For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The
100' works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but
the cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.

Tue, Jan 1, 2008, 7:55pm nospam.nospam.com (tiredofspam) doth sayeth:
snip I am looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the
compressor.snip

Well, my first thought was why not get another compressor? Second
though was, what exqactly are you planning on using air on in your
garage? If it's only for inflating tires, I'd just get a portable tank.
Details, you left out details.



JOAT
If you can read this you're in range.

Filling tires, running an air ratchet and 3/8 impact.

Spraying outside when I am too lazy to setup my shop for spraying.
I don't worry about overspray in the garage. I do worry about bugs
getting in the finish... but hey I'd rather spray in the garage then the
house.



J T wrote:
Tue, Jan 1, 2008, 7:55pm nospam.nospam.com (tiredofspam) doth sayeth:
snip I am looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the
compressor.snip

Well, my first thought was why not get another compressor? Second
though was, what exqactly are you planning on using air on in your
garage? If it's only for inflating tires, I'd just get a portable tank.
Details, you left out details.



JOAT
If you can read this you're in range.

Filling tires, running an air ratchet and 3/8 impact.

Spraying outside when I am too lazy to setup my shop for spraying.
I don't worry about overspray in the garage. I do worry about bugs
getting in the finish... but hey I'd rather spray in the garage then the
house.



J T wrote:
Tue, Jan 1, 2008, 7:55pm nospam.nospam.com (tiredofspam) doth sayeth:
snip I am looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the
compressor.snip

Well, my first thought was why not get another compressor? Second
though was, what exqactly are you planning on using air on in your
garage? If it's only for inflating tires, I'd just get a portable tank.
Details, you left out details.



JOAT
If you can read this you're in range.

"tiredofspam" nospam.nospam.com wrote in message
...
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The 100'
works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but the
cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.


3/4 galvanized pipe would be my choice.

Pat wrote:
"tiredofspam" nospam.nospam.com wrote in message
...
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The 100'
works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but the
cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.


3/4 galvanized pipe would be my choice.


Over here, 1/2" black pipe would get the nod.

John

On Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:55:03 -0500, tiredofspam nospam.nospam.com
wrote:

For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The
100' works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but
the cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.

I have more or less the same situation. I don't think you'll have any
trouble inflating or running an impact wrench or even spraying. The
long pipe/hose length actually acts as additional reserve.

If it turns out you have flow trouble with some high volume whatzit,
then do what I did. Add a portable air tank in the garage. It's
normally tied to the compressor (in the basement), and I just plug
into it if I'm working in the garage.

If I need air out on the drive or in the shed, I just disconnect the
tank from the line to the compressor and carry it to where I need it.

Actually a very handy setup.

Paul F.

tiredofspam wrote:

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

Impact tools, yes.

Spraying, no.

You can use black iron pipe, but stay away from galvanized since it can
flake and plug tools.

Lew

Tue, Jan 1, 2008, 8:47pm nospam.nospam.com (tiredofspam) doth sayeth:
Filling tires, running an air ratchet and 3/8 impact. snip

I think if it was me I might well opt for another compressor. Then
if one dies, you've got backup.



JOAT
If you can read this you're in range.

On Jan 1, 7:55 pm, tiredofspam nospam.nospam.com wrote:
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
MY T-shirt John ran 1/2" sched 40 PVC pipe round his shop for years.
At every outlet, he ran a vertical section with a petcock at the
bottom

He never had any problems with air powered tools or spraying - thought
we never did any "classic car paint jobs."

The tubing acts as a storage tank extension. Pressure, at any outlet
should remain constant - flow, I would assume would be the first
variable to be affected by reducing the "pipi" to th 3/8" i.d. of
standard air hose.

RUST CORROSION ??
....
3/4 galvanized pipe would be my choice.

"tiredofspam" nospam.nospam.com wrote in message
...
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The 100'
works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

Impact guns and like air tools will probably work fine as long as your
compressor has a decent delivery rate to start with. They are not high
volume tools.

If you're thinking of an air sander (DA), or similar tool, you'll regret
this approach. Then again - a lot of your tool choices are going to be
limited by the compressor in the first place, so the plumbing is only a
secondary factor. For spray painting it also depends on the delivery rate
of your compressor, but you will be paying more attention to the pressure
drop in a 3/8" line. You can figure it out by trial and error, and set your
regulator higher at the compressor to compensate, but that's not what I
would do.


My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but the
cost of those is quite a bit more.

Not for 100'. Go price it - that isn't going to break the bank. If I were
plumbing my garage all over again, I'd use copper, but the black pipe I have
plumbed in currently has presented no problems, and is really not all that
expensive. Just make sure you plumb in drain drops to drain your lines
before doing things like spraying paint, etc.


My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.


You should probably tell us a bit more about your compressor. If it's a
pancake compressor, we shouldn't even be having parts of this discussion.

