DIY Air Compressor Cooler/Dryer

[dwall174]

I finally got my "Franzinator" style DIY air compressor cooler/dryer finished & setup.
I was a little skeptical of how well it would work. However I had most of the 2" black pipe on hand from another project, so I decided to try it out.

The cooler/dryer setup works pretty well!
My compressors discharge lines can get up to about 190-degrees or more if I'm filling up my 60-gallon tank from totally empty on an 80-degree+ day. During normal use they'll run around 160-degrees with an ambient temp of around 80-degrees. With my DIY setup the temperature drops pretty quickly after it enters the 2" pipe section. By the time the air runs through the smaller 3/4" pipes, it's only about 5-degrees above the ambient temp.

Here's a sketch I made of how the unit is setup.

Here's a couple pics of the system before I moved the compressor in-front of it.

And here's some more pics of the compressor back in place & all hooked up.

 

[yhprum]

I always enjoy a good franzinator story, well done.

 

[dwall174]

Thanks for the likes & comments!
I'm still planning to install automatic drain valves on the air tank & the drain line of the cooler.

 

[danielbuck]

Seems like that wouldn't be enough pipe to keep it continually cool, especially since it's steel/iron. And, if you're just judging the temperature by the exterior of the pipe, I'd bet the air is quite a bit hotter than that, since it's iron pipe, it's quite thick and takes a while for the temperature to radiate out (compared to copper). If it is actually cooling the air itself by that much, I wonder how well that works after it's been cycling for a while?

I guess the proof is in how much water is being removed.

 

[dwall174]

I'd bet the air is quite a bit hotter than that, since it's iron pipe, it's quite thick and takes a while for the temperature to radiate out

Yeah, that could be the case!
However, if I take a temp reading at the top section of the 2" pipe it's not too far off from the starting point (ambient temp) of the pipe.
The 60-gallon tank only raised by 10 degrees when filling it up from being totally empty.

I wonder how well that works after it's been cycling for a while?

I generally don't really use that much air for extended periods of time. A good test for the cycling issue would be my jitterbug sander, that sander consumes quite a bit of air.

I guess the proof is in how much water is being removed.

So far, it seems to be working pretty well! I'll get a little bit of water out of the drain valve after running the compressor a few times. The automatic water separator/filter I have installed just before the tank hasn't even had anything collecting in the housing yet.

I'll try placing a small container under the drain valve & see how much moisture is removed.