Air Compressor Aftercooler Help

[mycornerofthebarn]

I have a 2-stage 60 Gallon compressor that I want to put an after cooler on. I mentioned this to a friend and he gave me a A/C Condenser from a 2004 Silverado. Unfortunately the condenser has the O-ring style connectors.

As I see it I have 2 choices, cut the ends off, swag some copper tube and braze them together. The challenge is I only have about 1 in. of tubing coming out of the condenser so the margin for error is small.

Option 2 is to get a stock AC hose, bolt it on each end, and then I have plenty of tube to work with. I think the connection would be air tight and hold the pressure, but I'm concerned about the vibrations.

Thoughts?

 

[Jking24]

Connection will be fine those condensers are pretty tough and see far more pressure than you'll ever put on it . Unless your planning on mounting the cooler to something other than the compressor i see no problems with vibration damaging the line their pretty tough aswell. If your gonna mount it elsewhere i would suggest a soft line between the two

 

[mycornerofthebarn]

Does anyone know of anyway to buy just the ends/connectors? I hate having to buy a new condenser line to hack it up. I suppose I could go to a bone yard once we are allowed to go out again. Is there a name for that type of connector?

 

[dogdog]

can't you lob it off and use a flaring system ?

 

[mycornerofthebarn]

@dogdog, cutting the off and flaring was my first thought, but there is only about 1" of tubing coming out of the condenser. It should work fine, but on the chance I have an issue, not much room for error.

 

[sweetk30]

junk yard hunt the ends from a doner vehicle .

and how will you braze the aluminum to copper ? ? ?

yes a/c stuff is setup for 400+ psi so the pressure should be more than safe . i just would be looking at FLOW rate threw the smaller lines of the a/c condenser unit .

i added a cooler to my system in the form of a second storage tank and now pull my air from this tank . no more problems on my end and i hardly ever get any water at all in the storage tank if i keep the main tank drained off on reg schedule .

 

[like2wheel]

What is the diameter of the tube?

 

[ericm]

Are the o-ring fittings one of the kinds also used for hydraulics? (see link below) If so you could buy hydraulic adaptors to adapt the o-ring fittings to something common like JIC (AN) and use that for your hoses/lines.

Hydraulic fitting guide:
https://www.discounthydraulichose.com/mm5/thread_guide.pdf

 

[firebirdparts]

Put the calipers on it. I use one, but I found the tubing was a standard OD, so I put compression fittings on it. margin for error not needed. Plus it was free anyway.

 

[AllThingsOld]

Shark bite fittings is what I used and it works great

 

[mycornerofthebarn]

Thanks for all of the feedback! Definitely helps the thought process.

So the OD of the tube is 1/2". The junkyard was my thought on getting a OE style tube unless I could find the block fittings somewhere. Unfortunately the closest one is about 45 minutes away, but things are slow right now.

I have 1/2" copper tube. My thought was to swag it (expand it) and braze it similar to hooking up A/C for the house. I have some Brazing rods from Lucas Milhaupt that should work. My biggest concern is that if I had an issue, there is only 1" of aluminum tube.

I'm also looking to see what compression fittings I have in the bin that might work.

Here's a link on the brazing.
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