3/8" air hose reel enough?

[drummerdimitri]

I'm looking to fit a retractable air hose reel into my workshop but I'm not sure if a 3/8" hose that is 15m long will be able to supply my pneumatic tools with the air supply they require.

My most demanding tool will be a pneumatic 5" grinder that consumes around 30 cfm of air.

Surely a 1/2" hose would be better but at a substantial cost increase but if my understanding is correct, the 3/8" hose would be able to supply the 30 cfm required by the grinder at the cost of dropping more PSI by the time it reaches the tool correct?

In that case, would I need to fit a pressure regulator at the air inlet of the tool to better account for such losses?

 

[Jbullfrog]

I have 3/8" hose reels hanging from the ceiling in my shop and 1/2" drops around the outside with a pair of 15' hoses when I need to run 3/4" and 1" guns. I run 140psi line pressure and have the reels set to 90psi at the tool.

 

[Mr_B]

I don't use hose reals, too much loss generally, pressure loss and time loss ******* about with them when feed or fittings play up .
find life with air tools far better with good fitting effort on main line points and decent quality rubber hose of minimal lengths all managed manually .
50ft of 3/8 hose and reel fittings be a big issue on dynamic achievable pressure at tool .

 

[rangerfredbob]

I love the hose reel I hung on the outside of my garage, but my compressor isn't big so I don't use big consumption tools with it other than blow guns... I just have the Harbor Freight cheap retractable reel (got on open box for half price) and it deals with my impacts and plasma cutter just fine... for more greedy tools I use the hose coiled up directly off of the compressor...

 

[toyotadriver]

I love hose reels so much I installed three of them in my shop. All are 3/8 and all are mounted on the ceiling. I have two 50ft reels and one 25ft reel. My main line coming off my compressor is 3/4 inch copper and then the “drops” are 1/2 inch copper. I plan to eventually do another run of 1/2 copper and install high flow fittings on 1/2 inch air hose. I’ll have that for those rare times I run a 3/4 inch impact wrench (I don’t have one yet but will eventually). My 3/8 inch reels run everything including my cut off tool.

 

[icthruu74]

I love my air hose reel too. It’s just 3/8” and mostly used for airing up tires, etc anymore. I also have several 1/2” black pipe drops around the garage with quick connects, but its so much easier to use the reel vs untangling a hose and then coiling it back up. Occasionally I’ll run an impact on it, but nothing I have comes close to 30cfm.

 

[drummerdimitri]

Seems like a shop air network would make more sense for my application.

1/2 inch piping with drops of equal thickness should be plenty enough for my needs.

 

[joshmodelskidoo]

You could run a 3/8s reel and have an extra fitting plumed in the main line to run a 1/2in hose when needed and just wind it up manually or bight the bullet and get the 1/2in reel

 

[vanapplebomb]

The biggest problems I have found with hose reels is the swivel joint. They are a pretty big choke point. Nothing wrong with the 3/8 hose, but you will need to jack up the line pressure to overcome that restriction so you can get your working pressure at the tool. Not a big deal with smaller tools, but for an angle grinder, it’s asking a lot. With a 25’ 3/8” hose hard plumbed into my 3/4 air lines, and a high flow coupler at the tool, I need a minimum of 130psi to get my 4-1/2 angle grinder 90psi working pressure. A longer hose and a swivel fitting the the hose real with require a bit more than that.