Air compressor aftercooler idea - Will this work?

[scoob8000]

So after 7 years my compressor aftercooler sprung a leak. It worked very well. It was just a thick stacked plate cooler that was only maybe 5x10 with a couple screamer computer fans on it.

I don't know what it was even from, so I'm going with a new design this time around and mounting it to the wall for less vibration.

I bought a trans cooler from amazon but the fittings on it are an odd size (5/16 sae flare I believe) and I'm having a hard time sourcing adapters locally. I was planning on mounting it to a box fan and putting a shroud around it.

Which got me thinking.... What if instead of a cooler, I just took a 25ft coil of copper tube and mounted it to the fan grill. Without the little fins on tube for surface area like a cooler, think that would be effective?

Just spitballing ideas here.


Something like this is where I got the idea:

 

[seber]

The way to compare is to take the surface area of the coil vs the surface area of the fins. Pretty easy math. The coils might be a little more efficient but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

IMO a lot of water will collect and be trapped in the coils. Could be minimized (but not eliminated) by laying the coil horizontal. Even better to coil them into a cone shape then having a drip leg to collect the water and allow it to be drained.

 

[Jswain]

Flow rate through that will be less than the fins too, likely. Depending on what size copper you go with.

 

[scoob8000]

Good point. I didn't think about water collecting in the bottoms of the loops...

 

[GeoBruin]

Good point. I didn't think about water collecting in the bottoms of the loops...

Just install a water trap after the copper coil. Same as installing one after a more "conventional" aftercooler.

 

[scoob8000]

Just install a water trap after the copper coil. Same as installing one after a more "conventional" aftercooler.

Gotcha. That's actually what I have now. Compressor head to cooler, cooler to water seperator/filter, then to tank.

 

[GeoBruin]

Flow rate through that will be less than the fins too, likely. Depending on what size copper you go with.

Wouldn't be hard to match the ID of the tubing used in a radiator. I just looked at mine and it's surprisingly small. Also, the large concentric coils are probably an improvement on the tight bends in a radiator. Might actually increase flow!

 

[no704]

Not for a compressor. But I recently used a small intercooler for a project. Was ment for some utv I think.

 

[Jswain]

Wouldn't be hard to match the ID of the tubing used in a radiator. I just looked at mine and it's surprisingly small. Also, the large concentric coils are probably an improvement on the tight bends in a radiator. Might actually increase flow!

Maybe on a cheap tube & fin oil cooler but definitely not on a heavy duty Hayden style or stacked plate style rad.

And I'm not about to out engineer the manufacturer of my compressor and remove the 5/8" discharge line in place of 25ft of 3/8" tubing thinking I'm doing a good thing.

 

[GeoBruin]

Maybe on a cheap tube & fin oil cooler but definitely not on a heavy duty Hayden style or stacked plate style rad.

And I'm not about to out engineer the manufacturer of my compressor and remove the 5/8" discharge line in place of 25ft of 3/8" tubing thinking I'm doing a good thing.

My point is, you can use whatever size tubing you want/can afford. Why would you assume he would go smaller?

 

[Jswain]

My point is, you can use whatever size tubing you want/can afford. Why would you assume he would go smaller?

His original post references the 5/16" fittings on the trans cooler he bought and also links to a video with tiny tubing?

I also said, depending on which size tubing you go with.

 

[scoob8000]

His original post references the 5/16" fittings on the trans cooler he bought and also links to a video with tiny tubing?

I also said, depending on which size tubing you go with.

that video was just an example, out of curiosity how it would work.
And my compressor head is a 1/4NPT fitting with 3/8 tube so it's a moot point.

I found the fittings I needed at a local hydraulic shop so I'm just going to stick with the hayden cooler I already bought.

 

[tube_guy]

I was doing some sandblasting on a project, just for a few days, and needed to dry my air. I rigged up some quick connect air fittings on a tankless water heater from an old boiler. I put a water trap on the exit of the tankless water heater. Then I dropped the tankless heater into a 5 gallon bucket of ice water. The tankless water heater is basically just a coil of copper tubing with some fins that have been formed into outer surface of the tube. It worked quite well to dry my air and not much water got stuck inside the coil.

 

[Jswain]

that video was just an example, out of curiosity how it would work.
And my compressor head is a 1/4NPT fitting with 3/8 tube so it's a moot point.

I found the fittings I needed at a local hydraulic shop so I'm just going to stick with the hayden cooler I already bought.

3/8" tube 12" long vs 25ft long is a bit of difference though

 

[scoob8000]

3/8" tube 12" long vs 25ft long is a bit of difference though

Like I said, the video was just an example of what I was explaining. Again, it's a moot point because I'm not doing it.

 

[dogdog]

I have though about using 10x peltier thermoelectric cooler instead of a cooling radiator type but have yet to buy my big air compressor that I needed it so bad, also need to route that alum plate to embedded the copper line between..... the other though is salvage a R134A refrigerant fridge and use that to cool the coil instead... just like that $500 refrigerant cooler...