Air lines

[NUTTSGT]

The best way I found is to add a drip "tail" to every drop. My typical drop is 5' of 1/2" pipe, gate valve, a short piece to a T, 12~18" drop and another gate valve. I blow down the drops once in a while.

All my drops have a drain below them.

 

[Torque1st]

It looks very good to me!


You might want to isolate the electrical feed and air hose to the compressor to reduce vibration on the electrical connections.

 

[jhogan2424]

I definetly reccomend the black iron. I have had experience with many other types of air lines and when it came time to plumb my shop a few weeks ago I weighed all the options as far as durability, price, ease of install, etc and decided to go with the black iron. I ran a couple of vertical pieces right off of the compressor before the pipe runs into the building and onto my filter/reg. Used 3/4" from compressor all the way to where it turns down the walls and went with 1/2" from there to the reels. I put a reel in the center of each wall and also an extra drop at each reel. Two of the reels also have a "T" pipe that run through the wall to the outside for sandblasting and airing up trailer tires etc. Also each drop has a valve for draining water. I am not totally finished and still have some things to do but here are some pics of the shop and the way i set up the reels.

 

[jhogan2424]

Holy ****, sorry those pictures came out so big!

EDIT: I resized them to a smaller scale. MUCH easier to look at now.

 

[rickyboy]

I was going to say,..... can you make the photos a little bigger .

 

[CNGsaves]

This is great thread with some excellent examples. Some other GJ threads also have some nice examples with regulator/filter examples at each drop, along with in-wall drop examples, dryer examples, etc.

For everyone planning their own shop air system, I'd consider these Required Reading. Thanks to all for sharing and posting pics.

 

[jhogan2424]

I would also like to note that we had to cut/thread very few pipes which made the whole undertaking much easier. Most places will thread the pipe for you when you buy it. All of the 1/2" pipe coming down the walls to the reels was bought at Lowes and was never cut or threaded. It is offered in several lengths that are ready to go and you can measure about what size you will need and just go pick it up. I think we only cut/threaded about 5 pieces during the whole install. The rest was used just as we bought it. It's not all that hard to install the black pipe. Jason

 

[coljar]

Some of the black iron pipe in my older shop has been in air service for 83 years. The new section of black iron pipe has been in service for 67 years. No moisture problems and no leaks. I don't know about you, but I won't care about it in 67 years. For these reasons, my newest garage is also getting black iron pipe.

 

[darkk]

Personally if price is not important, I would do all black pipe. But I already have plenty of Pex tubing left over from a massive plumbing upgrade and addition to our home so that's what it's going to be...

Please do not use PEX or any other form of plastic or PVC pipe material for compressed air. This is a disaster waiting to happen. The oil in the compressed air stream will eventually break down the plastic material and cause it to explode- like a grenade!

Disaster? What disaster? Where do you guys get this **** from? Pex is a plyable plastic, it is not PVC, it won't explode, possibly spit but I seriously doubt that. My son in law is a plumber and his garage has been piped with pex for years without any failures. The local building inspector required me to charge the water system with air to pass the pressure test. I seriously don't see an issue here...

 

[jhogan2424]

I agree that the Pex should not be a problem and I did entertain the idea of using Pex myself but in the end I decided to go with the black iron because I thought it would cool the air better. I am not well educated on the subject by any standards and that is just my personal opinion. There are many options to consider and black iron is what I thought would be best for me. I also considered running all of the lines inside the walls as we were framing them up at the same time the air lines were going in. It would have looked much cleaner but I was afraid I may have a leak in the future or maybe want to modify the lines so I decided to run them on the outside. When I realized that the lines would need spaced out from the walls a little, I did not want to use wood blocks so I searched a little and decided to use unistrut. It comes in several different thicknesses and you can even stack it to get exactly the spacing you need. It holds the air lines very solid and worked really well for me. Here is a pic and good luck to the OP whatever he decides.

 

[BrianC636]

... now your talking my language ... polished inside for FDA Approval and Certification ... we have used the orbital machines and boroscopes ... we use in Wyeth and Barr Labs.

FDA has nothing to do with the ID/OD finish of stainless. They only care about the ingredents, processing of the product and making sure everything is clean.

BPE is the driving specification behind bio-pharm components and good installation practices.

 

[Coloshaver]

Holy cow! My compressor vibrates, but that is impressive.

 

[jhogan2424]

That is compliments of my crappy Ryobi camera, lol. I spent most of the morning building an awning to cover the compressor out of 1 inch square tubing and some left over tin from when the shop was built.

 

[Torque1st]

Disaster? What disaster? Where do you guys get this **** from? Pex is a plyable plastic, it is not PVC, it won't explode, possibly spit but I seriously doubt that. My son in law is a plumber and his garage has been piped with pex for years without any failures. The local building inspector required me to charge the water system with air to pass the pressure test. I seriously don't see an issue here...

PEX is NOT like PVC, it will 'work' but is not an optimal solution. The problem with many of the thermoplastic materials is the 'thermo' part. A person probably should not use PEX right out of their compressor. Depending on the compressor setup the air may be too hot for the PEX. The other part that matters is the cooling properties of the airlines. Plastic of any sort does not have the thermal transfer efficiency of metal. The cooling properties is one reason air lines are run on the surface rather than inside walls, especially witth insulation. PEX is also very flexible which makes it difficult to slope the lines to avoid moisture traps. The moisture traps can send a slug of water down the line at any time which can be a problem at times. The PEX will condense some moisture in the lines just not very well.

