What Dryer Is Right For Your Paint Booth?

As a body shop owner, you know how important the paint booth bake cycle is. In fact, your drying process is a pivotal part of operations. The right kind of dryer can easily reduce your cycle time and increase your overall throughput. However, the wrong dryer can also result in an unnecessary constraint on your operations.

While the type of dryer can drastically increase efficiency, it can also impact the overall quality of the finish.

Three Types Of Paint Booth Dryers

• Gas Catalytic Dryers: Gas catalytic dryers use methane, propane, or a propane / butane mix to heat and cure paint. The natural gas creates a reaction by interacting with a catalyst and ultimately producing a flame-less heat. The heat comes out in the form of a medium wavelength that allows for the paint to dry evenly throughout in just 16 – 30 minutes.
• Electric Infrared Dryers: Electric infrared dryers use tungsten bulbs to produce heat at a short wavelength. The heat from the bulbs passes through the entire vehicle– ultimately baking both the metal and exterior paint. The entire process typically takes between 65 – 90 minutes.
• Convection Dryers: When it comes to convection dryers, they operate in one of two ways: either through air transporting heat, or liquid transporting heat. Convection dryers rely on a furnace to heat up the liquid or air, and once heated up, it is transferred through an exhaust system and is blown out via a fan onto the vehicle. The process can take anywhere between 70 – 100 minutes.

Three Dryer Configurations

• Full-Arch Dryer: It is essentially shaped like an archway or gate where the vehicle receives full coverage of heat at all angles.
• Half-Arch Dryer: Can dry one side of the vehicle and can typically be moved around to target specific areas.
• Handheld Dryer: Typically used for precision drying of hyper-specific areas.

What Dryer Is Right For Your Paint Booth?

While all three of the dryers have their own merits, it ultimately comes down to gas catalytic drying. Gas catalytic drying can produce finer finishes, fewer flaws, in a fraction of the time of the other two options. Beyond that, there have even been reports of body shops saving upwards of $1,500 a month on natural gas consumption by switching to gas catalytic drying.

Gascat Can Help!

Gascat Dryers provides you the best, fastest, and most efficient drying solution out on the market.

We believe that time is money. With this advanced drying system, your body shop can reliably process more vehicles each and every day.

Let us help you save time and streamline your paint booth drying processes. Contact Us, Today!