Last year for Christmas I upgraded the old freebe craftsman 1HP Oilless compressor with a newer higher capacity unit (7.5 HP 3 stage). In doing so I did a lot toward getting dryer shop air. The bigger oiled compressor doesn't have to work as hard to keep up so the air doesn't hold as much moisture. However during heavy demands (air grinder or sandblaster) I was still getting a lot of vapor blowing on to the workpieces. It turns out the air distribution system (or lack thereof ) was causing the problems. Even though I had a water separator/filter it was mounted directly to the tank with the airlines. And since those operate on liquid water only the vapor was passing through the separator reliability unscathed.
A few more gripes about my shop air system.
1) I like the air tools but the hose got in the way. It was troublesome the hose got caught on things or it was bundled up in the way and under the creeper
2) It was near the regal and if you forgot to grab the end of the hose before disconnecting it from the tank it was touchup and paintless dent repair city.
3) Even with a 50 ft air hose it wouldn't reach across the shop so if we needed it for suzanne's car we had to get the airhog.
4) It just wasn't balla enough.
So with a few parts from Lowes I set about building a better shop air system.
My moisture problems were from hot air. I needed to cool the air to get water vapor to condense and come out of solution. That also presents problems more later. Water droplets could then be effectively caught by the water separators but I also wanted to design the system to give the liquid water a place to go from the airstream. I takes about 25 ft of copper line to cool air enough to get condensation. So the shortest run from compressor to source should be at least 25 ft. If not you need to set up a condensation field
I used 3/4" copper line. 1/2 would have probably done but no smaller. Pressure drops for 50 ft of 1/2" line are about 10 psi but it's more like 50psi for 3/8" line. Black iron pipe is typically used but copper is cheaper and cools the air better than black iron. Under no circumstances use PVC pipe when it gets cold it can shatter and send shards of PVC throughout the shop. Galvanized pipe shouldn't be used either because the galvanizing can flake off and damage air tools or stop up the system.
The whole system is 70 ft but the shortest run 25 ft from the compressor.
Directly from the compressor there is a short run up the wall to an overhead system. You want to get the air to horzontal piping before the water condenses out so it isn't constantly blown around by the airstream. A metal flexibal connection isloates this from the compressor vibration
Horizontal piping is sloped 1" in 10ft toward the air outlets so any water will run toward the. There are 2 branches at the end of each horizontal run. The bottom branch makes sure condensation running down the pipe runs into a seperate branch and away from the air stream. Using this same logic the air tap on that branch runs up and over so that water will fall out of the airstream into it's own branch. There are drain valves at every low point on the system.
For water control taps off the main copper line for tools are not taken from the end of the hose but from the middle. Again liquid water will fall to the bottom of the pipe and out of the airstream.
Outlets:
There are 2 outlets in the system.
One near the garage door for airing up mower tires other people's cars and working out in the driveway. This has my older seperator regulator unit on it which should do OK since it's mainly for use with the pressure blaster and air chucks. A submicron filter may be added later. Note the detail air tap up the pipe and the drain valve at the end.
The other is my primary station for working with air tools and paint. It has a Filter/waterseperator regulator and submicron water and oil filter to protect the tools further and in case and remove oil for paint.
A hose reel takes care of the problem of excess hose and keeps it out of the way. There is a tap there for an extra coilled hose to be added later.
I didn't add a tool lubricator mounted at the regulator because I didn't want to have two seperate air hoses one for tools and one for paint. I've fixed up a whip hose with a micro lubricator for tools that need oil. The submicron filter gets rid of oil from the compressor so no fisheyes in paint.
All of the outlets where there is a removable hose have Prevost Safety Couplers. That vent air pressure from the hose before disconnecting it. Hose whip is a thing of the past.
All of the tool end connectors are prevost couplers. Composite body makes sure there are no scratches and dings from the air hose.
