My IR SS5 air compressor

[alex71]

Black pipe does the same thing an after cooler does but less efficiently. What you do in 200' he can do with a small unit with a fan on it.

I know black pipe isnt a dryer, but what the OP did (which looks nice, as I mentioned) is a bit unorthodox... compressed air "science" has been pretty much figured out, so why not do what is proven to work if you need dry air?

In any case a dryer is the best way to get dry air, be it refrigerated, franzinator, dessicant, whatever.

And I needed to plumb the shop, and got the black pipe free, so I'm happy

 

[bsaint]

How much have you invested in this besides the air compressor? Just wondering.

 

[EOC_Jason]

I know black pipe isnt a dryer, but what the OP did (which looks nice, as I mentioned) is a bit unorthodox... compressed air "science" has been pretty much figured out, so why not do what is proven to work if you need dry air?

After-coolers are quite often part of a "full package" air compressor unit. I don't see any difference in what he did vs factory, except he is using a separate fan instead of mounting it in front of the flywheel...

The fan on top of the pump head is something you don't see, but honestly I don't see how it can hurt as it does help dissipate heat which in the long run can only help.

 

[KinzeMech]

Homemade air-to-air aftercooler: Couple hundred $$ + elbow grease.
Refrigeration dryer: Most effective, for thousands$$

Satisfaction with your DIY solution that is 95% as effective as expensive solution: Priceless!

 

[KinzeMech]

Since the subject has come up, I guess a good question is, alan what is your objective here? Are you seeking to produce "painting dry" compressed air, or just general purpose "minimized moisture" compressed air.

It seems like an intercooler setup like this would be a fantastic complement to a refrigeration dryer. Cooling the compressed air down to near ambient temps should substantially reduce the heat load on the dryer

 

[brianpgriset]

I know black pipe isnt a dryer, but what the OP did (which looks nice, as I mentioned) is a bit unorthodox... compressed air "science" has been pretty much figured out, so why not do what is proven to work if you need dry air?

In any case a dryer is the best way to get dry air, be it refrigerated, franzinator, dessicant, whatever.

And I needed to plumb the shop, and got the black pipe free, so I'm happy

What is important to remember is that the after cooler removes the bulk of the moisture. Does it remove it all? No. But does it remove the large majority? Yes. I have a similar after cooler setup plus two of the hf dessicant driers. This setup allows me to use just the after cooler when sandblasting which is enough to prevent clumping but I can also turn on the dessicant beds when painting which gives very dry air and the dessicant will last longer.

 

[alex71]

Homemade air-to-air aftercooler: Couple hundred $$ + elbow grease.
Refrigeration dryer: Most effective, for thousands$$

Satisfaction with your DIY solution that is 95% as effective as expensive solution: Priceless!

thousands? how many thousands? a new IR refrigerated dryer that handles 20 CFM is about a thousand. Much cheaper at an auction, craigslist, etc., if you have a bit of patience.

 

[alan camby]

To each their own.
I was looking for a fun project to do, and improve the performance IMO. If i am going to do something for fun, and improve the unit. I try to do the best i can but it is not perfect. I am not a engineer, just a lowly blue collar guy. I don't like doing something just because everyone else is doing something a certain way. I used to get water blowing out of my blow gun after a long sandblasting session and now i am not. I don't have a dew point meter in the line so can't measure the effectiveness of moisture removal. The 80 gal tank used to be very hot to the touch, around 125*F after 10-20min. Now it feels like room temp. I just have a small 23x23' garage and hope to move soon, so a 200' pipe setup does not make since to me at this point. Even if I wanted to stay at this house for life, a 200' run of pipe in my garage would look silly. Once again, IMO.

As far as cost. I went way over what i originally thought it would cost. If you guys read the original after cooler thread you will remember i failed the first time with my after cooler / oil cooler. that did not help with the budget. i will try to get a cost together.
If I could do my 20's (age) over, I would have done this compressor completely different.
Should have ponied up to the $3000 Champion with factory after cooler, Starter, 2 stage, and Baldor. This is just a few of the items I could have saved money on. Really, I should never have started this project. Should have sold my unit and bought what i wanted in the first place.


One reason I made this thread was so others can learn from my mistakes and make their own decissions. I do not recomend anyone do what i did. Like I said, better to buy the correct compressor in the first place.
I am not good at expressing with words and hope i don't seem harsh.
Thanks for stopping by my thread.

 

[alan camby]

thousands? how many thousands? a new IR refrigerated dryer that handles 20 CFM is about a thousand. Much cheaper at an auction, craigslist, etc., if you have a bit of patience.

