I have researched this out and thought I would post up on here my findings. Some of these pictures are stolen off the net and none of these ideas are my own but I am using them with success. I hope you find some of it useful.
With a new compressor on the way I decided to do some searching on the net to find out what the best, and cheapest, install for a compressor is. Outside of refrigerant driers or spending big bucks, this solution appears to be widely accepted.
My biggest source for the info, plasma cutter forums. Those guys need clean dry are to cut down on consumables.
The basis behind this, when you take cool air and compress it, the air heats up. In doing this, the moisture in the air that you also tried to compress, now is at a great enough volume, for the space provided (remember we compressed it) that it comes out of suspension...and into your air lines, tank and eventually into your tools, sand blaster or paint. Not a good thing over the long haul.
To solve this, you need to cool your air, separate the water, store your air and then have it available for use. I have found the following to be the best way to achieve this.
After your pump has compressed the air it becomes hot. Before it enters the storage tank you should try and cool the best you can. To achieve this, people add coils or rads with fans to cool the air. I don't like the rad idea so I am going to go with the coils of copper pipe.
Here is an example. Going with more coils is better. You can also run the coils threw a refrigerant or water to get the air to cool faster. Some use a plastic garbage can.
here is a better example.
and with it in a can of water showing temp dif
From the coils, after you have cooler air, you want to add a separator for the water to drop it out of suspension, and collect it. A 2" piece of black pipe is what you want. The key is to have the air enter the pipe about 2/3 the way up the vertical pipe and have it go directly into a 90* fitting. This moves the air down the pipe before reversing direction and heading out of the top of the pipe. I read a bunch on vortex's and air dynamics...I didn't understand a thing, but it is supposed to work. The ball valve on the bottom is to drain the accumulated water.
And here is a picture of a separator that a guy is cooling with glycol and an aquarium pump by wrapping the coil around the 2" pipe.
From the separator, you go into your tank. From the tank you want to use the biggest possible output line that is practical. 3/4"-1" seems to be the norm. This does two thing, it provides a lot of extra storage volume, and it promotes better air flow for less loss over longer runs. From the tank you want to go to the roof, or high up on your wall to start your run. The key is you want all of your runs to drain back into the tank. Make sure you get proper grade to do this. From your main line you will want to have drop downs to make using your air simple and convenient. We can do this by using 1/2" lines.
Two things must be done for this. The T for the drop MUST point up. This ensures and excess moisture will drain back to the tank. You also need a drain at the bottom of the leg where moisture might collect.
This picture shows the drain at the bottom of the drop down leg. This user decided to add a water separator permanently attached with a soft line. I am planning on using a female chuck at the T and move my separator/regulator around as needed. This will cut costs down as I will not need a filter for every drop.
So to recap, you want to:
COMPRESS; COOL, SEPARATE; STORE; USE
And here is my setup:
Well it took me all day of running around and fighting with every joint but it turned out well. 171*F at the pump 52*F at the inlet to the tank. I think it works well. We will see when the water warms up. I have 50' of copper in the water. The compressor is a Devair TAPV 5052 2 stage 80 gallon tank that puts out around 20cfm at 100psi and has 100% duty cycle. It has been rabadged as an atlas copco. It weighs in at around 600lbs! I REALLY LOVE MY WIFE for buying me this!
With a new compressor on the way I decided to do some searching on the net to find out what the best, and cheapest, install for a compressor is. Outside of refrigerant driers or spending big bucks, this solution appears to be widely accepted.
My biggest source for the info, plasma cutter forums. Those guys need clean dry are to cut down on consumables.
The basis behind this, when you take cool air and compress it, the air heats up. In doing this, the moisture in the air that you also tried to compress, now is at a great enough volume, for the space provided (remember we compressed it) that it comes out of suspension...and into your air lines, tank and eventually into your tools, sand blaster or paint. Not a good thing over the long haul.
To solve this, you need to cool your air, separate the water, store your air and then have it available for use. I have found the following to be the best way to achieve this.
After your pump has compressed the air it becomes hot. Before it enters the storage tank you should try and cool the best you can. To achieve this, people add coils or rads with fans to cool the air. I don't like the rad idea so I am going to go with the coils of copper pipe.
Here is an example. Going with more coils is better. You can also run the coils threw a refrigerant or water to get the air to cool faster. Some use a plastic garbage can.
here is a better example.
and with it in a can of water showing temp dif
From the coils, after you have cooler air, you want to add a separator for the water to drop it out of suspension, and collect it. A 2" piece of black pipe is what you want. The key is to have the air enter the pipe about 2/3 the way up the vertical pipe and have it go directly into a 90* fitting. This moves the air down the pipe before reversing direction and heading out of the top of the pipe. I read a bunch on vortex's and air dynamics...I didn't understand a thing, but it is supposed to work. The ball valve on the bottom is to drain the accumulated water.
And here is a picture of a separator that a guy is cooling with glycol and an aquarium pump by wrapping the coil around the 2" pipe.
From the separator, you go into your tank. From the tank you want to use the biggest possible output line that is practical. 3/4"-1" seems to be the norm. This does two thing, it provides a lot of extra storage volume, and it promotes better air flow for less loss over longer runs. From the tank you want to go to the roof, or high up on your wall to start your run. The key is you want all of your runs to drain back into the tank. Make sure you get proper grade to do this. From your main line you will want to have drop downs to make using your air simple and convenient. We can do this by using 1/2" lines.
Two things must be done for this. The T for the drop MUST point up. This ensures and excess moisture will drain back to the tank. You also need a drain at the bottom of the leg where moisture might collect.
This picture shows the drain at the bottom of the drop down leg. This user decided to add a water separator permanently attached with a soft line. I am planning on using a female chuck at the T and move my separator/regulator around as needed. This will cut costs down as I will not need a filter for every drop.
So to recap, you want to:
COMPRESS; COOL, SEPARATE; STORE; USE
And here is my setup:
Well it took me all day of running around and fighting with every joint but it turned out well. 171*F at the pump 52*F at the inlet to the tank. I think it works well. We will see when the water warms up. I have 50' of copper in the water. The compressor is a Devair TAPV 5052 2 stage 80 gallon tank that puts out around 20cfm at 100psi and has 100% duty cycle. It has been rabadged as an atlas copco. It weighs in at around 600lbs! I REALLY LOVE MY WIFE for buying me this!
