A simple air cooler drier

[J king]

Here is my setup to cool and dry my air. I think it works so well because of the total surface area compared to a radiator type. I had a air to air heat exchanger but it really didn't cool it enough after a hard run.
This is two stainless tubes with caps welded by a certified welder. Beautiful welds. The air comes from the compressor thru a traditional water separator then into the first tube at the top. The bottom of the tanks are joined together allowing air to pass from the first to the second tank. It then exits the tanks to the compressor holding tank. There is a check valve at the top of the second tank to allow a slow bleed off of moisture from the second tank if I wish.The shop is plumbed with 1" steel lines. My intake is in the attic with a large car air filter. It made it quieter by doing this as well as staying cleaner.
Here it is.



Jim

 

[extropic]

For the consideration of those that think this looks like a good idea;

Cons:
Stainless is a relatively poor thermal conductor (inefficient).
Large diameter tube means less surface area per volume of air (inefficient).

Pros;
You've increased the storage capacity of your system.
The stainless vessels probably won't rust out


A refrigerated air dryer is the effective way to remove water from the compressed air.
Do you have a fridge in the shop? Home Depot has minis on sale for $49 sometimes. Plumb through the fridge wall and put your heat exchanger inside. Set up a timed drain at short intervals (2 seconds every 10 minutes) during high demand usage.

 

[ssdave]

A refrigerator is a really poor way to cool air on a continuous basis. The amount of heat a mini-refrigerator can transfer is minimal compared to what a decent sized compressor running continuously can put out. Only on a very short run will a refrigerator be effective, and that is only because of the thermal lag; the residual cold in the refrigerator cools the air for the short run, until the air in the refrigerator becomes hot.

As shown on multiple threads on this site, a reasonably sized oil cooler radiator, with a fan to move cooler air over the radiator, is a very effective way to continuously cool and dehumidify compressed air.

The OP's setup, more or less works like a franzinator, it works for a short run because of the thermal mass of the steel it's made of acts as a heat sink, as well as radiating a small amount of the heat away. Extropic is spot on when he lists the Cons and Pros of the setup. I'd add up the bulkiness of the whole setup as a con to his list. I'd also suggest putting the water remover AFTER the two stainless steel tanks, to remove droplets that are carried through. It will be a lot more effective there.

 

[J king]

I have the drain cracked on the separator when I'm painting. When compressor shuts off the air in that section bleeds off between compressor head and tank. It just works fine this way as it drips as it runs and while it bleeds air off when stops pumping. I agree copper is much better but this cost me very little and does work for painting. I still have water separator at gun connection and really don't get any there as well as a very small amount in the main tank now compared to before this setup.

 

[J king]

Also...refrigerators are for my beer.lol

 

[pcmeiners]

"Plumb through the fridge wall and put your heat exchanger inside. "
Do a little research, as previously commented, a refrigerator is only capable of removing a small amount of heat.

 

[extropic]

"Plumb through the fridge wall and put your heat exchanger inside. "
Do a little research, as previously commented, a refrigerator is only capable of removing a small amount of heat.

It's all about BTUs. A refrigerator can "keep up" with some level of air usage. The more thermal mass you store in the fridge, the more air it will cool. It all depends on the usage requirements (unknown CFM/time@PSI).

You can put a copper coil in a tub and fill the tub with ice water. When the water warms up, repeat as necessary.

 

[pcmeiners]

" A refrigerator can "keep up" with some level of air usage."
A small refrigerator to point. You would be OK painting a car door panel, it not going to do a full vehicle, an air racket, impact wrench, a sand blaster. Now if your into air brush make up, a small frig will do it. Mean while a decent sized commercial ****** cooler will meet any job requirement, and cost close to nothing in operation.

 

[engineer2]

A refrigerated air dryer has two heat exchangers working together.
Air-to-air:
Hot incoming air is cooled by the chilled outgoing air and the outgoing air is warmed by the hot incoming air.

