My Compressor Aftercooler Install

[BCreekDave]

Don't want to hijack this thread, but here is another version of an aftercooler install based on another post to this forum. Please feel free to critique it as that's how I will learn.

Due to the location of my compressor between the garage doors and very close to the wall, I had to be a bit creative in its placement. My cooler is from a hydraulic pump cooler that was being pitched at work due to a small hole in one of the tanks. I brazed that closed and added a ebm pabst 220V fan from eBay for $25. I made some angle brackets that bolt to the fan guard. Fortunately my fan guard is good to bolt to. I wired the fan to the motor leads so that it comes on with the compressor. Added a water filter just after the cooler and before the tank. I have a bit less than 100 in the whole thing including tubing and fittings. The hardest part was bending the tubing as I had to anneal the copper pipes to bend them.

I thought about the fan guard type of cooler, but my compressor runs relatively slow by design and it doesn't move much.

I have a FLIR thermographic camera and will take some photos to share with inlet/outlet temps.

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[Hchrist]

You're out of place for telling folk how they can reply why don't you stay in your 'safe place' if you can't handle criticism, especially the accurate type. It doesn't take an "expert" just someone with more experience to help others make a smart choice.




That is EXACTLY why I made the reply I did.

I've made that mistake in the past! You're searching the Internet of things to learn something, stumble upon many ideas and wow you're blown away by awesome fab work, and the idea seems solid... but you're new to it, you go down the wrong path to just re-do it in a few months. It's a terrible feeling, and a truly huge waste of money.

Just stating my opinion. No need to get so angry???
My comment has nothing to do with my ability to handle criticism OR a "safe place" whatever that is. I didn't start the thread AND I did post a reply containing suggested ways to do the cooler other than the one here. Maybe I'm wrong but reading some replies makes it clear that some are helping and some are just trashing the dude's design.
I'm no stranger to getting criticized. Been at it near 60 years and nobody ever made me run and hide or cry and moan by any critical comments. My skin is far thicker than most believe me.
Just seems there may be a line between, "hey look at what I did", and, "can someone tell me if my idea is good or bad". If someone wants to show off their creations they should expect negativity from others IMO. IN the case of the later then, I guess, folks can chime in with comments like, "damn, that way will cost way more than a unit from harbor freight".
Personally I take no credence from people that but their tools from harbor freight anyway. Nobody that stocks their tool inventory with HF Chinese junk should hand out ANY advice. Nobody does consistently good fabrication using HF tools, again, imo.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

 

[charlie0000]

Looks great. Good write up and pictures.

 

[rburke65]

Yes....thanks for all the photos and the write up. Nice job.

 

[ascott172]

I borrowed a lot of ideas from this forum. Hope this helps someone else.

I wanted to install an aftercooler on the compressor because I'm going to do some sand blasting and I eventually want to paint the Jeep myself. For those that don't know, the idea is that the aftercooler lowers the temperature of the air leaving the pump to the point where you can extract the moisture from the air before it enters the tank. This turned into a much larger project than I expected.

The compressor is an 80 gallon two stage from Tractor Supply. The model number is TSN45.

Here is the cooler I bought. It's a Hayden 1290 heavy duty oil cooler. I've seen some people use the 1260 on compressor setups. This one didn't cost much more; I figured bigger would be better.

It has 3/4" NPT fittings. A lot of the coolers that are available have 1/4" fittings. The compressor has 1/2" fittings. I was worried that a cooler with smaller fittings might interfere with air flow.

I also bought a 3/4" auto drain filter from TP Tools. Bonus regulator shot. It's mostly metal, seems to be of decent quality. I can't tell you how well it works yet.

These rubber things are how you're supposed to mount the cooler.

They came with T-Nuts and a screw. When you tighten the screw it pushes in on the rubber and causes it to expand. This makes them snug up to the cooler.

I wanted to have the cooler and filter mount to the compressor so that it is one self contained unit. I figured I needed a frame.

