In an effort to increase my pH, I started to use a CO2 scrubber to pull air through into my skimmer. Because of where I placed the scrubber, I got much closer to an exterior wall so I decided to save on soda lime by adding a short run of tubing which pulls in air from outside. So now 3 feet of 3/8 tubing runs from outside to the CO2 scrubber and then another 4 feet of tubing runs from the scrubber to the skimmer. The issue I'm having is that the tubing from outside runs right along an A/C vent which is cooling the fresh summer air and causing water to collect in the tubing. At first, it looked really cloudy (literally a cloud) but over a day or two, enough water starts to collect in the hose that it bubbles and has even cut off the air supply to the skimmer. I also think the soda lime may be getting too wet an affecting the efficiency of the soda lime as my pH hardly gets above 7.8. My proposed solution for this is to get another BRS canister and barb fittings like the CO2 scrubber and place this before the CO2 scrubber. I was initially thinking of running it with no media but just having it in front of the A/C vent so the incoming air would be cooled and the water would be collected at the bottom of the canister for regular removal. Thinking about it more, I know this is done for compressed air systems for air tools so I looked into how they do it. One method is the cooling and separation, my original plan, but other methods are by chemical and hygroscopic absorption. Chemical absorption methods would commonly be by running the air past either sodium chloride or sulfuric acid. Neither of these interested me. Another option is the hygroscopic absorption so running the air by a desiccant like silica gel.
My question is: Are there any dangers or concerns about running the air for my skimmer through a canister filled with silica gel beads? Specifically looking at https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Oran...TF8&qid=1529897524&sr=8-6&keywords=silica+gel which can be regenerated quite easily in the oven. The moisture is in the air no matter what so I should be able to dry it as soon as it enters the house before it gets a chance to really cool down, right? Should that eliminate the moisture enough so condensate doesn't collect in the tubing between this silica canister and the CO2 scrubber once it's really cooled down?
I don't have a way to avoid going past the A/C vent between my outside air access and the tank or I would have gone around it to eliminate this issue. The thermostat in the house is set to between 69 and 72 degrees depending on the time of day. An IR thermometer registers 50 degrees on the vent.
My question is: Are there any dangers or concerns about running the air for my skimmer through a canister filled with silica gel beads? Specifically looking at https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Oran...TF8&qid=1529897524&sr=8-6&keywords=silica+gel which can be regenerated quite easily in the oven. The moisture is in the air no matter what so I should be able to dry it as soon as it enters the house before it gets a chance to really cool down, right? Should that eliminate the moisture enough so condensate doesn't collect in the tubing between this silica canister and the CO2 scrubber once it's really cooled down?
I don't have a way to avoid going past the A/C vent between my outside air access and the tank or I would have gone around it to eliminate this issue. The thermostat in the house is set to between 69 and 72 degrees depending on the time of day. An IR thermometer registers 50 degrees on the vent.