ATJ
Contributor
I was chatting to the owner of the company that services my gear, hydros my tanks and sold me my compressor about when it is ok to fill tanks. He said I should not fill my tanks if the relative humidity is greater than 75%.
When I first thought about it, it made sense. The less water there is in the air, the less the molecular sieve has to extract and the drier the air in the tanks.
I thought about it some more and wondered what happens in tropical locations where the humidity would be high most of the time.
I also wondered whether relative humidity was a good measure as it is dependent on the temperature: 75% @ 10ºC has around the same amount of moisture in the air as 40% @ 20ºC. But, is it harder for the molecular sieve to pull out moisture at 10ºC versus 20ºC? The filter stack heats up anyway during the filling process.
Do others worry about humidity when filling their tanks?
When I first thought about it, it made sense. The less water there is in the air, the less the molecular sieve has to extract and the drier the air in the tanks.
I thought about it some more and wondered what happens in tropical locations where the humidity would be high most of the time.
I also wondered whether relative humidity was a good measure as it is dependent on the temperature: 75% @ 10ºC has around the same amount of moisture in the air as 40% @ 20ºC. But, is it harder for the molecular sieve to pull out moisture at 10ºC versus 20ºC? The filter stack heats up anyway during the filling process.
Do others worry about humidity when filling their tanks?