I ended up widening it more than what is shown below. I didn't like the idea of needing to mount it with a lot of precision, but this gives you an idea of how it went together.

The frame is the same height as the cooler. I feel like this gives it some level of protection, but I think I'm going to eventually need to make a grill.

I needed to make some risers for the mounts. Step 1 was a jig.

Step 2 was cut them all out.

Step 3 was line them up and attach them.

The next step was to curse a lot and drill holes (slowly).

Next I had to figure out somewhere on the compressor to mount this monstrosity.

Looks about right.

Drilled it.

This is the point where I started to get a sense of scale.

I added a top support that attaches to a bolt on the top of the pump. It shares the mounting point with the belt guard.

Here it is after being completely welded up and wire wheeled.

Rustoleum tan is a decent color match.

And now we need another jig to cut out the actual mounting brackets. I should have done the first jig on the table. It was much better.

Chopped and drilled.

And painted. It was very cold out.

Now it's starting to look like something.

It didn't tip over!

Moving onto the filter. I ended up spending a small fortune on brass fittings for this project. If I were to do it again I'm not sure I would have used copper tubing. I also would have bought a filter with 1/2" fittings in order to cut down on the number of adapters I needed.

Here's where I'm going with this thing. Hopefully all of the condensation drains into the filter because it is the lowest point in the system.

Cleaned up bracket.

It apparently takes a while for paint to dry when its 35 degrees outside. Had a little whoopsy.

Next step was to hook up all the copper tubing. The factory copper uses flared ends (see the picture below). I used compression fittings to attach the copper tube to the cooler and the filter.

I also ended up using compression unions to attach the new tubing to the old flared ends. It seemed less risky than trying to get the fittings out of the pump and tank. They both have some sort of hardened sealant on them.

I originally purchased parts to have the pipe exit straight forward from the front. When I subsequently realized I needed an elbow, it resulted in the mess of adapters you see here.

And here's what it shaped up to look like. I tried to bend the tubing so that everything drains into the filter. Looking at the pictures, it seems I may need to play with the angle of the pipe coming from the pump to make sure it's not draining into the pump. Also, the first time I fired it up, the compression fittings were leaking like sieves. I took them apart and added some thread sealant goop and they seem to be air tight now.

After working all day to finish, I realized after the store closed that I didn't have a 1/2" to 1/4" fitting to go from the regulator to the hose.

Some good news though: it seems to be working. The tube that comes directly out of the pump heats up to be far too hot to touch while the tube coming out of the cooler is cold. I'll get a temp gun and take some actual measurements later.

Looks good. How do you like your polar compressor? I am thinking about buying one. What model do you have?

Don't want to hijack this thread, but here is another version of an aftercooler install based on another post to this forum. Please feel free to critique it as that's how I will learn.

Due to the location of my compressor between the garage doors and very close to the wall, I had to be a bit creative in its placement. My cooler is from a hydraulic pump cooler that was being pitched at work due to a small hole in one of the tanks. I brazed that closed and added a ebm pabst 220V fan from eBay for $25. I made some angle brackets that bolt to the fan guard. Fortunately my fan guard is good to bolt to. I wired the fan to the motor leads so that it comes on with the compressor. Added a water filter just after the cooler and before the tank. I have a bit less than 100 in the whole thing including tubing and fittings. The hardest part was bending the tubing as I had to anneal the copper pipes to bend them.

I thought about the fan guard type of cooler, but my compressor runs relatively slow by design and it doesn't move much.

I have a FLIR thermographic camera and will take some photos to share with inlet/outlet temps.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ToddW]

Just stating my opinion. No need to get so angry???
My comment has nothing to do with my ability to handle criticism OR a "safe place" whatever that is. I didn't start the thread AND I did post a reply containing suggested ways to do the cooler other than the one here. Maybe I'm wrong but reading some replies makes it clear that some are helping and some are just trashing the dude's design.
I'm no stranger to getting criticized. Been at it near 60 years and nobody ever made me run and hide or cry and moan by any critical comments. My skin is far thicker than most believe me.
Just seems there may be a line between, "hey look at what I did", and, "can someone tell me if my idea is good or bad". If someone wants to show off their creations they should expect negativity from others IMO. IN the case of the later then, I guess, folks can chime in with comments like, "damn, that way will cost way more than a unit from harbor freight".
Personally I take no credence from people that but their tools from harbor freight anyway. Nobody that stocks their tool inventory with HF Chinese junk should hand out ANY advice. Nobody does consistently good fabrication using HF tools, again, imo.

