Compressor , tank , dryer... Layout.

[jake00]

I'm building a compressor room. (2 25hp compressors, 1 dryer, 1 300 gal tank
Do we lay them out
the compressors > dryer > tank. Or
Compressors >tank > Dryer

and why?

 

[matt_i]

Dryer first. That's the way its done at our plant. 4 x 60hp Quincy screw compressors, 4 dryers, 2 tanks. Its split into 2 buildings on opposite ends of the plant.

My guess is to keep from having to drain down the tanks as much.

I dont spend a lot of time in there except for the 4-12 occasions per year when the facility guys send the compressors to idle and stop production.

 

[engineer2]

compressors > dryer > tank if your air dryer can take higher temperature inlet air. Check the air dryer specs.

Compressors >tank > Dryer if your air dryer is unable to take hot air from the compressors. The air dryer won't have to work as hard because the tank will cool the air and drop out some moisture. The tank will accumulate more water, of course.

You will also want an automatic timed drain. Big waste of labor to manually drain tanks.
You will have 4 drains including the dryer drain. All can be tied to a common line and put on one timer. Put a check valve on any drain after the dryer to keep the wet air separate.

Before the air is distributed to the plant consider an air filter. The filter element should last for years.

The EPA considers the drained water hazardous waste since it may contain compressor oil. You are not supposed to dump it outside or in the sewer, but most small companies probably dump it in the sewer anyway.

 

[CGT80]

What the heck do you guys do with 50hp or 240hp worth of air?

I know blasting takes a ton of air. My family owns a blasting shop/mobile business and they run a 25hp compressor for the blast cabinets and trailer mounted compressors (around 200 cfm, run balls to the wall to get the air so hot that the moisture doesn't fall out of the air, so they don't need dryers).

I would love to get my hands on a good 5-7.5 hp single phase compressor, but most used stuff around here is either junk, priced higher than it is worth, or 3 phase and too big for a residential garage.

 

[jake00]

It's a 40k soft production wood shop

 

[jake00]

It's a 40k sqft production wood shop

Square foot....

 

[stonesfan68]

What the heck do you guys do with 50hp or 240hp worth of air?

That's nothing. We sold a couple of 1800HP machines to a forging facility.

 

[stonesfan68]

I'm building a compressor room. (2 25hp compressors, 1 dryer, 1 300 gal tank
Do we lay them out
the compressors > dryer > tank. Or
Compressors >tank > Dryer

and why?

Compressor > filter > dryer > tank > regulator. If you don't have a regulator then you're wasting energy.

I'd also recommend getting a a 400 - 600 gallon (or larger) pressure vessel to store the dry air instead of the 300-gallon.

I strongly suggest consulting your local industrial air compressor distributor for more details.

 

[jake00]

I strongly suggest consulting your local industrial air compressor distributor for more details.

We are, had 2 come out, each with a different opinion of layout.
One of the compressors runs in lag (only fires if the pressure drops below 115

 

[jake00]

Decided to go compressor > tank > dryer

We're slowly moving stuff

Pics to follow

 

[jake00]

New dryer showed up, Pretty stoked

 

[Strouty]

Looks great, can't wait to see the complete setup.

 

[CNGsaves]

+1 to post up more pictures as your air system comes together.

Free software IrFanView lets you rotate PIC's so they show up properly.

What airline system are you using ??

Also sounds like 300 gal is too small storage for 50 HP worth of compressors.

 

[SD396]

That looks like a nice dryer. Atlas Copco are quality units. We recently replaced our old 30hp Palatek rotary screw with a new 40hp Atlas Copco variable speed with integrated dryer, feeding into a 240 gallon tank. We are a 16000 sqft wood shop and so far at full production I haven't seen it run at more than 23%. Air has been bone dry.

 

[jake00]

Free software IrFanView lets you rotate PIC's so they show up properly.
Also sounds like 300 gal is too small storage for 50 HP worth of compressors.

The pic was the correct rotation, for some reason when ever I post on an iPad, it changes it.
I decided on black pipe.
One comp runs in lag mode, it's probably only used an hour a day or so.