Piping an Air Compressor

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Cube Dweller said:
Blue is thicker wall. I don't know the code for which is acceptable for air lines. You might even need to silver solder air for code in CA, not sure. Use plumbers cloth to clean the outside, it's fast. Use flux on both the fitting and the pipe. Mapp can work but you do need to be cautious about getting it too hot, otherwise the solder will not flow well.

My pop has been a pipefitter for 30 years :D He learned me a little, enough to do basic stuff.
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Don't mess around with flux and solder, this is definitly a silver solder application. Get out the oxy/acetaline.High pressure air or gas lines are nothing to screw around with.Even though compressed air feels "cold", the velosity(especialy at 90* Els) creates heat.I have seen air lines fail, It isn't something you want to be next to. And for those of you that mentioned plastic, Don't Do It. The failure mode for PVC is catasrophic. Im talking shrapnel. and the heat generated by the velosity will soften the PVC enough to let the steel fittings that are threaded into it to Blow out. The presure rateings that have been mentioned are for liquids, not air.
I personaly will not use anything but sch 40 steel pipe.It's not just about the inside presure . You need to allow for what is going to hit that pipe from the outside also.

Oh, and don't forget to plumb in some "drains. Insted of just putting your coupling onto a 90*,. use a tee, verticaly. The coupling comes out the branch, then put a 6" nipple below that with a drain. Then you drain your lines just like you do the compressor. Their is nothing worse than blowing a bunch of stinky compressor water through your tools.


just my .02 worth
aw
 
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We use a plastic (don't ask me the grade) airline at work. It is a special specific airline. Very easy to assemble as it uses fittings simillar to agricultural irrigation fittings. Easy to get fittings to adapt to whatever you need.
 
I know that plastic air line. As hard as I tried I couldn't sell the stuff because it was so expensive. I have forgotten the blend. I think it was a modified PVC resin because it was solvent welded.(Glued) Any of the poly's would have to be thermo welded.

aw
 
Thanks Dudes. Definitely going copper-even all 1 inch tube will still be less than $100. I don't want to worry about flying shards. I was at HD today and the sweatable threaded fittings are very large-like 1/2 NPT. I guess that's OK given that adapters are widely available. I'll also likely do 3/4 tube.
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So all of you guys know HD will take the Lowes 10% off coupon.. I always have a copy laying around, can only use it at Lowes once so the one I have won't be any good there but I don't like em anyway.. I asked the manager a few times at HD and she assured me she'd rather have me shop there with a 10% off coupon then shop at Lowes..

Anyway, if you want a copy of it all you have to do is print it off and take it in.. Just drop me a PM and I'll send it to you!
 
Back to the top after a big day. I had a day off (finally) and bought 50 more feet of 3/4 "blue" copper and sweated it all together. There are water drains at the compressor end, then a tall vertical riser, then a long run with several bends to the front of my garage. Then a down pipe with a water drain, terminating at a female fitting. Just above that is a copper "T" with capped side pipe for future add ons. Working the torch in the confined space of my attic was a b*tch.

The bad news is that my free compressor has developed an oil leak at the crank seal. I am temped to use this as an excuse to up-grade! Shopping today, there was a nice dual stage 60 gal compressor at the "Air Tool Store" for $950. Any reason I should look somewhere else?
 
Damn, you go from a freebie to a $1k compressor - who can argue against that? :-) In any case, if noise is an issue in your neighborhood/house/etc., then make sure you're ok with the compressor's sound level. I prefer a 1750 rpm motor with further reduction by two pulleys for a quieter compressor operation because my master bed is above the garage. The neighbor in IL had a dual stage unit that was louder than my unit and I could hear it from my house!
 
Oil and water seperator

Andy,

I would also look into an oil and water seperator from Grainger. Lucky you to have air tools in your shop.

JB


Cruiserdrew said:
If this should be in chat please move, but there have been other discussions of shop set up previously.

I have been wanting a compressor for years and out of the blue, I was given one by a non-4wheeling friend. It's a ten year old "Speedaire" with a 30 gallon tank and a cast iron compressor that was just rebuilt. Obviously, this is not a huge compressor, but it's free, and will get me started down the air powered path. I need to pipe some air lines to the rest of my garage, and after searching this topic, I'll use copper pipe, not PVC.

Here are some random questions:

Where do you get the fittings to sweat pipe threads on to copper pipe?

With the pipe nearly in place and near the wall, how do you keep from burning down the house when you sweat it together?

What size pipe (1/2 or 3/4 or larger)) is reccomended?

How do I make the business end flexible enough to add more hardware later, like regulators and additional outlets?

What sort of drain fittings should I use to keep the water drained out of the lines? I'll do the inverted "u" like I saw posted by others.

How do I hook the compressor to the copper line?

Right now there is a pressure regulator at the tank outlet-do I also need to regulate pressure at the end of the pipe?

Many thanks. Based on what I saw in the search, I bought an IR 231c as my first air tool. I'm thinking cutoff tool and air ratchet next. There are many informative posts by Tools R Us and others in the archives-thanks to all.
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Andy I purchased my 60 gal @ The Air Tool Store , (scrach & dent deal )
I have been very happy with it , and the rest of the products from them.



