New gas dryer time...

[KevinO]

I am not entirely versed on the inner-workings, but from my understanding it would be due to the intake/burner. The Roqtunnel max BTU is 250,000 where as the Airjet is 500,000. Once it is up it insulates the heat inside the chamber very well though, there isn't as much heat pouring out as with the Airjet. Also the actual height of the chamber is much shorter so you have less space to fill with heat. If we would have went with the dual burner since there is 20' heat and 71"W than I am sure we would be closer to the Airjet, but with the deal we got it was already built with a single burner.

[numbercruncher]

is a lower height in the chamber a big plus?, especially with water - based, have often heard that air circulation and internal air replacement- will remove moisture quicker/cure more apparel

[ZooCity]

I'm intrigued buy the roq dryers but can't wrap my head around how they can match capacity at half the btu consumption. I agree that I would want to see some real numbers on this.  As far as water based ink curing these units were made for the euro market so I imagine they have the air exchange needed but again, would need to know the air exchange rate, etc. to really compare. 

We're happy with our sprint HO at 400k btu.  It could be much more efficient with some basic design improvements yes but I like the firepower regarding heat and air exchange for the amount of DC ink we run.  I wonder if some of the design components haven't been resolved on the sprint 3000, which is probably the dryer I would look at along with the roq one if we were replacing with new.

For used I think it's awfully hard to beat a later model sprint 2000.   I hear the AirJets are good too, a little less so with the MD-8.

[ryanmoor]

There are two trains of thought, how long the dryer takes to heat up, and how efficiently it operates. The 20' tunnel
 is Incredibly efficient at only 120k btu with one burner.  The dryer comes with an optional second burner for another 120 k btus.  That option is $5k more for second burner.  With two burners the dryer will get to temp in about 15 mins.  Same as the 10' and 15' tunnels which get up to temp fast.  The 20' tunnels are designed to maximum efficiency and for factories running 24 hours a day or very long two shifts.  So in getting a 20' tunnel you would want to decide if first do they need 20' of heat and if the do is getting to temp fast more important than efficiency.     

[244]

I'm intrigued buy the roq dryers but can't wrap my head around how they can match capacity at half the btu consumption. I agree that I would want to see some real numbers on this.  As far as water based ink curing these units were made for the euro market so I imagine they have the air exchange needed but again, would need to know the air exchange rate, etc. to really compare. 

We're happy with our sprint HO at 400k btu.  It could be much more efficient with some basic design improvements yes but I like the firepower regarding heat and air exchange for the amount of DC ink we run.  I wonder if some of the design components haven't been resolved on the sprint 3000, which is probably the dryer I would look at along with the roq one if we were replacing with new.

For used I think it's awfully hard to beat a later model sprint 2000.   I hear the AirJets are good too, a little less so with the MD-8.

The sprint 3000 uses a 340,000 but burner but we only use 160,000 btu in usage. 20' of heat is at temp in 15 minutes with one burner. Roughly 320.00 per month operating cost. Just a FYI.

[BRGtshirts]

We've had an Interchange MD-8 with 12' of heat and a split belt for four years now and have been overall very happy. Went with the split belt so we can run WB on one side of the room at the same time as plastisol on the other.. (we came from an infrared dryer with elements, so we thought longer time in the chamber would definitely scorch the shirts, but never had a problem with that after switching over to gas. )

The split belt works well and the dryer gets up to temp in no time. Only real issue has been a cylinder going bad on the belt tracking (we have two belt tracking systems because of the split belt). Replaced the cylinder and that solved the problem. At one time we had issues with flame rod going out (thus automatically turning off the gas) but once we came up with a sound maintenance schedule we've been good.  (you've got to clean out your filters and blower regularly). 

I've been super happy with their team and tech support, and would get another one (but maybe not with a split belt now that we see how much latitude you have with gas and how long shirts can be inside without issue).

[DannyGruninger]

We've had older sprints and the newer roqs so it's hard to compare those two. I know our sprints ran like champs with an occasional flame rod clean up and bearing overhaul so no complaints and always thought it was a solid unit. Since switching to the roq dryer I've noticed a couple things I really liked. The exhaust system seems to be top notch as we can be crushing discharge on four autos and nobody in the building would know. The exhaust also has a catch tray system that collects the tar like residue that can build up all over the inside of the tunnel as well as the entry/exit exhaust hoods. I've had problems in the past with that residue dripping on the garment when exiting the tunnel. With our roqs we have not had any issues as the catch tray has collected a fair amount of this gunk. I'm attaching a picture of the air knife tray which slides out for easy cleaning which has been a great feature. Within just a few minutes I can have the shell of the dryer off to service, clean, etc which along with the sliding tray makes all that super simple. I've got 15 ft tunnels 72" wide belts so they only take around 15-20 min to fully heat up. I know roq offers some options for added and upgraded burners/exchangers for the big tunnels to heat up in that same amount of time. It's all a trade off  but if your feeding two autos a single burner 15ft chamber like I have is perfect. Our dryer is never our bottleneck lol but all the major brands build what seems to be a good dryer, so far I'm impressed by our roq dryer as it's meet every expectation I've had for it.

[AnaMikeM85]

Have you considered the ANATOL Vulcan Gas Dryers?

We offer a variety of different sizes, both standard and modular, and can accommodate most printers needs. I've included a link to our website where you can see all of the specs and different options. I'm one of the factory reps here, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. Thanks

Vulcan Link - https://anatol.com/conveyor-dryers

Michael Merritt
Anatol Equipment Mfg.
847-582-1719
michaelm@anatol.com
anatol.com

[jvieira]

Hey guys,
It's been a long time. We're in the process of updating a few machines and we're starting with a GAS ROQTUNNEL. They seem really good and at great value. Was interesting to read it takes them too long to fire up (1 hour is A LONG TIME) but they'll save us almost 50% on our electric bill (which still sounds odd as they told us again and again to expect a 20% save).

Anyone knows how much electricity it still consumes? The usage numbers don't add up and all I can think of is it might still use a lot of electric power to keep it on (even though I can't fully understand why it would).

Thanks in advance.

[Logowear]

We installed our ROQ tunnel March 1st.  35” wide belt with 9.5’ of heat.

1 burner with 175,000 BTU. Takes about 15 mins. to heat up.

Last year May gas bill was $34 without a gas dryer and this year May bill was $71 with the gas dryer running about 20 or so hours a week.
We ran a 1-color water base job today with no issues. The lower height in the chamber is a plus for efficiency,but you better make sure you flatten the hoods on hooded sweatshirt or they will rub.

[Jepaul]

Hey guys,
It's been a long time. We're in the process of updating a few machines and we're starting with a GAS ROQTUNNEL. They seem really good and at great value. Was interesting to read it takes them too long to fire up (1 hour is A LONG TIME) but they'll save us almost 50% on our electric bill (which still sounds odd as they told us again and again to expect a 20% save).

Anyone knows how much electricity it still consumes? The usage numbers don't add up and all I can think of is it might still use a lot of electric power to keep it on (even though I can't fully understand why it would).

Thanks in advance.

Depends on the size of the dryer.   3018’s and up can take quite some time as all dryers use the same 150k burner.  So as you can imagine the bigger it is the longer it takes.  My suggestion would be when you get up to 6018’s and bigger just automatically get the dual burner option.   All of them come with a program that will have the dryer automatically start up at a predetermined time for each day of the week.     It’s a good dryer, I’d say the 3000 has some bells on it I like better and is a little better insulated.  But you can’t go terribly wrong with either.