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Desiccant dryer for Lycoming

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Kelvin Rempel

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After reading several posts on Vans Airforce regarding desiccant dryers I finally made my own this summer. Very simple to do, took about 15 minutes to make.

Costs about $50. Uses an aquarium pump to pump the dry air through the case, a small fuel filter for a lawn mower, dollar store sealed container to hold the desiccant beads and a few feet of aquarium hose. I had my son 3D print a cap for my oil dipstick that has a hole in the center that fits the aquarium hose. The aquarium pump output end goes into the container of desiccant, then through a second tube in the top of the container, through the fuel filter, into the dipstick then another fitting attaches to the breather port and gets sucked back into the aquarium pump. It's a closed loop system. The aquarium air intake on the bottom of the unit has been sealed off with silicone so it's not sucking fresh air from the hanger.
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The desiccant lasts for about 3-4 weeks in my case before needing to be dried out. I used the Orange beads vs the Blue ones. Apparently the blue beads are toxic. I have the desiccant spark plugs in as well to keep the cylinders dry. I'm hoping this will keep any moisture out of the case and have a nice clean cam for years to come.

ACS sells a desiccant dryer for about $300 USD, this was a much cheaper option and does the same job.
 

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