950.00 seems kinda high, unless your going to use the thing all the time.
while your at spending money on air stuff,score a nice retractable hose reel
( if you dont have one all ready ) its great for pulling out side or accross the garage . While your at it might as well set your self up with those slick Tomco
QD fittings (saves the ears when disconnecting ect. )....

Good luck

ken
 
Plumbing question?

One set back today-I pressurized the system and one of my sweated joints leaks. Anyone know if I can just re-solder or do I have to cut it out and start over?
 
As long as the joint was properly cleaned (with sandpaper or wire brush) and fluxed prior to assembly you should be able to reheat and flow more solder in. If the leakage is due to insufficent cleaning of the joint prior to assembly, then you should pull it apart and clean up before resoldering.
 
Andy

I'd clean it, heat it, and flow some new solder onto it. You can always cut and replace if this doesn't fix the leak.

M
 
Thanks guys and Brian as well who PMed. I got up in the attic, heated it up and pulled it apart, re cleaned, fluxed and re soldered. Now the whole system holds pressure up to 125 psi. Back in business!

By the way, for anyone else doing a similar install-Harbor freight has their best filter/regulator/luber on sale for $19. That's $20 off. It looks adequate for my needs getting started.

Hose reels are expensive! I mounted a 25 foot reel that covers most of the garage, but for driveway use, I have to pull out the 50 loose coils. Hmmm, I see a 50 foot reel in my near future.
 
If you go looking for a new compressor the CFM spec. is more important than HP, pressure, or most of the other crap they decal all over the tanks. Paintguns often need 15 CFM + to mix right, plasma cutters and in particular sandblasting uses TONS of air, by volume. Close to the figure you mentioned you can find a top quality, high volume, QUIET running (400 rpm) compressor here:http://www.eatoncompressor.com/page/page/504413.htm

There are two kinds of air line QD fittings in common usage -'industial' and 'automotive'. Make up your mind which you prefer and use only the one type throughout the shop, on airline ends, and on each tool. Saves finding out at the wrong time that this gismo won't plug into that whatsis.
 
Thanks Honk. The Eaton site is pretty nice-do you have one of their compressors? They sound like a nice quality unit, even in the smaller units. I had pretty much decided on an IR 3 hp 60 gal unit for ~$650, now this puts me back in the undecided group!

Curious if anyone has any experience with Eaton. That might be a deciding factor. For any of the bigger units, I would need a new circuit in the garage, thus driving up the expense.
 
Cruiserdrew said:
Thanks Honk. The Eaton site is pretty nice-do you have one of their compressors? They sound like a nice quality unit, even in the smaller units. I had pretty much decided on an IR 3 hp 60 gal unit for ~$650, now this puts me back in the undecided group!

Curious if anyone has any experience with Eaton. That might be a deciding factor. For any of the bigger units, I would need a new circuit in the garage, thus driving up the expense.
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I'm going to buy from them just as soon as I decide that my 60 gal. hardware store version has really had it. I've changed the pressure switches three times, thought that the compressor had given up pumping but was able to free a ring up from the top to keep it going, am convinced that the tank must be lined with enough goo to make it a 50 gallon size, it's thrown it's belt, it's heated up, but it keeps on pumping for now coming on four years of continuous use. I realized not long after installing it that it isn't really adaquate to my needs but I'm too cheap to toss it and too lazy to sell it. I've been noticing more oil in the line filters than ever before so maybe soon the sucker will crack it's block.

I've talked with those guys at Eaton and believe that they're not selling hype. They know their stuff and have carefully designed their compressors to give industrial performance on a homeowner and small shop budget.

My biggest gripe is that nothing I say convinces them to ship for free. :)


As far as electrical supply to the compressor - I just added a breaker to one of the three panels in my garage/shop dedicated to the compressor and used 12 guage wire directly from the breaker to the motor. It really doesn't draw all that much current - 15 amps if I remember right, so I'm overkill as is. Works fine and I shut down the breaker to depower it. Next time I think i'll add a fused knife type boxed switch outside the door to the little compressor room I built on the back wall. That would just alleviate having to dodge around so much stuff that's sometimes between me and the breaker panel. It'd make it a little easier for my wife to shut down the compressor too.
 
You know, I don't know who's making Ingersoll-Rand equiipment anymore. Kinda' surprised when I first saw their compressors featured in a Harbor Frieght store.
It used to be one of the most trustworthy names going - like Milwaukee.
 
If the objective is to buy once and be set for life, I'd get an Ingersoll-Rand T-30. It is an industrial model they have been selling for years. I'd stay away from the cheaper discount consumer models from any vendor. New a 5HP (real HP, not inflated consumer BS) costs a bit over a grand. Home use with maintenance will likely never wear out.
 
I have an Eaton 5hp 60 gal, very happy. Did a lot of research and I think they are the best and a good value. Ranger compressors also seemed very good, but they were on back order for over a year.

Look into just buying a new pump if your tank is still good. A lot of times you can get the pump for pretty cheap. The tanks are a lot more expensive than you may think, so just replacing the pump would probably be a good value.
 
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