Refrigerant-to-air:
Chills the air coming from the air-to-air heat exchanger to the desired dewpoint (typically 35°F) condensing out moisture and oil vapor. Air leaves at 35°F and goes to the air-to-air to be warmed back up.

 

[Falcon67]

Giant Frazinator is what that is.

 

[bop_pa]

You have a nice set up and will hold more air as well. Here is a simile set up I made. Seems to work and the water filter at the end rarely sees moisture.
https://instagram.com/p/BL97Ey8A_8J/

 

[bop_pa]

https://instagram.com/p/BL964FxAWK2/

https://instagram.com/p/BL96_gUAmwx/

https://instagram.com/p/BL97Ic-gcG5/

 

[Mr onetwo]

The legendary Franzinator is a very specific design. He found that bigger is not necessarily better.

 

[Dragster Racer]

I can't tell you about the effectiveness of that setup, but it looks like it would do good one way or another.

I would caution you on one thing that I see though: Don't lean carbon steel items against the stainless ever. The carbon steel will imbed into the stainless, and will be the only source of corrosion and a possible weak spot over time. Chlorides can also attack stainless and cause cracking, so stay away of salts and bleach.

The only reason I am a stickler about this is that I work in a food plant and deal with stainless pressure vessels daily.

 

[Duker]

Here is my setup to cool and dry my air. I think it works so well because of the total surface area compared to a radiator type. I had a air to air heat exchanger but it really didn't cool it enough after a hard run.
This is two stainless tubes with caps welded by a certified welder. Beautiful welds. The air comes from the compressor thru a traditional water separator then into the first tube at the top. The bottom of the tanks are joined together allowing air to pass from the first to the second tank. It then exits the tanks to the compressor holding tank. There is a check valve at the top of the second tank to allow a slow bleed off of moisture from the second tank if I wish.The shop is plumbed with 1" steel lines. My intake is in the attic with a large car air filter. It made it quieter by doing this as well as staying cleaner.

Jim

Jim, that is a great setup. I use a smaller version (but you have got me thinking about scaling up in my new shop) that uses some 2 1/2" pipe. I got the idea when I worked painting cars trying to pay for college from some old time painters who called it a "driveshaft" because that is what they used for the pipe. The surface are was equivalent to something like a dozen 8' sticks of 3/4" pipe. I live in hot & humid Houston and does a great job of removing moisture from the system.

*


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[J king]

I can't tell you about the effectiveness of that setup, but it looks like it would do good one way or another.

I would caution you on one thing that I see though: Don't lean carbon steel items against the stainless ever. The carbon steel will imbed into the stainless, and will be the only source of corrosion and a possible weak spot over time. Chlorides can also attack stainless and cause cracking, so stay away of salts and bleach.

The only reason I am a stickler about this is that I work in a food plant and deal with stainless pressure vessels daily.

Racer,Thanks for the . Thanks for the warning.Didnt know that

 

[Dragster Racer]

No prob! Glad to help however possible.

 

[Rlapointe87]

I have the drain cracked on the separator when I'm painting. When compressor shuts off the air in that section bleeds off between compressor head and tank. It just works fine this way as it drips as it runs and while it bleeds air off when stops pumping. I agree copper is much better but this cost me very little and does work for painting. I still have water separator at gun connection and really don't get any there as well as a very small amount in the main tank now compared to before this setup.

J king way off topic but you don't receive private messages and you had posted a delta drill press in the classifieds I was interested if you still had it?


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[J king]

Hi. Yes still have the drill. Your kinda far to pick it up and it's pretty heavy. Jim

 

[Rlapointe87]

Oo yea just noticed you were in Ohio! Yea would probably cost and arm and probably a leg to ship!


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[Hdonly0]

J king, I think it looks great and I bet it works very well, regardless of what some here say. I built a similar setup on a smaller compressor using two sections of 2" steel pipe about 6' long. I live in the Florida panhandle and mine removes lots of water. I have 5 older aluminum scuba tanks that I am going to mount upside down and drill and thread for fittings in the bottom and use the original valve for draining the water out. I will use these on my larger IR 5hp compressor. I am sure they will work fine.