Air distribution advice

[mwardncsu]

Just recently purchased an EMAX 80 gal 5HP compressor to feed a variety of needs - air assist on a laser engraver/cutter, general air use in the garage which is becoming my wife’s laser engraving shop and will also house a 30x48 CNC, but then needs to feed across to other end of the house and into basement to “my” shop where I’ll have either a vaporblaster or media blasting cabinet along with other general purpose air

The tank has a 3/4” output. Currently planning to run RapidAir MaxAir “flexible” piping from the tank around the garage shop and then across the house to distribute in my basement shop.

Was looking for any guidance if running 3/4” is sufficient over the long run across the house (about a 50’ total run by the time it makes a few twists and turns to get to where the air needs will be) - or if I need to look at stepping up to 1” at least for the long run distribution… I think MaxAir has 1” hose but I’m sure the cost of fittings and such scales up quickly so if 3/4” works I’d prefer to stick with that

 

[908Jim]

More than fine for a 50' run. Regulate at your point of use and don't sweat it. Edit: assuming we're talking standard 90psi or less at the tool and under like 30scfm or so.

On a related note, consider running a loop rather than a dead end, especially if you'll have multiple drops on the same run.

 

[BillK]

My business shop is 30x60 and the compressor is in the far back corner. I ran a loop of 3/4" copper around the whole shop and have 1/2" copper drops where I need air. More than enough including for the bead blast booth which probably uses the most air.

 

[ericm]

3/4" MaxLine is 3/4" ID, same as pipe. Its the cheaper hose stuff that's OD.

There are a lot of calculators on the internet that will tell you the pressure loss for a given pipe ID, distance, CFM and PSI.

 

[no704]

You might want to look into a dryer for that long of a run. The cnc machines would also like it.