i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

--barry

"Barry Jarrett" wrote in message
...

i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

--barry

I use 3/4" throughout my shop and it works great. Easy to run and really
helps to condense moisture. Be sure to use a short whip hose (Rubber)
between compressor and start of airline. Slope up from the compressor a
small amount and your in business.

Ed Angell

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:15:43 GMT, (Barry Jarrett) wrote:
i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

I use copper in my shop and we use copper at work. There's only
one caveat, use a piece of flex between the compressor and the
lines. Copper can work harden from the compressor's vibration
and fracture.

Gary

About 5 years ago I designed and installed an air distribution system
in a 13 bay auto garage for a friend (the owner). It was all 3/4" copper
lines with brass ball valves throughout. The tool connects and lift
connections all had condensate blow-off drops with valves. He chose
to use a commercial air dryer in line with the compressor. I soldered
all of the connections with Harris Stay Brite 8 and Harris Stay Clean
flux. Not a single leak or problem to date.

My advice.. Do it.. You will be very happy with the results and never
look back.. It's super easy to do also..
Just my 2¢..
PJ

"Barry Jarrett" wrote in message
...

i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

--barry

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:15:43 GMT, (Barry
Jarrett) wrote:


i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

I knew a guy that painted aircraft that used about two hundred feet of
1/2" soft copper tubing in a 55 gallon drum. The copper came in 100
foot coils and he opened the coils up until they had a few inches of
clearance on the drum walls. I think one coil went down to the
bottom, the second coil was joined to it with a compression coupling
and it came back up inside, concentric with the first coil, at a
slightly smaller diameter.

The drums were filled with water, setting on a poured slab hanger
floor at ambient temp (probably in the 50's and 60's most of the time.
He also had some good water traps and filters in his system. He said
he could get very dry air at a stable temperature out of this. At the
paint gun it warmed slightly as the day progressed but not very much.

We talked once about the pros and cons of routing the air from the
compressors through the cooling coils and then into the 60 gallon air
storage tank to minimize temperature variations and condensation in
the tank but I don't know that he ever got around to doing that.

He was concerned about the volume of air that would be contained in
the coils between the unloader and the tank inlet check valve. That
was one of those simple mechanical unloaders on the pressure switch
relay that pressed a Schraeder valve. I thought that it having to
release a larger quantity of air when the compressor shut down would
not make any difference in the way it worked but we were not sure
about that.



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On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 21:24:05 -0400, Jack Erbes
wrote:

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:15:43 GMT, (Barry
Jarrett) wrote:


i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

I knew a guy that painted aircraft that used about two hundred feet of
1/2" soft copper tubing in a 55 gallon drum. The copper came in 100
foot coils and he opened the coils up until they had a few inches of
clearance on the drum walls. I think one coil went down to the
bottom, the second coil was joined to it with a compression coupling
and it came back up inside, concentric with the first coil, at a
slightly smaller diameter.

The drums were filled with water, setting on a poured slab hanger
floor at ambient temp (probably in the 50's and 60's most of the time.
He also had some good water traps and filters in his system. He said
he could get very dry air at a stable temperature out of this. At the
paint gun it warmed slightly as the day progressed but not very much.

We talked once about the pros and cons of routing the air from the
compressors through the cooling coils and then into the 60 gallon air
storage tank to minimize temperature variations and condensation in
the tank but I don't know that he ever got around to doing that.

He was concerned about the volume of air that would be contained in
the coils between the unloader and the tank inlet check valve. That
was one of those simple mechanical unloaders on the pressure switch
relay that pressed a Schraeder valve. I thought that it having to
release a larger quantity of air when the compressor shut down would
not make any difference in the way it worked but we were not sure
about that.
I would mount the check valve/unloader ahead of the cooling coils.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 18:25:03 -0400, Gary Coffman
wrote:

I use copper in my shop and we use copper at work. There's only
one caveat, use a piece of flex between the compressor and the
lines. Copper can work harden from the compressor's vibration
and fracture.

there's definitely going to be a flexi hose between the compressor
(portable and usually in the way) and the hard line (run along the
joists above).

Barry Jarrett wrote:
i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

--barry

You can get a used commercial air dryer for about $200, so I wouldn't invest
too much money in a homemade one.

On Sun, 07 Sep 2003 20:15:43 GMT, (Barry Jarrett) wrote:

|
|i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
|spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
|drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
|drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
|instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
|tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
|easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
|water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

Got a fridge in the shop?
Run your copper coil flat against the back wall, with the ends poking through
one side to connect to the air system. Cold beer, dry air.
Rex in Fort Worth

"Barry Jarrett" wrote in message
...

i need to rig some sort of air cooler/dryer for my compressor w/o
spending a lot of money or taking a lot of space. i've seen some
drawings of nice setups using iron pipe to cool the air and provide a
drain for water. any reason i can't use hard wall copper pipe
instead? max pressure is 150psi, which is about what the copper
tubing in an espresso machine deals with. copper, for me, is much
easier to work with, and means i can build something nifty, like a
water-cooled condenser to pull the moisture out of the air system.

--barry


Also mentioned elsewhere in the thread - soft copper coils work well for
this. No need to go to the complication of putting coils inside water drums
unless you really want to. I've used 12 feet of 1/4" soft copper coiled
around a mandrel and streched slightly to drop scalding hot air to within
~15 degrees of ambient (was for a dedicated air bearing supply compressor).
The output of the coil dropped into a tall/thin pressure tank with a drain
valve. Still used a drier after the tank for good measure - megabucks if
the robots rusted =). The only time the drier got any work to do was when
the tank didn't get drained and water filled up to the output tap =).

Could hold the coil in my hand (by the cool end...)

StaticsJason

On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 04:47:12 GMT, "Statics"
wrote:

Also mentioned elsewhere in the thread - soft copper coils work well for
this. No need to go to the complication of putting coils inside water drums
unless you really want to.

no room for drums... no fridge...

but i do have cold water, so i'm going to run a length of 3/4" copper
air pipe through a length of 1" pipe (water jacket), which is hooked
to the cold water line. instant condenser.

On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 16:24:57 GMT, (Barry Jarrett) wrote:

|On Tue, 09 Sep 2003 04:47:12 GMT, "Statics"
wrote:
|
| Also mentioned elsewhere in the thread - soft copper coils work well for
| this. No need to go to the complication of putting coils inside water drums
| unless you really want to.
|
|no room for drums... no fridge...

Of course, the drum could be outside with the copper running through the wall.

|but i do have cold water, so i'm going to run a length of 3/4" copper
|air pipe through a length of 1" pipe (water jacket), which is hooked
|to the cold water line. instant condenser.

Good idea! And it doesn't take up any more space.
A Pipe Tee at each end for entry/exit of tubing.
Drilled plug, copper brazed to plug.
Rex in Fort Worth