 2004. Do they usually run this long and have much more life in them?

MEP is correct. If you do not hear any bearing noise then chances are you still have lots of life left in them. However I disagree with him about swapping the impellers and covers. If you are going to swap the left and right blower, I would do a complete swap. Would only take about 2-3 hours max to drop and swap two blowers. The reason I don't like just swapping impellers and housings is because now you have to completely disassemble each blower (fan cover, housing, taper lock, impellers) versus just renting a hand crank genie lift and unbolting 4 bolts + electrical. Since they are 18 years old the taper lock that secures the impeller to the motor shaft looks heavily rusted in the pictures and is most likely seized. Those can be a pain in the a$$ on older units and you run the risk of snapping bolts and spending hours trying to separate the taper lock from the impeller on just one unit let alone two. Some separate easy but most don't when they are that old. Lastly is SAFETY. If that impeller and taper lock is not put back on the motor shaft correctly (too far in or too far out), it could cause the impeller to make contact with the housing and explode, resulting in you having to purchase new blowers or even worse hurting someone. Just my opinion. I had old premiers with a set up just like those. I swapped the metal housing to the newer plastic housings and added side dryers. Ill attach pics.

 

[MEP001]

I'd probably take the covers and impellers off anyway if I were to swap the whole units. Figured that would just be less work to swap them and reverse the motors.

 

[jubalr]

MEP is correct. If you do not hear any bearing noise then chances are you still have lots of life left in them. However I disagree with him about swapping the impellers and covers. If you are going to swap the left and right blower, I would do a complete swap. Would only take about 2-3 hours max to drop and swap two blowers. The reason I don't like just swapping impellers and housings is because now you have to completely disassemble each blower (fan cover, housing, taper lock, impellers) versus just renting a hand crank genie lift and unbolting 4 bolts + electrical. Since they are 18 years old the taper lock that secures the impeller to the motor shaft looks heavily rusted in the pictures and is most likely seized. Those can be a pain in the a$$ on older units and you run the risk of snapping bolts and spending hours trying to separate the taper lock from the impeller on just one unit let alone two. Some separate easy but most don't when they are that old. Lastly is SAFETY. If that impeller and taper lock is not put back on the motor shaft correctly (too far in or too far out), it could cause the impeller to make contact with the housing and explode, resulting in you having to purchase new blowers or even worse hurting someone. Just my opinion. I had old premiers with a set up just like those. I swapped the metal housing to the newer plastic housings and added side dryers. Ill attach pics.

INteresting. Yes, those look like the same dryers I have. So, you added the plastic covers and kept the orientation, but added side dryers. Why the plastic covers then? Did you gain airflow with the plastic covers?

 

[Blanco]

I dont believe the housings themselves made any difference with airflow. I changed them because the frame was too tall and I needed to lower the exhaust of the top dryers. With the plastic housing It gave me different options for nozzles and nozzle extensions. Plus I was putting in a new automatic so it gave the appearance all the dryers were new and not just the side ones I added. If you look at the pictures again you'll see the nozzle extensions on the plastic ones. Brought them down about 10 inches.

 

[thecasino5]

MEP is correct. If you do not hear any bearing noise then chances are you still have lots of life left in them. However I disagree with him about swapping the impellers and covers. If you are going to swap the left and right blower, I would do a complete swap. Would only take about 2-3 hours max to drop and swap two blowers. The reason I don't like just swapping impellers and housings is because now you have to completely disassemble each blower (fan cover, housing, taper lock, impellers) versus just renting a hand crank genie lift and unbolting 4 bolts + electrical. Since they are 18 years old the taper lock that secures the impeller to the motor shaft looks heavily rusted in the pictures and is most likely seized. Those can be a pain in the a$$ on older units and you run the risk of snapping bolts and spending hours trying to separate the taper lock from the impeller on just one unit let alone two. Some separate easy but most don't when they are that old. Lastly is SAFETY. If that impeller and taper lock is not put back on the motor shaft correctly (too far in or too far out), it could cause the impeller to make contact with the housing and explode, resulting in you having to purchase new blowers or even worse hurting someone. Just my opinion. I had old premiers with a set up just like those. I swapped the metal housing to the newer plastic housings and added side dryers. Ill attach pics.

may I ask what the length of your bay is? my future bay is only 34 feet in length and I may have to opt to putting the dryer outside as well but was thinking of mounting it on the exterior wall of the bay.

 

[Blanco]

may I ask what the length of your bay is? my future bay is only 34 feet in length and I may have to opt to putting the dryer outside as well but was thinking of mounting it on the exterior wall of the bay.

My bay length is 30ft. If you have the room I would do a stand alone dryer arch and not a wall mount. Put it out as far as you can because you can process more cars that way. Once a wash cycle ends that vehicle can pull through the dryer arch while the next vehicle pulls into the bay. If you do a wall mount then the drying cycle will have to completely finish before the next vehicle can pull into the bay.