Air compressor

[comes]

Need some advice here. I got my air compressor on one end of my garage and just bought a hose real with 75ft of 3/8 air line in it. I decided to install the reel on the other side of the garage. I messured that I would need about 44ft of line to get frome the air compressor to the reel.

Can i just buy a 50ft 3/8 air line and connect the reel and i'm good to go? Should I maybe to with a 1/2 air line?

Will be used to air up tires, brad nailers and such. Could possibly add more air tools in the future too.

 

[Snapped-off]

Yeah you could. It's probably the cheapest option.

I'd personally hardpipe it though.

 

[scooby074]

3/4+ pipe would be better. 1/2 flex hose would do to get you going for intermittent air tool usage

 

[The Cobbler]

it's the easy way to do it.
most restriction is in the fittings & couplers. avoid them when you can. 1/2" would be a good choice but not absolutely necessary

 

[sparky 1971]

It will be fine for the listed uses. It will be borderline for a 1/2" impact wrench but still might be ok. I run through either 50' of 1/2" hose or 30' of 1/2" pipe and 50' of hose and at times have added another 50' of hose to either one.

 

[Schurkey]

I'd personally hardpipe it though.

3/4+ pipe would be better.

Rule of thumb: Never use flexible hose when metal tubing/metal pipe will suffice.

Bigger diameter is better. Consider it extra "air tank" volume. Add some deliberate slope to the plumbing, so that any condensed water vapor flows downhill to a CONVENIENTLY MOUNTED drain that you actually check frequently.

 

[Citation]

That's a reasonable way to do it. The most basic way would just be using quick connects at both ends. Do expect such a setup to leak a bit thus your tank would drain over a day or a few days. But if the objective is quick, cheap and easy, this is one of the few times you can have all three. I've done exactly this so I can have an air hookup near the garage door for airing tires. I used a cheap 3/8" PVC air hose (not PVC pipe). PVC air hose is normally discouraged because it gets inflexible when cold. Not an issue here as the hose never moves.

It will limit performance to some extent. For the tools you are asking about (brad nailers, airing up tiers) the impact is minor. You can do a few things to improve flow. The first would be to remove the quick connects at the compressor and input to the hose reel. That would remove two big flow restrictions. The steps after that would be "hard lines". If I went that far I would consider 1/2" PEX as it's cheap and easy to work with. If you directly connect the hose (or hard lines) to the compressor I would add a shutoff valve so you can isolate leaks. While my setup uses quick connects, I do have shutoff valves at the compressor. With both outputs off the tank will show no appreciable drop in pressure for at least a week.

 

[PoorUB]

I would go with 1/2 pipe, copper perhaps. It will suffice for anything the weekend warrior will need, unless you have a 3/4" or 1" impact in your tool box.

 

[finn]

I’m using 75’ of 3/8” rubber hose to run air cutoff wheels, belt sanders, etc with no issues. Part of the shop is plumbed in 3/4” black pipe, and that drop is a little closer, but I don’t see any performance difference if I use that drop with 50’ of 3/8” hose.

Some day I will plumb the rest of the shop with one of those Al/pex kits, picking up the 3/4” iron at it’s termination.

 

[GeoBruin]

Need some advice here. I got my air compressor on one end of my garage and just bought a hose real with 75ft of 3/8 air line in it. I decided to install the reel on the other side of the garage. I messured that I would need about 44ft of line to get frome the air compressor to the reel.

Can i just buy a 50ft 3/8 air line and connect the reel and i'm good to go? Should I maybe to with a 1/2 air line?

Will be used to air up tires, brad nailers and such. Could possibly add more air tools in the future too.

A 50' 3/8" hose will result in the need to set your regulator pressure to approximately 110 psi to achieve 90 psi at the outlet of said hose, assuming an air consumption of 30 cfm.

By contrast, a 1/2" hose would allow you to set your regulator pressure to just 95 psi to achieve the same 90 psi at the end of said hose assuming the same 30 cfm consumption.

Your main problem is that you have another 75', 3/8" hose on your reel. So in either scenario above, you would still only see about 55 psi at the tool connected to the end of your reel. So adjusting for the pressure drop caused by your hose reel, the scenario is as follows:

With a 50' 3/8" hose connecting your compressor to your hose reel, you would need to set your reg to 133 psi to realize 90 psi at the end of your hose reel.

