Dropping air lines

[xtremek]

Here's my half baked plan. I have a 30x40x11 barn that sits long ways north-south. The big door (16x10) sits on the southern half of the west side and the bench covers the rest(northern half) of the west wall. My compressor sits in the north east corner about 4' off the floor. My plan is to run the airlines up through the rafters and then drop them through the ceiling. I plan on three drops, one at the north end of the bench, one on the south end of the big door and one in the middle of the east wall. I already have enough air hoses to come off each of the drops that should allow me to reach anywhere in the barn from those points. I have two questions. Does that sound like enough drops? Next, how do/would you finish off around pipes as they drop through the ceiling? I figure I'll stop the pipe roughly 1' below the ceiling and put a 45 in then run it through the ceiling into the rafters. What do you guys/gals think?

 

[sberry]

I don't know about the rest of it but 3 will do it in that much area. It usually takes 3 or 3 the first 1000sq ft and another per additional 1000, this is real general but location is way more important than just an arbitrary spacing etc. Skip hydrants and plumb on a 50 ft hose reel. A whip at bench is great and one thing to remember is you can move it if it doesn't work out. We just added an additional plumbing fitting yesterday after 20+ yrs.

Just thinking about it and now might have plumbed it out inch vs 3/4 but it is a toss up.

 

[Durka]

What kind and size of pipe are you using?

 

[carcajou]

If you run the lines up from a heated shop, into a colder area and back down into your heated shop you are going to have issues. Condensation, frozen air lines that may burst etc. I would run them all inside the shop

 

[600SL]

Sounds to me like you have a 24 ' bench. I would put three drops above this bench and hook up 3 coil hoses to them. If you have a roll up door I would put 1 hose real on the ceiling at the center of the door and another opposite by the east wall. Opposite the bench on the east wall I would put 1 hose real. Depending on how you work you may want a hose real over the bench as well.

 

[xtremek]

The bench is 16' long, then the 16' garage door, then a man door. I have an older IR 5hp, single stage, 60 gal air compressor that I would love to upgrade to a 2 stage. I think my dad has found 1/2" and 3/4" black pipe that I would be able to use. I doubt I'll put reels in, because that involves money. I have a ton of stuff on the bench, so the thought of hoses across the bench doesn't appeal to me. But you guys got me thinking about a hose on each end of the bench so I don't have it drug across the bench or floor. I definitely agree with you Sberry that having it placed properly is much more important than shear numbers randomly placed. I will probably not do to much painting or sandblasting, mostly fabricating and repairs. About running the lines through the rafters and the cold. Since the barn isn't constantly heated and the compressor isn't running most of the time, do you still think the freezing will be an issue? The compressor will be in an area that will be the same temp as the area above the rafters. I appreciate your comments.

 

[Spareparts]

Are you going to run hard drops down or just drop down with air hose. We had all of our air lines overhead (13') and dropped air lines down, had to be 6'4" off the floor, to much of a chance of the hard lines getting hit and broken off. We also ran electric lines along side the air lines and had an electric drop there also, that came in handy as well.

 

[sberry]

Any reel is better than no reel and if its going to be at working herigth a manual is fine by me, I like a 50 ft hose on a 100 reel, you can get to across and around a car in most places in that building if you have to if its part way down a wall and another up front so it can be turned to pull out the door and maybe fixed whip in the bench area.
Don't put any more than you need to start, 50 ft on a reel is not bad place to get going and add on as needed. This is something that never works out exactly like its envisioned and I move it to suit once I settle in and feel my way around. No reason to have a bunch of investment in pipe and fittings that sit idle once the dust clears and yhou find out you really use that one hose etc. Been there, done this, more than once.

 

[xtremek]

I was thinking of hard drops with a dryer on each drop and a regulator on the one by the door so I could paint in the yard if I wanted to.

 

[sberry]

In this building could actually regulate the whole system and leave a hydrant ahead of it just in case you want to get on hi pressure. This one setup feeds 2 reels, 2 whips and another reel to the paint booth. The one coupler at the ga is abandoned, could be removed.