I agree that the Pex should not be a problem and I did entertain the idea of using Pex myself but in the end I decided to go with the black iron because I thought it would cool the air better. I am not well educated on the subject by any standards and that is just my personal opinion. There are many options to consider and black iron is what I thought would be best for me. I also considered running all of the lines inside the walls as we were framing them up at the same time the air lines were going in. It would have looked much cleaner but I was afraid I may have a leak in the future or maybe want to modify the lines so I decided to run them on the outside. When I realized that the lines would need spaced out from the walls a little, I did not want to use wood blocks so I searched a little and decided to use unistrut. It comes in several different thicknesses and you can even stack it to get exactly the spacing you need. It holds the air lines very solid and worked really well for me. Here is a pic and good luck to the OP whatever he decides.

Running air lines inside walls defeats the moisture condensing properties of the material. As you noted it can be hell with leaks and modifications. Hopefully one would test for leaks before the walls are covered.

Holy cow! My compressor vibrates, but that is impressive.

That is compliments of my crappy Ryobi camera, lol. I spent most of the morning building an awning to cover the compressor out of 1 inch square tubing and some left over tin from when the shop was built.

My hands do that all the time, since I have ET, Essential Tremor. It is very frustrating.

I hope the cord running through the wall is protected. Normally one would have a disconnect at that point, either a cord and plug or since it is outside a weather rated service disconnect like the ones used on an air conditioner. It is one of those safety 'things'...

 

[jhogan2424]

Yes Sir that is one of the things I have left to do. There are several other wires that were ran last week that need the same attention and the vertical air lines next to the comprssor are still not anchored to the building. I have some aluminum sheathing to slide around the wiring. Will be a few more days before I have time to take care of all these knick knacks.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Holy cow! My compressor vibrates, but that is impressive.

Sorry but I chuckled.


Is that compressor getting any protection from the elements ?

 

[jhogan2424]

Sorry it took me so long to reply, I just noticed your question. Yes it does have some protection now. Last week I built an awning out of 1" square tubing and some left over metal from the shop build. It looks decent but I'm not too worried about it as it is on the rear of the building and is rarely seen.

 

[ford33]

Do you have a chain with lock or some other security device so someone doesn't cart the compressor away?

BTW, nice work on the installation.

 

[jhogan2424]

The compressor is sitting on a composite base that I had left over from a remodel on a rent house. When I get time I am going to pour a small concrete slab, bolt it down, and then chain it to an eye bolt that will be placed in the concrete. That should work pretty well and if it doesn't I have a Glock.

 

[Fastback]

Are you in a warm climate? My tank drain valve would freeze if it were outside.

 

[gabe2365]

Here is how I solved my water trouble. Out of my air compressor pump I run an after cooler. For the aftercooler I used a junkyard gm snake type ac condenser out of a car. it dumps into a 5 gallon harbor freight air tank. By the time the air goes through the aftercooler it has cooled enough that the water falls out collecting in the 5 gallon air tank. Water is drained periodically from the 5 gallon air tank. The 5 gallon tank sits on the floor next to my compressor. I plumb out of the 5 gallon tank up to where the original pump to tank connection was to fill my 60 gallon compressor air tank. Using this setup I get no water or condensate in the main air tank. I get no water in my airlines. My main tank no longer gets burning hot after long sessions of using a lot of air. I believe it is better practice to remove the Heat water and condensate before it enters the main air storage tank and air system instead of using the air lines to cool the condensate out of the air draining back into the air compressor tank.

 

[tymbo]

YES, PVC, bomb waiting to blow.

He waited thirty years!

 

[Stuart in MN]

He waited thirty years!

There are plenty of installed PVC systems that haven't failed, but that doesn't mean they aren't going to fail sooner or later. The question is whether a person wants to take that chance.

 

[cnc-me]

Going to be an awful lot of wet homes if PVC fails also.

 

[Fastback]

Going to be an awful lot of wet homes if PVC fails also.

Yeah, cause those water lines are running so much pressure n all....Think of the wet carpets just ruined.

Seriously, most code dictates 80psi MAX for water line pressure, half that is not uncommon, but if a PVC air line ruptures at the 120PSI + range it can splinter/shatter and seriously hurt someone.

 

[jhogan2424]

Are you in a warm climate? My tank drain valve would freeze if it were outside.

It does get below freezing here in Northeast Arkansas but only about 2 to 3 months out of the year and even then it's usually not a constant hard freeze. I have several friends that have their compressors outside and when asked they all indicated that it wasn't much of an issue for them so I went ahead and stuck that sucker outside.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Going to be an awful lot of wet homes if PVC fails also.

There's a big difference between the requirements for noncompressible fluids and compressible gases.

 

[Torque1st]

It does get below freezing here in Northeast Arkansas but only about 2 to 3 months out of the year and even then it's usually not a constant hard freeze. I have several friends that have their compressors outside and when asked they all indicated that it wasn't much of an issue for them so I went ahead and stuck that sucker outside.

The condensate that collects in the receiver is a mixture of water and oil which usually does not freeze real hard and damage things. Just try to keep it drained out.

 

[akdiesel]

Two options for tanks outside in cold climates.
#1: keep the drain line sloped down to drain any liquid. Plus the air pressure should aid in blowing out the liquid anyways.

#2: install a tank heater pad on the bottom of the tank. These are the same heater pads used on vehicle oil pans.