--

-Mike-

On Jan 1, 6:55*pm, tiredofspam nospam.nospam.com wrote:
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The
100' works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but
the cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.

You could use polypropylene (rolled plastic, not PVC) pipe for your
80' run. It's cheap, easy to install, and safe. Resist the urge to
go with 3/8 hose. Someday you will want to use a high-volume tool in
the garage, and you will curse the day you went cheap.

DonkeyHody
"Every man is my superior in that I can learn from him." - Thomas
Carlyle

It's a 15 year old 3 hp 20 gal tank.

Mike Marlow wrote:
"tiredofspam" nospam.nospam.com wrote in message
...
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor. The 100'
works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be too
great to run air tools.

Impact guns and like air tools will probably work fine as long as your
compressor has a decent delivery rate to start with. They are not high
volume tools.

If you're thinking of an air sander (DA), or similar tool, you'll regret
this approach. Then again - a lot of your tool choices are going to be
limited by the compressor in the first place, so the plumbing is only a
secondary factor. For spray painting it also depends on the delivery rate
of your compressor, but you will be paying more attention to the pressure
drop in a 3/8" line. You can figure it out by trial and error, and set your
regulator higher at the compressor to compensate, but that's not what I
would do.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but the
cost of those is quite a bit more.

Not for 100'. Go price it - that isn't going to break the bank. If I were
plumbing my garage all over again, I'd use copper, but the black pipe I have
plumbed in currently has presented no problems, and is really not all that
expensive. Just make sure you plumb in drain drops to drain your lines
before doing things like spraying paint, etc.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.


You should probably tell us a bit more about your compressor. If it's a
pancake compressor, we shouldn't even be having parts of this discussion.

"tiredofspam" wrote:

It's a 15 year old 3 hp 20 gal tank.

Not big enough to do any serious spraying.

Lew

J T wrote:
Tue, Jan 1, 2008, 8:47pm nospam.nospam.com (tiredofspam) doth sayeth:
Filling tires, running an air ratchet and 3/8 impact. snip

I think if it was me I might well opt for another compressor.
Then if one dies, you've got backup.


I sort of got around that by using a 25 or 30 lb propane tank (forget
which for sure) when we lived back in Chgo, as a second tank in parallel
with the main 33 Gal tank. I might have had to stop once in awhile if I
was spraying a large surface non-stop, to wait for the compressor to
cacth up, but ... I had only used 3/8" hose to get out to the garage,
which was too small. But, I could do most anything I wanted to with it,
including run a hammer wrench and metal cutting. I always planned to
put in a 1" line out to the garage but moved first. It worked
reasonably well for the do it yourselfer; probably too hard on the
compressor I had for daily use, but it's still chugging away out in my
*attached* garageg.
I'd say never use 1/4" hose for anything but tires etc., and maybe a
brad nailer or stapler kind of thing. IME at 100', it's no good for
hvlp spraying. But those auto-coiled hoses can be nice to have. At my
compressor I have three hoses: 1 to the 1/4" coiled hose, one to the
reel of 50' of 3/8" hose, and a 50 footer that goes into the shop, along
with a 12 footer that hangs nearby. It pays to never throw anything
away! One way or another I can usually get things doneg.

Cheers,

Pop`

Pat wrote:
"tiredofspam" nospam.nospam.com wrote in message
...
For Christmas my son got me a small retractable air hose reel. 30'
Craftsman model. So I am looking to hook it up, at the same time I am
looking to plumb the garage which is 80 feet from the compressor.
The 100' works out by the time I put the connection up on the wall.

If I cheap it out using 100' of 3/8" hose will the pressure drop be
too great to run air tools.

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe..
but the cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.


3/4 galvanized pipe would be my choice.

Good point: The water vapor in black pipe would be a rust nuisance and
maybe hard on the tools, too. You'd need an extra air cleaner for it,
if it would even work that way.

Pop`

My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but
the cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.



A lot of the shops (garages) I've worked in (including Mack Truck)
used hard copper pipe to plumb the air around the shop. And like some
one already posted, the air is taken off at a T. The copper pipe goes
about 6" further down with a petcock to drain any water. Just like
regular plumbing, it was mainlined with 3/4 and reduced to 1/2 at each
port. Your operation may not need the 3/4.

Pete

wrote:
My other option was to run either braided 1/2 or 3/4 black pipe.. but
the cost of those is quite a bit more.

My wood shop is in the basement right near the compressor.



A lot of the shops (garages) I've worked in (including Mack Truck)
used hard copper pipe to plumb the air around the shop. And like some
one already posted, the air is taken off at a T. The copper pipe goes
about 6" further down with a petcock to drain any water. Just like
regular plumbing, it was mainlined with 3/4 and reduced to 1/2 at each
port. Your operation may not need the 3/4.

Pete

But beware, that's not necessarily the same copper you plumbed a house
with. Be sure to use the right stuff.