Galaxy S4, Slimkat
If I wasn't married I'd quit fishing

LOL!!! Who's stocking their "tool inventory" with HF? I didn't realize I needed an American made air dryer to do consistently good fabrication... damn my inconsistent fabrication from my HF Air Dryer!!!! What do I know, I actually have experience with this unit that cost barely over $200 and works perfect at keeping air dry unlike you.

Not too sure what the rest of your rambling is meant to say but good luck to you in whatever it is you do besides contradict yourself in the same post.

 

[J king]

Mine is dead simple and dries the air very well. Need to take pics

 

[BCreekDave]

Looks good. How do you like your polar compressor? I am thinking about buying one. What model do you have?

I have this model:

https://www.eatoncompressor.com/pis...ingle-phase-80-gallon-vertical-air-compressor

Like it really well. They are local to me and they are great folks to deal with. They have gotten some bad press here on the country of origin of some of their components, but they have treated me very well. Everything but the pump is USA and they do the final assembly and check out in Clayton Ohio.


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[Ruthless53]

Really pro looking job. With attn to detail like that your jeep may take 6 years to build but it will be perfect when its done.

Thought about putting a cage around the fins? I know in my shop it would end up bent to hell!!!!

 

[BCreekDave]

Took some photos of the cooling results.
Pretty good really. Better than I expected.
Never used one of these cameras before. Pretty cool.
Garage ambient was 57


Startup


After 7 minutes


Aftercooler Entry Piping after 7 minutes


Aftercooler exit piping after 7 minutes


Aftercooler at 10 minutes


Tank entry pipe after 10 minutes

 

[skipnay]

Why is the side of the intercooler hot but the tube delivering the air isn't? Have you noticed anything since you have done this? Less water? less run time? I'm just asking because I don't know!

 

[BCreekDave]

Why is the side of the intercooler hot but the tube delivering the air isn't? Have you noticed anything since you have done this? Less water? less run time? I'm just asking because I don't know!

Not exactly sure, but I think the camera tries to "average" the temp with the surrounding area and the feed pipe is too small in the wide angle photos to get fine resolution of the temp. when I zoomed in on just the feed pipe, it was as hot as the top-entry of the aftercooler.
As far as water, I am getting some, but quite literally this is the first I have really run it for any time since finishing it yesterday. I still haven't finished the plumbing on the auto-drain filter. I need to T it in to the tank drain system.

 

[driftpin]

Well, I like it! And I like the big pics, my baby boomer eyes aren't as-sharp as when I was 18.

I thought the mounting brackets system was a bit of overkill, but I doubt you'll ever have to repair it. Better over- than under-engineered.

The idea of the 3" pipe as a water separator, a fitting on the top of the vertically-mounted pipe from the compressor, and a fitting t-ed off from the bottom, where you have either a manual drain petcock or an auto-dump? And the bottom of the 3" pipe goes to the whatever size pressure tank? Question: would you want a fitting somewhere above the bottom to go to the pressure tank, and the length of the pipe is to allow the water to separate out? Because, isn't pressure in the pipe the same, whatever position (height) you measure it (pipe mounted vertically)?

 

[BCreekDave]

Mine is dead simple and dries the air very well. Need to take pics

Please do. Love to see something simple that works.

 

[moriboy]

Nice work OP. I might steal a few ideas from you. Thanks.

 

[larry4406]

Very nice job on this. This is one of my projects as well.