All of the copper lines are soldered joints that come to a threaded connection. For the sake of cost I used black iron reducers elbows and nipples. The hardest part of this was getting the copper to seal to the iron. Teflon tape won't do it. You have to use paste pipe dope with Teflon and it has to set up for 24 hours before pressurizing the system.
The plumbing can be done for > $100 including the cast iron connectors. Less if you use 1/2" pipe.
A few more gripes about my shop air system.
1) I like the air tools but the hose got in the way. It was troublesome the hose got caught on things or it was bundled up in the way and under the creeper
2) It was near the regal and if you forgot to grab the end of the hose before disconnecting it from the tank it was touchup and paintless dent repair city.
3) Even with a 50 ft air hose it wouldn't reach across the shop so if we needed it for suzanne's car we had to get the airhog.
4) It just wasn't balla enough.
So with a few parts from Lowes I set about building a better shop air system.
My moisture problems were from hot air. I needed to cool the air to get water vapor to condense and come out of solution. That also presents problems more later. Water droplets could then be effectively caught by the water separators but I also wanted to design the system to give the liquid water a place to go from the airstream. I takes about 25 ft of copper line to cool air enough to get condensation. So the shortest run from compressor to source should be at least 25 ft. If not you need to set up a condensation field
I used 3/4" copper line. 1/2 would have probably done but no smaller. Pressure drops for 50 ft of 1/2" line are about 10 psi but it's more like 50psi for 3/8" line. Black iron pipe is typically used but copper is cheaper and cools the air better than black iron. Under no circumstances use PVC pipe when it gets cold it can shatter and send shards of PVC throughout the shop. Galvanized pipe shouldn't be used either because the galvanizing can flake off and damage air tools or stop up the system.
The whole system is 70 ft but the shortest run 25 ft from the compressor.
Directly from the compressor there is a short run up the wall to an overhead system. You want to get the air to horzontal piping before the water condenses out so it isn't constantly blown around by the airstream. A metal flexibal connection isloates this from the compressor vibration
Horizontal piping is sloped 1" in 10ft toward the air outlets so any water will run toward the. There are 2 branches at the end of each horizontal run. The bottom branch makes sure condensation running down the pipe runs into a seperate branch and away from the air stream. Using this same logic the air tap on that branch runs up and over so that water will fall out of the airstream into it's own branch. There are drain valves at every low point on the system.
For water control taps off the main copper line for tools are not taken from the end of the hose but from the middle. Again liquid water will fall to the bottom of the pipe and out of the airstream.
Outlets:
There are 2 outlets in the system.
One near the garage door for airing up mower tires other people's cars and working out in the driveway. This has my older seperator regulator unit on it which should do OK since it's mainly for use with the pressure blaster and air chucks. A submicron filter may be added later. Note the detail air tap up the pipe and the drain valve at the end.
The other is my primary station for working with air tools and paint. It has a Filter/waterseperator regulator and submicron water and oil filter to protect the tools further and in case and remove oil for paint.
A hose reel takes care of the problem of excess hose and keeps it out of the way. There is a tap there for an extra coilled hose to be added later.
I didn't add a tool lubricator mounted at the regulator because I didn't want to have two seperate air hoses one for tools and one for paint. I've fixed up a whip hose with a micro lubricator for tools that need oil. The submicron filter gets rid of oil from the compressor so no fisheyes in paint.
All of the outlets where there is a removable hose have Prevost Safety Couplers. That vent air pressure from the hose before disconnecting it. Hose whip is a thing of the past.
All of the tool end connectors are prevost couplers. Composite body makes sure there are no scratches and dings from the air hose.
All of the copper lines are soldered joints that come to a threaded connection. For the sake of cost I used black iron reducers elbows and nipples. The hardest part of this was getting the copper to seal to the iron. Teflon tape won't do it. You have to use paste pipe dope with Teflon and it has to set up for 24 hours before pressurizing the system.
The plumbing can be done for > $100 including the cast iron connectors. Less if you use 1/2" pipe.
