Air compressor plumbing

[f575gtc]

Ok, I think I found the way I am going to do this.

I am going to use 1/2 inch pipe run up to the ceiling about 5 feet, a ~15 ft run to the front of the garage, and then a 4 foot drop to about chest level so in total it will be between 25-30 feet of copper pipe.

Now should I do the run to the ceiling and the run to the front of the garage in 3/4 then my last 4 foot drop in 1/2 inch?

BTW all the regulators I own are 3/8th, they are not even 1/2 inch if this makes a difference.

 

[sberry]

You don't want the trunk to be the bottle neck. It also helps with maintaining pressure over distance.

This is true but what point is distance a concern and at what volume? The fittings and restrictions of a whip are multiples of losses on a header a size larger than the whip.

 

[jnyost]

This is true but what point is distance a concern and at what volume? The fittings and restrictions of a whip are multiples of losses on a header a size larger than the whip.

I agree, that's all the more reason to have a larger trunk. It helps overcome the pressure and flow losses of the fittings and ensures your drops have the desired output.

If given the exact diagram I could calculate the pressure drops and flow at each point in the system.

 

[javajaws]

The pipe hangers I used are bell hangers sold by Lowes. Online they are usually called van hangers. I screwed most into those white plastic self drilling sheetrock anchors.

Oh yeah...and to clean the pipes after assembly just run a red scotchbrite pad over them.

 

[jvitez]

Bell hangers, got it. Looks like exactly the right thing for vertical runs. Thanks.

 

[f575gtc]

Well, I haven't sweat before, just watched my father do some plumbing in the past, so I took a gamble doing this myself.

I have a 3/4 inch hydraulic hose going into a 5 foot 3/4 inch copper run to the ceiling, then 16 feet, 3/4 inch, to the front of the garage in a slope, and a 4 foot 1/2 inch copper drop into a 1 foot pipe into two regulators. After measuring everything, the air is running through 29 feet of plumbing before hitting the Air/Water separators.

I spent the day sweating and was nervous putting any air pressure through the pipes. When I opened the shut off valve, to my surprise I had zero leaks, I already ran the pressure to 125 psi and it held up beautifully.

I already ran the sand blaster for today, the compressor kicked on once, but kept up with no issue. When I run the compressor from empty to 125psi, the first 2-3 feet of copper pipe gets warm, but the opposite ends still feels nice and cold, so its doing the job, now the test will be the humid summer air.

For now, I have a 3rd smaller 1/4" right before the sandblaster and the first two 3/8" traps capture all the water, by the time the air hits the trap on the sandblaster it is dry.

I'll take some pics later on.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Ya done good! Nothing like trying a new skill and it working out for you.

 

[sberry]

I agree, that's all the more reason to have a larger trunk. It helps overcome the pressure and flow losses of the fittings and ensures your drops have the desired output.

If given the exact diagram I could calculate the pressure drops and flow at each point in the system.

Why?

 

[sberry]

I agree, that's all the more reason to have a larger trunk. It helps overcome the pressure and flow losses of the fittings and ensures your drops have the desired output.

Actually it says the opposite,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, that if I want to make huge gains cheaply should focus on a shorter hose and a better fitting. The losses down the trunk are minor in these systems. This is a concept that seems extremely difficult to comprehend,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and maybe rightly so, it took me a while before I figured out what matters much.

When I first start plumbing and wiring I used to fuss over it all but now know why most of the old timers felt much of it didn't matter. I got myself a lot of money, grief and useless delay for circuits that sit idle 99.9% of their life and only 3/4 loaded when they are used 5% and 2A for a battery charger on occasion.

 

[sberry]

There isn't enough compressors behind these to feed 2 real users and across a 40 ft garage isn't that big of a deal. It matters even less with 2 stage and regulated point of use systems.

The object here is not to dump as much air as fast as possible but use it as a utility, it needs to deliver to adequately serve the load, a pinch of reserve. 5 hp will feed a 3/8 hose and run a body tool pretty much continuous, you could wind it with an 8 inch DA. No matter how big a line it only makes so much air. A bigger manifold would make it worse, make it a little easier to run it out of air.

 

[sberry]

We saw an example of a portable air tank being used as a buffer but they used a long hose on the secondary, defeated the purpose. It needed a 5 ft whip.

Changing a hose from 50 ft 3/8 to 25 will help a 1/2 impact.

 

[Strouty]

My old thread had some pretty interesting opinions, I ended up doing something different than the normal setup as suggested by MTW and it has worked very well.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=214394

 

[javajaws]

The whole slope the drain towards the tank or away from the tank on your main line is kind of like half a dozen of one, half a dozen of another.

I had planned on sloping away from the tank. But now I'm thinking going hybrid...drain the first 30 ft back into the tank (with an autodrain), then slope the rest (20 ft) away from the tank. Theoretically, this should result in the least amount of water in the piping and thus reducing the overall humidity of the final product.

 

[f575gtc]

I sloped it towards the regulators, I don't have a moister tap before the plumbing because I was coming off a 3/4 hose that I couldn't find fittings for, so any water that condenses should slide down towards the regulators and not get stuck in the hose.

 

[OccupantRJ]

The whole slope the drain towards the tank or away from the tank on your main line is kind of like half a dozen of one, half a dozen of another.

I had planned on sloping away from the tank. But now I'm thinking going hybrid...drain the first 30 ft back into the tank (with an autodrain), then slope the rest (20 ft) away from the tank. Theoretically, this should result in the least amount of water in the piping and thus reducing the overall humidity of the final product.

What you are describing is what I did on my piping system. Slope in two directions. Upward leaving the tank, through a wall, then sloping downward the rest of the system. Seen here.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=227948

 

[f575gtc]

Before I get scrutinized about what I did wrong, I just want to say, its working extremely well for my applications as a DIY hobbyist, as you can see this is a attached garage and not a pro shop, but I am damn well proud of my results.

This is the start, as you can see I have a simple 1/4 trap/regulator for filling tires or a quick blow
That is the 3/4 inch 36 inch hydraulic hose I purchased

Close up

Here is the run towards the back (or front which ever way you look at it) of the garage, I am standing right next to the air compressor, and you could see the regulators at the end they are about 16 feet away.

These are the regulars going into a high flow quick disconnect, they are aprox. 4 feet 6 inches from the ceiling.

And here is a little unrelated bonus! This Sanborn compressor is an oldie, but so far goodie, so I figured it deserves a nice restore, I started on the motor cover since I wanted to test out the sandblaster.

Before:

After:

needs a little touch up above the g.

BTW, I know my garage is a mess, we just spent a month making the other bay longer so everything is tossed where ever.