What is the best way to run air compressor lines

[Reebz]

The Tee's are for outlets
Slop the pipe and put a value at the end (lowest point) for drainage

Dave

There are two drain valves. 1. Near the shop hand brush, lowest point 2. Look at the second picture right before the separator.

[tweake]

The copper coil in a garbage can is a good method for cooling also. WW member CEP has exactly that and has said he never even needs to fill the tub with water as the coil itself is enough in air.

keep in mind that the coil is way to long. waste a fair bit of air when compressor turns off (coil between compressor and tank)
better to keep it a lot smaller and use a fan to cool the pipe.
even my cooler, which is well over sized, gets heat soaked if there is no fan.

[scsmith42]

My own experience with the pipe coolers after the compressor is that they don't work very well if you are running your air almost continuously. I built one years ago that was very similar to the photo in this thread and ended up taking it out because it was not effective.

As far as the rest of the system, if you slope the main lines and use T fittings pointed up from the main line and then piped into a 180 degree down for all of your drops, you will eliminate a lot of the water at your tools.

[tweake]

My own experience with the pipe coolers after the compressor is that they don't work very well if you are running your air almost continuously. I built one years ago that was very similar to the photo in this thread and ended up taking it out because it was not effective.

As far as the rest of the system, if you slope the main lines and use T fittings pointed up from the main line and then piped into a 180 degree down for all of your drops, you will eliminate a lot of the water at your tools.

do you mean after the whole compressor ie tank or after compressor but before tank?

i can easily see that using a cooler after the tank will certainly cause that effect. thats because the cooler is poor and its relying on the tank to do some of the cooling. but when your running the air constantly the tank does no cooling.
a big reason for poor cooling performance is not enough surface area and air flow over it.
if you look at commercial after-coolers they are big and have electric fans.

[Reebz]

So the 10' Of 1" black or copper pipe seems like the idea?

[tweake]

So the 10' Of 1" black or copper pipe seems like the idea?

can you get smaller dia pipe?
better off to run smaller pipe in parallel. the more surface area (for the volume) you can create, especially if space is limited, the better.
copper is far better.

[Reebz]

Thanks man

[duramax-rob]

i painted for many years and the best way ever used was the filter that splits in half and uses a filter in the shape of a roll of toilet paper. that would filter oil and water and dirt. our one compressor put out so much water, we had to change filter 3 times in one day if everyone was painting or using high volume tool at all the same time. could almost wring them out. just remember they were made by moto guard. have one at home for my little painting and plasma cutter.

[tweake]

i painted for many years and the best way ever used was the filter that splits in half and uses a filter in the shape of a roll of toilet paper. that would filter oil and water and dirt. our one compressor put out so much water, we had to change filter 3 times in one day if everyone was painting or using high volume tool at all the same time. could almost wring them out. just remember they were made by moto guard. have one at home for my little painting and plasma cutter.

they are good but really they need to be well after a cooler. they are really for just getting that last little bit, not for bulk collection and they are not actually meant for water. they are really there for dirt and oil.
the last thing you want to be doing is loosing flow because a filter is clogged with water. i've had that problem with machines that won't run right because all the water collecting in the filter is reducing air flow, even with just a standard 40mic filter/regulator.

[LtBadd]

can you get smaller dia pipe?
better off to run smaller pipe in parallel. the more surface area (for the volume) you can create, especially if space is limited, the better.
copper is far better.

I don't get it, if more surface area is better then why recommend smaller dia. pipe?

[ronsii]

I don't get it, if more surface area is better then why recommend smaller dia. pipe?

You want more surface area ['of the air/water' per cubic foot ratio]

[jeffrey.penfield]

How did this become so complex? Is anyone gonna show a weld of some sort?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Meltedmetal]

I don't get it, if more surface area is better then why recommend smaller dia. pipe?

Enough small diameter pipes run in parallel to carry the same volume of air as a single larger diameter pipe will have a larger surface area.

