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Air system water drain(s)?

MTVR

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Can someone please bring me up to speed on this?

Looks like we may have to drive it in freezing temperatures on our way to Texas...
 

Mullaney

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Can someone please bring me up to speed on this?

Looks like we may have to drive it in freezing temperatures on our way to Texas...
I took Wes Simpson's advise and installed DV2 heated drains. More info at:
 

Elijah95

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Forgive me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure we have heater purge valves on our driers, go take a look at your drier on the driver side and see if there is a couple wires leading into the bottom near the purge valve. If so, you’re good to go!

These trucks were designed for arctic climate to a certain temp without additional preparation


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Elijah95

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Every time your compressor cycles and builds air, it purges your after cooler and drier to eliminate moisture accumulated during compression


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Mullaney

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So it purges the water itself?
Yes sir and the Dv2 attached to the first air tank in the line is heated for cold weather and automatically drains the air tank it is attached to while you drive along down the highway - just like the air dryer does.

Do you need it? Don't know for sure. Do you regularly drain the air tanks today? Do you ever get water out of the tank drain?

If so, in my humble opinion you need a heated automatic drain. It eliminates you having to remember to drain the tanks and the heater keeps the drain from freezing up.

Just an opinion. Read up on it so you can form your own opinion?

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simp5782

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All wet tanks have moisture in them. Hint the name "wet tank" it catches moisture that the dryer doesn't catch or purge.


Purge valves are always heated and on a thermostat setup.

Air truck up. Let dryer blow off. Open all tank valves. Check for air mist. Repeat until there is no air mist if necessary. Drain wet tank daily.

If the dryer is good enough then don't worry about it. Ive never drained a tank in over a year
 

Mullaney

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@Mullaney

Are you speaking of an M939 or MTVR?


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Hi Elijah,

M939 series for sure needs it and from the books I have paged through - it appears that the MTVR would benefit from the same. I haven't seen a heated drain on the TMs for that truck.

Hate to admit that I don't own a MTVR. Would like to and will when the right one comes along.

Again - just an opinion. Anything with an air system has the potential to freeze in cold weather. I have driven several "civilian" trucks in really cold weather and never had a minutes worth of trouble. I will pull mechanical drains though. Every time I step out of a truck. I have discovered over the years that MOST drivers don't do that...

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Elijah95

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They are fun over complicated trucks! Lol I was just curious, so I stepped out and looked at my MTVR when I got home.

An MTVR does have purge valve heaters on both the aftercooler and drier. As long as both are working, I wouldn’t hesitate to drive mine at 0°F. I just tested mine with an amp clamp by starting my truck and putting my amp clamp on 1 wire going into each heater to verify the resistance elements are heating


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Floridianson

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Even with a new air dryer with heated blow off I still check my tanks to make sure the air dryer is working correct. We are also checking the air for oil to see if the coalescing filter is doing it's job.
 

fasttruck

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Mesa, AZ
Another accessory that was available for M 800 and 900 series trucks is an alcohol evaporator which is usually found installed on the firewall near the air pump. It has a reservoir for denatured alcohol which is introduced into the brake system downstream of the air pump and the vapor prevents the water that normally accumulates in the brake system from freezing. It does not exclude the water like a dryer does, it makes it incumbent on the operator to keep alcohol in the reservoir in freezing weather. You should still drain the wet tank daily. On a M939, 4ea drain cocks are present and the order to drain them from the top is 3-4-1-2. The 3rd one down is for the wet tank. There was a piece in the PM magazine years ago and it is likely in the latest edition of the operators' manual. When I was driving a M 818 in the winter I used to keep a bottle of rubbing alcohol with me in the winter to thaw out frozen trailers picked up in far away places. Pour a slug of alcohol in the emergency brake hose behind the cab, hook it up to the trailer and open the valve. Let the air blow the alcohol back into the trailer to thaw out frozen relay valves and such.
 
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