On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:33:18 -0700, "Bruce L. Bergman (munged human
readable)" wrote:

On 11 Oct 2011 04:04:57 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2011-10-11, Ignoramus20811 wrote:

[ ... ]

That said, I am about half done hooking up the compressor. The
compressor is a 10 HP Quincy model 350 compressor, ($200). My home 7.5
HP one will soon be sold.

[ ... ]

The shop does have compressed air plumbing, although it is somewhat
undersized, all pipes are 1/2". But I can live with it.

Once you get it running, find the most distant air outlets, and
run them until the water stops flowing. Them move towards the
compressor, repeating with the other outlets. Finally, check back at
the end to make sure that none snuck by while you were draining the
other outlets.

Remember -- just because *you* are installing an air dryer,
there is no certainty that the previous owners did. You may be lucky,
and find out that they did.

I remember when I used to work for a certain company in this
area, if you started to use an air drop which had just been hanging
there for a while, you had to expect to get a lot of water out of it
before you got any air.

If you end up in that situation, it can be fixed. All you have to
rework is the main trunk line larger, say a 1", and then when you
reconnect all the intermediate tap points you make the tees off the
mainline go UP off for 6" or so, then they go horizontal out to the
individual outlets. And they have a drip leg at the bottom with a
butterfly valve at the bottom.

You can rework the original 1/2" pipe that way too, if you never plan
on using more than one drop at a time. But you'd need to put all the
big draws like bead blast cabinets Right Next To the compressor.

Do the three ball valves (In - Bypass - Out) between the compressor
outlet, the Air Dryer, and the mainline - so you can cut it out of the
loop quick and easy if something goes wrong.

And when you get to the far end of the Mainline - that has
conveniently sloped downwards somewhere between 1/16" and 1/8" a foot
or so from the high end at the compressor and air drier toward that
point, you put a drip-leg and a drain valve there too.

And you don't put Any plain couplings At All in the new Black Steel
Pipe mainline - they're all Tees with the unused spigot pointing up
and plugged. That way you don't have to take the whole thing apart
again if you want to add a drop. Threaded Pipe is always a pain in
the arse that way.

Me, I'd use Brazed Copper all the way - you want to add a tee, it's
not an issue. Cut and braze when and where needed. And make the taps
go UP the same way, so any water that condenses out gets left behind.

-- Bruce --


Why black pipe? We're not doing nat. gas here. I used all 3/4"
galv steel for my main and 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/2 tee's UP, then two 90 deg
street el's and 1/2" down to my outlet, ball valve and Q/C.

Sch 40 pipe will be expensivce enough, copper would require another
mortgage.

Randy
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Randy