 

[sberry]

This was early on, since been doctored a little.

 

[Durka]

This was early on, since been doctored a little.

That's cool!

 

[Dmarkland]

Is there a reason everyone uses black steel pipe? What are the pros and cons of using it? Why don't people just use 1/2 x 100' professional rubber airline? It's flexible, no joints, and you can splice it with a T connector and drop your lines off of that. Am I missing something?

I'm planning to do this in my garage, one on the south wall, one on the east wall, and one on the north wall. The last one will drop in front of the workbench, with an additional line in the ceiling for a 50 foot reel in the future.

 

[bobbyu]

Is there a reason everyone uses black steel pipe? What are the pros and cons of using it? Why don't people just use 1/2 x 100' professional rubber airline? It's flexible, no joints, and you can splice it with a T connector and drop your lines off of that. Am I missing something?

I'm planning to do this in my garage, one on the south wall, one on the east wall, and one on the north wall. The last one will drop in front of the workbench, with an additional line in the ceiling for a 50 foot reel in the future.

Do you have a source for professional rubber airline? I googled it and found a number of products. I'm still sorting through them.
Thanks

 

[Dmarkland]

Do you have a source for professional rubber airline? I googled it and found a number of products. I'm still sorting through them.
Thanks

Its a matter of making what you need and in the space that you need it. With a combination of this
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-hoses/100-ft-x-12-in-heavy-duty-premium-rubber-air-hose-69477.html
and this
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...xlkl_Z23GKvpWnyIhAvsjE-YSsM2Xnm0ybF1QTYfD_BwE

I can make pretty much anything in need, in terms of needs.

 

[DekeT]

Is there a reason everyone uses black steel pipe? What are the pros and cons of using it? Why don't people just use 1/2 x 100' professional rubber airline? It's flexible, no joints, and you can splice it with a T connector and drop your lines off of that. Am I missing something?

I'm planning to do this in my garage, one on the south wall, one on the east wall, and one on the north wall. The last one will drop in front of the workbench, with an additional line in the ceiling for a 50 foot reel in the future.

How are you going to support 100 feet of rubber hose without droops everywhere? How are you going to remove the water you will eventualy accumulate in those droops? How are you going to cool and condense the moisture from your airline before it reaches your tools?

 

[Dmarkland]

How are you going to support 100 feet of rubber hose without droops everywhere? How are you going to remove the water you will eventualy accumulate in those droops? How are you going to cool and condense the moisture from your airline before it reaches your tools?

All very good questions sir. The thought process is not to run a solid 100' line, it is to use the 100' as a stock which to make multiple other lines. Kinda like this
http://www.lowes.com/pd_498349-47120-SGY-AIR211_0__?Ntt=garage+air+line+kit&UserSearch=garage+air+line+kit&productId=50129844&rpp=32
It will take a little extra effort, but hey what good things don't take a little extra time. It going to supply this garage shop and the total building is 20x60.

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But , like i said, its a work in progress.

 

[buzz4041]

I use galvanized pipe not black pipe same as we use in the plants for air distribution systems.

 

[DekeT]

It will take a little extra effort, but hey what good things don't take a little extra time. It going to supply this garage shop and the total building is 20x60.

Point is, it is not a good thing.

 

[mikegt4]

Do you have a source for professional rubber airline? I googled it and found a number of products. I'm still sorting through them.
Thanks

Its a matter of making what you need and in the space that you need it. With a combination of this
http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/air-hoses/100-ft-x-12-in-heavy-duty-premium-rubber-air-hose-69477.html
and this
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...xlkl_Z23GKvpWnyIhAvsjE-YSsM2Xnm0ybF1QTYfD_BwE

I can make pretty much anything in need, in terms of needs.

I didn't think that the word "professional" could be used in conjunction with Harbor Freight and only carefully with Northern Tool.

 

[Dmarkland]

Point is, it is not a good thing.

Ahhhh... Got it. As my wife says, I'm a little slow on the up take. Haha