In article t,
"carl mciver" wrote:

"B.B." u wrote in message
newsoNotSpamthegoat4-
SNIP
| Don't use the evaporator. First, it's a mother****er to get out of a
| car or anything else; second, it can't take a lot of pressure. Instead,
| use the condenser--it'll be at the front of a car, right before the
| radiator, and it's designed to withstand up to about 4-500psi before
| bursting. If you pull one out of a compact car it'll even come with a
| 12VDC fan or two bolted on it, ready to go.
SNIP

So, what difference would there be if I were just to hang it from the
wall in my garage, with some airspace around it (hell, even tilted away from
the wall a bit) and let it work as a passive device? My compressor is just
a 5hp with a 20 gallon tank.
I've got one or two condensers from a couple cars I've parted out. How
worth it is to plumb one between the compressor and the tank? I'd have to
attach it to the tank somehow, but wouldn't that be more efficient than on
the outlet of the tank? There would have to be a large pipe to act as a
collection point, and it would be a heck of a lot easier to get to for
emptying instead of reaching to the bottom and having it splatter crap all
over the floor!

If you use it passively it just won't cool as quickly or as much.
It's easy enough to experiment with. Hook it all up and with the
compressor pumping feel the outlet of the condenser. If it's hot you
need a fan, if it's not you're OK. Either adding a fan or adding more
condenser area will lower the temperature of the outlet.
I would pipe it in between the compressor and the tank, so water
collects in the tank and the restrictiveness of the condenser's lines
isn't an issue when actually using the air--only when pumping. You
could run a line from the bottom of the tank itself to a convenient
place with a purge valve for the water. As long as you plumb in at the
bottom of the tank it'll happily blow the gunk right through the line to
wherever you want, even above the tank itself.
You mentioned in your other message looking for one with better
airflow. Pretty much all single-tube condensers will have thin tubing
to withstand high pressures. There are some out there with parallel
passages, but you'll need to be more thorough cleaning them since you
can't just blow the gunk out. You'd probably need to plumb it into a
parts washer and pump it out with it submerged for a few hours to make
sure you clear all of the passages. (of course, if you get it out of a
sealed clean AC system you can skip all of that) Or, like you said,
find a second one then put 'em in parallel.

--
B.B. --I am not a goat! thegoat4 at airmail dot net
http://web2.airmail.net/thegoat4/