[tweake]

How did this become so complex?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

nah its not complex. this is just basic stuff that people ignore because they would rather have cheap crap then bitch and moan about all the problems.
cooling the air is just the first step, its cheap and easy to do. but very few factory air compressors come with coolers, because people don't want to pay the price, hence having to make it ourselves.

[scsmith42]

do you mean after the whole compressor ie tank or after compressor but before tank?

i can easily see that using a cooler after the tank will certainly cause that effect. thats because the cooler is poor and its relying on the tank to do some of the cooling. but when your running the air constantly the tank does no cooling.
a big reason for poor cooling performance is not enough surface area and air flow over it.
if you look at commercial after-coolers they are big and have electric fans.

The one that I built (that was ineffective) was installed after the tank in the main line. Running the bead blaster the air passed through it too quickly for the moisture to condense.

[davec]

keep in mind that the coil is way to long. waste a fair bit of air when compressor turns off (coil between compressor and tank)
better to keep it a lot smaller and use a fan to cool the pipe.
even my cooler, which is well over sized, gets heat soaked if there is no fan.

I turn my compressor off but leave it under pressure at all times (unless I need to bleed it down for some reason or do something stupid and forget what I am doing). So i don't have to recharge any volume to speak of. But it doesn't hurt anything to have the extra tubing unless you are trying to feed miles of pipe with a tiny roofing nailer compressor. It just adds tank volume which helps capacity. No real way to lose unless your compressor is undersized.

But yes, I agree your best cooling point would be after the compressor and before the tank as that is when the air is hottest.

[tweake]

I turn my compressor off but leave it under pressure at all times (unless I need to bleed it down for some reason or do something stupid and forget what I am doing). So i don't have to recharge any volume to speak of. But it doesn't hurt anything to have the extra tubing unless you are trying to feed miles of pipe with a tiny roofing nailer compressor. It just adds tank volume which helps capacity. No real way to lose unless your compressor is undersized.

But yes, I agree your best cooling point would be after the compressor and before the tank as that is when the air is hottest.

if the coil is between compressor and tank, every time the compressor stops the unloader valves empties that line. the more volume in that line the more wasted air.

[ronsii]

Unless you put a secondary check valve on the input to that line... probably a good idea anyways if you're trying to save as much air as possible as the factory check balls don't last as long these days

[tweake]

you could put a cooler after the unloader valve. tho my understanding is that the heat reduces the life of the valve.
however if the cooler is efficient enough then it doesn't add a whole lot of volume to it. the problem is only with the inefficient setups.

[John T]

i painted for many years and the best way ever used was the filter that splits in half and uses a filter in the shape of a roll of toilet paper. that would filter oil and water and dirt. our one compressor put out so much water, we had to change filter 3 times in one day if everyone was painting or using high volume tool at all the same time. could almost wring them out. just remember they were made by moto guard. have one at home for my little painting and plasma cutter.

Yep.
Motorgards are great.
I use the M-60 model.

Along with the other stuff...

.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[soutthpaw]

Put anti seize paste on all the contact surfaces on the motorgard filter including the insides of the plastic tube and the shaft of the tightening bolt. You will thank me later.

[LtBadd]

Enough small diameter pipes run in parallel to carry the same volume of air as a single larger diameter pipe will have a larger surface area.

Thanks

[jeffrey.penfield]

Enough small diameter pipes run in parallel to carry the same volume of air as a single larger diameter pipe will have a larger surface area.

You described a radiator.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Country Metals]

Find a plumbing place where you can rent the propress setup and run copper.

I run a lot of air lines for companies and just got done a 2" copper line. They are the simplest and overall cheapest since they dont flake or rust or cause long term problems.

Now if you dont care what it looks like, just run rubber air lines and splice them anywhere you want. By far the cheapest and easiest to modify forever.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[duramax-rob]

problem with rubber air lines is you loose pressure with them. i think its like 5lbs per 10ft of hose. please correct me if im wrong.