Air compressor air cooler

[FordsnFishin]

For some insight, I purchased a 60 gallon vertical 5 horse 2 stage compressor. Puts out 16.4 acfm at 40 psi, 15.3 at 100 psi. I just pulled wire over for it and got it mounted to the concrete floor. It is located inside my insulated garage that doesn't have heat or air conditioning in it.

Now, I've been reading around and attempting to figure out a cost effective air cooling setup for it. While not taking up a large about of room.

I made a drawing to show what I'm thinking about doing. If you guys have any insight on how to improve it I'd appreciate it.

Overall I will be using 1/2 copper tubing for the piping. Not sure if I'd rather sweat the fittings or use compression yet.

Any reason I couldn't use soft bendable copper tubing to make my legs? Am I able to attach my tees for the water drains on it? This is what I planned on using. Overall the pipe would turn out to be around 30 feet in overall length. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001A...per+tubing&dpPl=1&dpID=412u-nYBTbL&ref=plSrch

Thanks guys!


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[BPJOOP93]

Use the search bar on here and type in air comp lines. Lots of threads on this already

 

[imagineer]

Do a google search on "Franzinator".

 

[FordsnFishin]

I have used the search bar. But I was not finding the answers I needed.

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[FordsnFishin]

Thank you imagineer. That has caught my eye and have been reading about it.

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[imagineer]

Thank you imagineer. That has caught my eye and have been reading about it.

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I made a two stage Franzinator using aluminum vs steel and it pulls a lot of heat and water out of the compressed air.

 

[Nor'Easter]

I have 60' of 3/4 copper between my compressor (15.something at 90psi) and the hookups. I have done blasting sessions in the 4 hour range and have not had any issues with water.

The key is to have a proper water separator as far from the compressor as possible. Mine is made by Tsunami.

Deccessant filters are expensive and a pain in the *** because you need to replace the media. A true water separator uses the air to create a centrifuge. Water fills canister, float opens valves, water drains, all on it's own.

 

[Mr onetwo]

Try this....well proven.Don't change the size or material. http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=186531

 

[kkroger]

Better would be a pre-cooler between the pump and the receiver. So from pump to a coil (an air conditioning coil from a vehicle will work) mounted so the fan on the pump draws through the coil, then you can put that into your Franzinator, then into the receiver. Use an Auto Drain on the receiver will certainly help as well, Mine blows it down for 30 seconds every hour, But you really have to get the air COOL to get the condensate out of it.

 

[E12-535iTurbo]

I'm nearly finished with an active peltier pre-cooler. I should be getting the air way below ambient temperature before it gets into the tank.

 

[dogdog]

I'm nearly finished with an active peltier pre-cooler. I should be getting the air way below ambient temperature before it gets into the tank.

How did this work out for you...Just got 10x Peltier modules about to try build one
?

 

[Bretny]

Cool the air BEFORE the tank...this keeps your tank from rusting out. You need large volume cooling pipe to slow the air in the cooler. This can be done by useing Tees.
I made a setup that does this and paint/ blast with no further drying.

 

[dogdog]

Just wanted to try some fun with the Peltier modules.

 

[hsvtoolfool]

I'm nearly finished with an active peltier pre-cooler....

I'm very interested in you're project. What are your target CFM and BTU/hr
requirements? My understanding is that an air dryer for a typical 15 CFM
compressor requires refrigeration in the 7,000 to 10,000 BTU/hr range.
I haven't looked at solid state peltier devices in years. Have they been
improved enough to meet this BTU/hr requirement?

 

[bradpac]

I have an old, dry well on my property pretty close to my compressor shed that I need to fill in. If I take a coil of copper line (stretched out a bit), throw it down the hole and let the air run through it, and then fill it in.... Anyone think it would cool noticeably better than just having a coil sitting in ambient air?

 

[dogdog]

I'm very interested in you're project. What are your target CFM and BTU/hr
requirements? My understanding is that an air dryer for a typical 15 CFM
compressor requires refrigeration in the 7,000 to 10,000 BTU/hr range.
I haven't looked at solid state peltier devices in years. Have they been
improved enough to meet this BTU/hr requirement?

Modules are cheap now a days.. but not sure the efficiency or how to calculate or convert it to BTU...

How do you calculate that 7000 BTU is needed for 15CFM?

I have an old, dry well on my property pretty close to my compressor shed that I need to fill in. If I take a coil of copper line (stretched out a bit), throw it down the hole and let the air run through it, and then fill it in.... Anyone think it would cool noticeably better than just having a coil sitting in ambient air?

Well you don't needed an old well... I have seen people who just use a soft copper coil in an ice cooler filled with ICE and reported that to be working good in a pinch. I got to try that some days.

 

[engineer2]

That sounds like a nice compressor.

...got it mounted to the concrete floor.

We assume you have it on rubber biscuits and don't have the tank feet bolted to the concrete floor.

Instead of investing a bunch of time an money in a home-made aftercooler, I would just use the 25% off Harbor Freight coupon and buy their $300 refrigerated air dryer. You'll get drier air that way too.

 

[hsvtoolfool]

How do you calculate that 7000 BTU is needed for 15CFM?

It was simple airhead math. Also known as "incredibly wrong".

A typical 110V refrigerant drier rated for 15 CFM is usually spec'd for a 3 to
5 HP air compressor. So I had a brain fart and assumed a 3 HP motor was
inside the air drier and I didn't stop to think about the numbers before I
posted. I then converted to 3 HP to BTU/hr and got about 7K BTU/hr
(which is just ridiculous).

Now that I've had coffee, refrigerant driers rated for 15 CFM all appear have
a rated power usage from 160 watts to 200 watts. Converting 200W to BTU
gives about 700 BTU/hr. Which means my previous airhead post was only off
by a factor of 10.

Unfortunately, peltier coolers are much less energy efficient than a typical
refrigerant-cycle cooler. So unless they've been really improved recently,
you will need about 800 W of peltier devices to do the same work as a
refrigerant cooler.