sandblast - moisture

I can blast for about 1-2 minutes, and its clogged and not working. I am using fine grit and medium grit glass silica and a smaller nozel that is rated to fit the can. I have to shake the can like crazy to free it up at all and it blows out what appears to be moist sand in little clumps... and then its screwed again.

It is so frustrating, can anyone help me.

I have seen some of their dryers, which is a length of pipe with some fittings attached. If it is silica gel desiccant, it might be saturated, in which case, dumping it out and putting it in the over for a few hours can "re-activate" it. I am not sure at what tempurature, or for how long, but I do know you can burn it up at too high a temp. If the desiccant is of a deliquescent type, it absorbs water and then degrades into a salty solution. In this case, you must add fresh pellets. There is also the question of whether it is sized properly for the amount of air that you are using. Also, is the moisture draining while you are blasting? Dryers have to get rid of the water they are separating out as well (except silica gel, which holds the moisture until it saturates). The air going into the dryer must also not be too hot. An aftercooler does a very good job of bringing down the temperature of the air before it hits the dryer, and also provides good initial water removal.

I am not assuming that you are ignorant or anything, but I know a lot of times the people selling you stuff don't really know the specs.

I love going to Princess Auto, you never know what kind of weird surplus stuff they have on the shelves there.

I know it's nigh on impossible (especially here in Central OH), but it helps to be selective by blasting on lower humidity days. I once had the best luck when blasting with the temperature at 10 deg F.

I am a bit surprised your air dryer is seemingly not helping you out. My brother has an air dryer (refrigerant type) in his system, and it seems to do a good job. Silly question: is the dryer working?