 

[onthefence777]

Excellent write up! Bravo! Hope it works well for you. It's always awesome just digging in and working on projects like this. And then you use it for a while, find out ways to improve upon it, and that's how we find out what works and what doesn't, and adapt accordingly.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[pcmeiners]

"Why is the side of the intercooler hot but the tube delivering the air isn't? "
Referring to the tube from the compressor exhaust to the Hayden.....

Nothing to do with the IR thermometer or averaging, that tube is giving off less heat.....
The tube is bright copper, bright copper is a good conductor of heat but a relatively poor radiator of heat (different characteristics). The Hayden is painted black, copper which is a dark color radiates heat far better then bright copper, black oxide (best radiator), black paint (next best). Notice Hayden uses aluminum fins, as aluminum is also a better radiator then copper fins.

 

[nickleone]

I worked in a compressor shop in my youth. We put coolers on the cage covering the belts etc. Mostly on our 5hp units. The output temp from the pump was so hot you could not
put your hand on it, The output from the cooler was cold enough to put your tongue on it.
Ask me how I know LOL.

Nick

 

[Snowman87]

Cool write-up, thanks for sharing!

 

[Lelandwelds]

The output from the cooler was cold enough to put your tongue on it.
Ask me how I know LOL.

Nick

Rule 34 is alive and well?

I am interested in a foot long static water jacketed cooler with antifreeze and a drip leg with a NO drain. Will the constant unloader dumps keep the NO valve clear?

 

[bochnak]

Very nice!

Question though, were you getting moisture prior to addition of aftercooler?

Reason I ask is I have an older 80gal 2 stage Puma and get no moisture, even when soda blasting. I have a refrigerated air dryer that I don't even turn on.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Very nice!

Question though, were you getting moisture prior to addition of aftercooler?

Reason I ask is I have an older 80gal 2 stage Puma and get no moisture, even when soda blasting. I have a refrigerated air dryer that I don't even turn on.

Your locale has humid summers. How do you manage "no water to drain"? Black magic? Blessed by a Shinto monk? Heated garage and work only in the winter?

Maybe Gulf Coast water is different?

 

[bochnak]

Your locale has humid summers. How do you manage "no water to drain"? Black magic? Blessed by a Shinto monk? Heated garage and work only in the winter?

Maybe Gulf Coast water is different?

Nope, still have to drain water. I just never actually noticed any moisture in my lines or water separator. Seems like it doesn't get past the receiver.

 

[Lelandwelds]

Nope, still have to drain water. I just never actually noticed any moisture in my lines or water separator. Seems like it doesn't get past the receiver.

Oops. My bad. I thought you were claiming to not need to drain the tank. His system ditches the water before the tank. His pump and tank should be about 10°F above ambient, too. His system is oversized if located in the Mojave or Sahara but there's no location in his profile.

I want to try a watercooled heat dumper. I suspect a normally open drain would be reliable and automatic. Theres a guy here who built a really large water jacketed heat exchanger without a water pump. His is freakishly large and uses ball valves. I think 12 to 18" and a NO water separator would work well enough.

Google fails me.

 

[pcmeiners]

MrX, Ascot172 and Bcreekdave, coolers came out excellent


"I am interested in a foot long static water jacketed cooler with antifreeze and a drip leg with a NO drain. "
I have a spray for that , it conditions the moisture in the air to remain in vapor form no mater what happens to it, only requires three tiny mist sprays of the solution in a large garage, last for 5 days......

" and a drip leg with a NO drain. "
Personally, that is almost what I have with BPH, with a receiving tank which does not hold much



I know it is sarcasm, but a water to water heat exchanger can be a good idea.

If anyone is serious, they are classified as water to water heat exchanges . but they are very expensive and for a garage compressor, they are not going to be a foot long, more likely 2 feet at minimum, with a large a diameter jacket roughly 8" (many tubes) or 4 feet long 5"dia with less tubes.