What is the life span and reliability? From what i understand it is a refrigerated unit. All refrigerators wear out.
I like simple.

 

[alan camby]

Since the subject has come up, I guess a good question is, alan what is your objective here? Are you seeking to produce "painting dry" compressed air, or just general purpose "minimized moisture" compressed air.

It seems like an intercooler setup like this would be a fantastic complement to a refrigeration dryer. Cooling the compressed air down to near ambient temps should substantially reduce the heat load on the dryer

I have never painted with this comp. I was just trying to stop the water problem while i sandblast. Also, my justification for the project was my large investment in air tools. The inside of my blowgun air ****** was rusting, rusting bad. Kind of concerned about my tools. Would like to buy a few more air tools and hate to tear them up.

 

[KinzeMech]

A quick and dirty approximation of your dew point would be the temperature of the coldest point in the system. Excess humidity beyond what the air can carry condenses out at that point. That is your dew point at that pressure. Dew point also changes with respect to pressure. Converting that measurement to a dew point at STP might be as simple as cross referencing the appropriate table in a thermo textbook.

Now where did I put that thermo book...

 

[pipsters]

Of note is you also significantly reduce the water in the tank, prolonging the tank life as well (little to no rust).

 

[alan camby]

I added a new liquid filled gauge to my compressor a few weeks ago. Thought I would update the thread. ET (name on the gauge) is a tractor manufacture that makes self propelled sprayers. They are manufactured just a few minutes from my house.

 

[burgie]

Glycerin filled is the only way to go!!! Mine should be here soon and I'll send an updated pic too!!!!

Looking cool Alan!!!

 

[PT Doc]

I added a new liquid filled gauge to my compressor a few weeks ago. Thought I would update the thread. ET (name on the gauge) is a tractor manufacture that makes self propelled sprayers. They are manufactured just a few minutes from my house.

What is the max pressure your ir can put out?

 

[alan camby]

What is the max pressure your ir can put out?

When the needle hits 160, i start guessing.




Just kidding
PS is set at 125psi.

It is a single stage unit.

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Solid copper is not idea for plumbing the discharge of the compressor - too much vibration. It will eventually fatigue crack. Better to use stainless flex lines. More expensive but also more surface area to dissipate heat and no issues with vibration.

Yes I realize that many manufacturers use copper from the factory - I've just seen so many of them break that I don't use it for my custom builds. High end machines don't either.

GD

 

[alan camby]

Solid copper is not idea for plumbing the discharge of the compressor - too much vibration. It will eventually fatigue crack. Better to use stainless flex lines. More expensive but also more surface area to dissipate heat and no issues with vibration.

Yes I realize that many manufacturers use copper from the factory - I've just seen so many of them break that I don't use it for my custom builds. High end machines don't either.

GD

i agree. i don't use mine as much as a factory would.

Everywhere that i added a copper fitting, it is the 45 degree flare with the "long nut" style that is supposed to help with cracks at the fitting.

guess time will tell.

 

[alan camby]

Solid copper is not idea for plumbing the discharge of the compressor - too much vibration. It will eventually fatigue crack. Better to use stainless flex lines. More expensive but also more surface area to dissipate heat and no issues with vibration.

Yes I realize that many manufacturers use copper from the factory - I've just seen so many of them break that I don't use it for my custom builds. High end machines don't either.

GD

Every water line on the Atlas Copco ZR series that I used to work on were copper. lots of vibration.

They would wear out due to bad cooling water more then anything. The machines when I left had over 100,000 hours, and a lot of the copper was factory.

I loved changing it out though. It brought good money at the scrapper.

I would change it out to 1.5" sch. 40 pipe. Had some of it in operation for 5 years without problem.

I was in charge of the comps for 10 years in total.

They are ZR5-62's with 450hp motors. Little over 2000cfm

 

[PT Doc]

Every water line on the Atlas Copco ZR series that I used to work on were copper. lots of vibration.

They would wear out due to bad cooling water more then anything. The machines when I left had over 100,000 hours, and a lot of the copper was factory.

I loved changing it out though. It brought good money at the scrapper.

I would change it out to 1.5" sch. 40 pipe. Had some of it in operation for 5 years without problem.

I was in charge of the comps for 10 years in total.

They are ZR5-62's with 450hp motors. Little over 2000cfm

That is sweet to get a 100,000 hours.

I think your setup is going to work out just fine based on what you saw in your past life.

I'd like to rig up setup like yours.

 

[GeneralDisorder]

Every water line on the Atlas Copco ZR series that I used to work on were copper. lots of vibration.