With a 50' 1/2" hose connecting your compressor to your hose reel, you would need to set your reg to 122 psi to realize 90 psi at the end of the hose reel.

You will also need to consider the losses resulting from the fittings in the system.

In short, your 75 foot 3/8" hose reel is already killing you. Adding additional small diameter hose up stream is only going to kill you all the more.

 

[Lucid Moments]

A 50' 3/8" hose will result in the need to set your regulator pressure to approximately 110 psi to achieve 90 psi at the outlet of said hose, assuming an air consumption of 30 cfm.

By contrast, a 1/2" hose would allow you to set your regulator pressure to just 95 psi to achieve the same 90 psi at the end of said hose assuming the same 30 cfm consumption.

Your main problem is that you have another 75', 3/8" hose on your reel. So in either scenario above, you would still only see about 55 psi at the tool connected to the end of your reel. So adjusting for the pressure drop caused by your hose reel, the scenario is as follows:

With a 50' 3/8" hose connecting your compressor to your hose reel, you would need to set your reg to 133 psi to realize 90 psi at the end of your hose reel.

With a 50' 1/2" hose connecting your compressor to your hose reel, you would need to set your reg to 122 psi to realize 90 psi at the end of the hose reel.

You will also need to consider the losses resulting from the fittings in the system.

In short, your 75 foot 3/8" hose reel is already killing you. Adding additional small diameter hose up stream is only going to kill you all the more.

The only thing you are missing is his intended use. To run brad nailers and air up tires running 3/8" hose will work fine. As long as that is all he wants to do at least. The problem will come if he ever wants to run an impact wrench, die grinder, air sander, or whatever else.

If I were in OPs position I would run one of the Rapidair products if it were my decision.

 

[GeoBruin]

The only thing you are missing is his intended use. To run brad nailers and air up tires running 3/8" hose will work fine. As long as that is all he wants to do at least. The problem will come if he ever wants to run an impact wrench, die grinder, air sander, or whatever else.

If I were in OPs position I would run one of the Rapidair products if it were my decision.

Good point. In their OP, they mentioned brad nailer and airing up tires, neither of which are very demanding. But they also mention future possible air tools, which could be anything! My math was also based on 30cfm consumption which is at the highish end for home gamer type tools, but not out of the realm of possibility for grinders, sanders, and impacts.

 

[cabranch47]

I used flexible rubber air supply hose to run across the shop from the compressor to my hose reel with shutoffs at both ends as all of the hose reels that I have had would have a small air leak. Put a regulator after the shutoff and drip leg/drain before hose reel. I ran the supply hose through 3/4" thin walled pvc pipe to mount the hose to the wall, making a neater installation. Not concerned about pvc failure as it is open at both ends and I don't think a hose failure would cause enough pressure to to burst the pvc.
I also connected my compressor to a relay and tied it in with the shop lights, so when I leave, lights off, the compressor is not operable. This came in handy as I had an older piece of hose between the compressor shutoff and the hose reel split causing a leak but did not cause the compressor to run constantly as the lights were off.
Just my .02 worth

 

[u2slow]

I have tapped my portable compressor with 1/2" npt feed, and 50' of 1/2" hose. G and V style couplers. My IR232 gun really shines with good flow. I can extend with another smaller line if needed. The common M ******* fit the V couplers.

Eventually going to put the comp up on a mezzanine, and 3/4" pex around the shop, but thats still a ways off.

 

[danielbuck]

for long runs you want a larger diameter. Or possibly a reserve tank closer to where you're actually using the tools.

Occasionally I'll run 100 or 200 feet of 1/4" line on my nail gun in the back yard off the end of my normal hose reel, I'll also bring the air blower out to where I'm working as well, and the air blower is waaay less effective on the long 1/4" line than it is when running a short 1/4" line closer to the garage. (my usual is 1/2" hose reel in the garage, connected the the compressor by 3/4" hard line) So much less effective that the first time I used it on the long 1/4" line I thought there was a kink in the line somewhere. The nail gun works just fine, I think because it doesn't use the air when you pull the trigger, it's already stored up it's energy, after you pull the trigger it fills for the next hit.