What makes the water to water exchanges expensive is the jacket/tubes are best off Stainless or nickel . I made one up years back for a repair shop. With municipalities charging high rates for water. not always practical. The repair shop's water comes in at 40-50° F (as it is from deep well), so a water exchange will remove more moisture then an air to air exchange. Works as good as a refrig unit if water is as cool as mentioned above, which depends on where you live. Generally a shallow water's water temperature is roughly your average yearly outdoor temperature. Lets just say in Texas (average yearly 69°) it will not work as well as it does in New York(55°); still better then in Texas the an air to air Hayden 1290. So in NY, you probably will not need a refrig unit under any circumstances with a water to water exchanger, if you can afford the water bill or you have a well. Mind you a water to water exchange is rigged with a solenoid to start and stop water flow with the compressor contactor, so in a home shop it would not use that much water.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=696429&thumb=1&d=1508887314


One of my water to water coolers, with drains.... this a hybrid which cools down the input with an air to water exchanger ( red), then the air goes to a water to water exchange (black), bit excessive with valves, but all components needed to be bypassed incase of issues or maintenance...

 

[John T]

I have a stupid question... Is this a 45° or 37°

 

[ez-duzit]

Looks like 45*.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Very nicely done. If I had a large compressor I would do something similar. The only change I would make would be a vibration loop in the discharge line from the compressor head to the after cooler inlet. It's probably not required, but that's just how I am.

Tommy

 

[jeffk14]

Nicely done. I know this is an old thread but I have a question. If I just want to keep moisture out of my lines and tools and don't mind having to drain the main tank, could this setup work?

Compressor>Tank (which is a big heat sink in itself)>Aftercooler>Long Drip Leg (copper)>A Couple of Risers (copper) with Drip Legs>Filter/Drier>Plumbing Run

 

[MrSurly]

This is a great reference thread. I'm currently building my version of an air system along with a similar aftercooler. I'll keep this build in mind!

 

[Fortunateson]

Is the original poster's cooler rated for the high pressure of a compressor? I have a 7.5 DeVilbass unit and I think this would be a "cool" to add to it.

 

[Trey T]

Nicely done. I know this is an old thread but I have a question. If I just want to keep moisture out of my lines and tools and don't mind having to drain the main tank, could this setup work?

Compressor>Tank (which is a big heat sink in itself)>Aftercooler>Long Drip Leg (copper)>A Couple of Risers (copper) with Drip Legs>Filter/Drier>Plumbing Run

OEM is like this: Compressor>Aftercooler>Tank (which is a big heat sink in itself)

and the tank has auto drain. I've seen people just add drier/filter for polishing.

The way that the OP has it, if that temp at the exit of the aftercooler is low enough to reach the dew point temp, that paper will be soaked with water.

 

[G29]

...

Here is the cooler I bought. It's a Hayden 1290 heavy duty oil cooler. I've seen some people use the 1260 on compressor setups. This one didn't cost much more; I figured bigger would be better.

...

It has 3/4" NPT fittings.

...

How has the Hayden Aftercooler held up to the task.

Any galvanic corrosion, pressure, heat or cracking issues ?

TIA

 

[pcmeiners]

"Any galvanic corrosion, pressure, heat or cracking issues ?"

The Hayden 1260/1290 are industrial cooler, unlike cheaper thin walled coolers. I have multiple installs using both (10), no issues.

 

[mustangtyson]

I did something similar with my smaller compressor after seeing this post. Its a stand alone after cooler so there is less temp drop. Only about 15 degrees but it gets the air down to within 5 degrees of ambient. 100-85. If i did it again i would try to make my mounting solution lighter weight.

 

[BentAero]

Excellent ideas, thanks for posting such great photos.

 

[ez-duzit]

Photos of my aftercooler installation.

 

[Briguy_123]

Hi EZ, How well does your AKG cooler work on the fan guard without an additional fan? I'm thinking of doing something very similar.

 

[ez-duzit]

3--only recently ran the electrical, and have not yet run the piping, so no feedback yet. But there is zero technical risk in mounting location with respect to the fan creating sufficient airflow.