Different frequency of vibration. And the water dampens it as well. Completely different animal from a recip.

GD

 

[risinoutlaw]

Awesome project, clean execution. Thankfully the air here is as dry as it gets so moisture has never been an issue.

 

[RickP330]

Subscribed! Nice work!
RP

 

[cv2384]

Your setup looks great! i am trying to duplicate that on my ingersol Rand compressor. Could you tell me where you got your flared fittings coming out of the compressor head and also into the tank? Did you reuse the old fittings and just flare the new copper tube? Thanks

Todd

 

[Chadwilliam1]

This is very nice. I just want to wire up a fan to cool the pump while its running.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Your setup looks great! i am trying to duplicate that on my ingersol Rand compressor. Could you tell me where you got your flared fittings coming out of the compressor head and also into the tank? Did you reuse the old fittings and just flare the new copper tube? Thanks

Todd

You can get copper pipe, flare (and compression) fittings from Home Depot / Lowes. I don't know if they sell a flare tool or not. You can probably find one of those at your local pawn shops cheaper.

 

[Chadwilliam1]

OP I have a few questions.

Maybe i missed it but where did you get the fan mounted on the cooler? Also the small fan mounted on head did you think about putting two?

I just want to add a fan on the pump/head to keep it cool. I do not sand blast so it is not getting continuous use but I do run basic air tools so I want to mount a fan to cool the pump. So I am considering just mounting the larger fan on the side of it.

 

[PT Doc]

I think then fan is a muffin fan. More could be better. Or just a bigger fan like 10 or 16".

 

[Chadwilliam1]

I know the fan he has mounted on the head is a muffin fan. I was talking about the other fan he has mounted on the cooler.

 

[KinzeMech]

Has anyone considered it could be possible to overcool the compressor? Moisture in compressed air condenses out when cooled. If the cylinder head is cool enough, moisture could condense out before the air reaches the tank, resulting in water in the compressor.

 

[jimgerken]

To Alan: Dude, this setup you did is fantastic. I see the same systematic approach in your work as I have in my own. You seem to have nailed it. I recently bought a new compressor and after noticing the burning sensation in my finger from touching the output line on the first run-up to temp, I got interested in aftercoolers. Your posts in the other aftercooler thread, then this thread you started for your own compressor have been the most interesting reading.
I wanted to thank you for your efforts, great workmanship, fanatastic pictures and description, and to do so I had to register on this garagejournal forum. the more I look around, the more I like this place. Thanks again!

 

[Lucky13driver]

I have this same model of compressor. I live in a very humid and hot part of the country. Water in the lines is a huge problem for me I have seen some guys using a B&m trans cooler and have had great success. I'm probably going to need a combo of things. I just don't want to spend $$$$$$ for a refrigerated air dryer.

 

[Zurawskt]

Looks like a trick setup but I would have probably just bought an 80 gal Champion and called it done. All those add-ons and you probably could have been a few hundred from a top of the line compressor. The Taiwan pumps from Ingersoll-Rand are known for high failure, high heat, and high RPM's, all translates to more moisture. Nice setup though on working with what you have, I would never have the time to put something like that togeather with my 2 kids running around.

 

[compressornew]

Hiii Alan tell me the Horse power and voltage amps of this machine.
If this machine consume
voltage :- 575/3/60
Horse power :- 10

Normally a compressor machine consumes high power voltage.So,Keep reduce power consumption of machine.

 

[b-body-bob]

Has anyone considered it could be possible to overcool the compressor? Moisture in compressed air condenses out when cooled. If the cylinder head is cool enough, moisture could condense out before the air reaches the tank, resulting in water in the compressor.

You asked, no one answered, so I will. Look below, or at the very first post in this thread, and trace the air from the pump through the cooler, into the DRYER, and then into the tank.

You see, the intent is to not only cool the air but to get the moisture out before it hits the tank. So you'd have less water, not more, in the compressor tank.

I'm going to build one of those if I can ever quit having to spend money on everything else

 

[indianbullet]

Subscribed

 

[motofool33]

nice read thanks guys

 

[Durka]

I've heard "after" cooler mentioned here and there within this thread. That would be an inter-cooler set up, if I'm not mistaken (?)

Correct?

 

[motofool33]

I've heard "after" cooler mentioned here and there within this thread. That would be an inter-cooler set up, if I'm not mistaken (?)

Correct?

Same thing different terminology

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[Durka]

Ahh, I think what's throwing me is that it's a single stage unit. Two stage units have that inter-cooler pipe from left to right, around the head.