what to do with a free scrap dumpster find ?

scotth wrote:

Most of the hose is 3/8 and 50 feet is a lot of drop.
The light PVC will normally work, but I don't like to push it. It is a lot easier than black iron.




 

i normally use the black pipe on my compressor line but have seen some use copper water line in the past. i would probably trust copper line a little more than PVC. the only down side to black iron is rust from water in the air. the regulators at the machine have filters in them so this is caught if it makes it that far. i ended up using  brass fittings and lines at the machine but the cost is way more expensive but no worries of rust forming there. just a little bit of testing and i was getting some water in the trap at the regulator at the machine but i know the trap at the compressor needs to be replaced and i was thinking if i did a u shaped drop with the new moisture  trap at the base of that this would probably make it more effective at getting the moisture out of the air. clean dry air can get costly but it's something else i have to work on before i get everything up to speed. a dryer would be nice but not in the budget at the moment. i have some 3/4 copper line on hand i might try it out since i have some sitting around collecting dust. did some looking around and it can handle up 1000 psi.

Air can be one of the most expensive things in a production shop.

YOu could use a kit like this.
rapidairsystems.com.au/maxline-3-4-inch-compressed-air-system/

  i seen a video on that type of air line. it works like a compression fitting from what i could tell. if you had a really long run of that it would probably cool the air enough for the condensation of the moisture to start so a dip leg could actually do what it has to to get the water out of the air supply.

if you don't need a long run i could see copper working better at removing heat from the air. i was looking at doing something like this in copper to get the moisture out of my air. then run into a manifold for different uses but probably more centralized around or near the compressor since my home work shop is not very big. the only reason i have a 50ft hose is because i was doing a lot of painting a long time ago. if you do the plumbing in a multi stage drip leg set up it should do pretty good getting the air dry as long as you drain it regularly which i don't mind personally. simple and cheap.

I thought of using copper pipe like that but its not cheap and in a fairly humid climate, I was worried I would still need a refrigerated drier. When I researched, the best place to cool air is before the storage tank where a precooler radiator is added in commercial installs. Ideally, water should be drained away before the storage tank.

So I added a 3/4" transmission cooler between the compressor pump and the storage tank so the fan that is part of the pulley could draw air through the heat exchanger. This has proved very successful. The top inlet is too hot to touch yet the bottom outlet is cool to the touch so its probably as effective or more so as your proposed pipework.
 
The mechanical autodrain removes some water before the tank. It could be improved by having a long riser after the autodrain to allow water to run back down to the drain. Because the compressor is not readilly accessible on top of the dunny roof, there is an electric timed autodrain on the tank drain.  Then the air flows through a 1" pipe to the refrigerated drier that came with a pre and a post filter for maximum flow. The drier filters also purge occassionally.
 

This has been perfect in use for about 4 years now. The precooled air ensures the drier always hits its dewpoint for maximum water extraction and I've never had an issue with moist air and do not run any filters after the drier .

Rod that is a pretty hard core air set up no doubt and pretty complex. the cooler before the tank was something else i was considering and seen before, cooling the air before the tank and taking the water out keeps your tank in better shape and lets you store more air since the cooler air is more dense, i honestly don't know what else you could do to make it any better other than move it from the top of the Sh!t house heat rises so the intake air is coming from warmer air since it's elevated, but as for ALL THE TRICKS I THINK YOU HAVE THEM ALL COVERED!!!