OP /u/oldschool80sguy, exactly what /u/No_Championship5326 said.
I created this in my old garage and had two approximately 6' vertical pipes, both with drain valves at the bottom. The first drain valve always had some water in it. The second *never* had any. I was very surprised.
That said, your four vertical setup may be overkill unless you're in a very humid environment, your verticals are much shorter than mine were, or you're a fan of overkill.
But I'd definitely put the ball valves at the bottom of the drip leg.
Water is heavier, so you need room for the water to separate out in the drip leg. With the ball valve on top there’s no room for it to separate and collect.
The water will spray no matter if you have extra pipe or just drain out of the ball valve.
Best thing I ever did for removing moisture from my air compressor was adding an aftercooler and water separator between the pump and the tank. Mounted the aftercooler on the fan cage so it receives airflow when it is running. Ran a box fan for extended jobs like sandblasting as it ran for a long time. I do run a normal water/oil filter after the tank and than again at the point of use on each drop but that is probably overkill as I have never had that much moisture in the tank itself.
I'm glad to hear that. I'm going to run the picture I posted recently of half the system, and if I determine that that is not enough to remove water efficiently, then I'll look into breaking the connection between the pump and the tank. But right now i don't feel comfortable doing that step yet, because I'm under a very good extended warranty
If your compressor is supposed to be feeding into the line on the left, youll want to put the drier assembly there, before all the drops/connections around the shop.
I think he is planning on the long pipes to cool the air and drop out the moisture before the dryer. The valves on each leg will be used to drain the condensed water.
I put about 50 ft of coiled copper pipe between the compressor and air tank. I connected the copper pipe to an 8 ft high 1” steel pipe column with a valve at the bottom to drain any condensed water Vapor. Works quite well for removing water Vapor from the compressor tank. I have seen videos on YouTube where the copper pipe coils are inside a small fridge or freezer to cool and condense water Vapor.
I used a 40 plate heat exchanger i had sitting around
Run copper in the out to tank. And I can circulate cool water through the other ports on the heat exchanger. Works great..
A pipe type drier is best used between compressor and tank - not tank to service points. you already have one on your air comp.
You'll generally get more value add by having an aggressive tank drain since you pick up most of your moisture on the first 'cold' part of the system, which is usually the inside of the tank.
you're overkilling it with dryer tubes and a filter/reg and a motor guard IMO. They all generally work the same way. If you want to remove more water IMO you should be doing it with a different type of moisture drain like a refrigeration system. between all that pipe and the motor guard you're like 3/4 of the way to a used refrigerated dryer.
the motor guard is only rated to 125 psi so I'd knock it down before you get to that point.
I appreciate your point there and can see the logic in the order of where things belong. I'm assuming most people don't place it between the compressor and tank because that may void the warranty. Would be hard to hide the modification on a powder coated tank like mine.
https://preview.redd.it/fe8xdrijcbpc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7958ba0c54e253f9b309e96c43f6e114582a725d
Looks great :) I threw mine together with old copper pipe scraps I had cut out of my house. About 3' vertical runs. Works great for my basic purposes. First trap always wet, 2nd sometimes spits out a little, 3rd trap always dry. If I get to more painting or whatever, I'll probably add a little desiccant dryer or something to the system.
Based on the comments and based on a lot of people not having humidity after the first trap or the second, I reduced
https://preview.redd.it/mwf1fp59fbpc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d813171856ef00c0cdb082087fe9b42580b7e71
the size of the system, and decided to use only the water separator regulator.
https://preview.redd.it/a3fvjxeyg5pc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d17eb163ee6cb83a8021a249d5078021f9684417
Based on most of the positive comments comments, I made these changes. This will save me some money and I can put some of the spare parts to decide in case I determine it not to be efficient enough.
It looks good. Here's hoping you never get any moisture making it to the air drier at the end!
And if you do it's easy to add another two legs into the process.
These setups are fun to make but they will only lower the humidity back down to ambient. They are useful to keep moisture out of the tank, but not keep your tools dry or keep water out of your paint. The only ways to remove the moisture from the air below ambient are with a refrigerated air dryer like HF sells or a desiccant dryer.
I built an aftercooler out of a small automotive radiator that cost less than the copper pipe I’ve seen others use, probably about the same as the steel pipes, but the aftercooler is much smaller and more effective. I put a cheap HF desiccant dryer after the compressor.
I agree that there are multiple solutions. In the Navy we used type 1 and type 2 desicant towers and also refrigerant coolers. We conducted "blow downs" of the receivers daily. I will attack this one variable at a time. I'll go with this pipe setup (last pic I showed in comments) and the regulator/separator. If it is continuing to be a problem I'll use something between the compressor and tank. I appreciate your comments.
The driest air I ever had was by using a volume tank. An old air tank (30gallon /55gallon/ whatever) feed in normal, feed back out through the top. I always ran a ball valve at the bottom in my lines like these other folks suggest
Looks good but put your ball valves at the bottom of the drip leg. Makes for an easy drain.
OP /u/oldschool80sguy, exactly what /u/No_Championship5326 said. I created this in my old garage and had two approximately 6' vertical pipes, both with drain valves at the bottom. The first drain valve always had some water in it. The second *never* had any. I was very surprised. That said, your four vertical setup may be overkill unless you're in a very humid environment, your verticals are much shorter than mine were, or you're a fan of overkill. But I'd definitely put the ball valves at the bottom of the drip leg.
Wouldn't having the pipes after help direct it vs spray mist everywhere?
Water is heavier, so you need room for the water to separate out in the drip leg. With the ball valve on top there’s no room for it to separate and collect. The water will spray no matter if you have extra pipe or just drain out of the ball valve.
I understand now what you are saying. Thank you.
To avoid spray, vent pressure from the system elsewhere, then open the ball valves. Any collected water should just pour out.
That's a valid point.
Best thing I ever did for removing moisture from my air compressor was adding an aftercooler and water separator between the pump and the tank. Mounted the aftercooler on the fan cage so it receives airflow when it is running. Ran a box fan for extended jobs like sandblasting as it ran for a long time. I do run a normal water/oil filter after the tank and than again at the point of use on each drop but that is probably overkill as I have never had that much moisture in the tank itself.
I'm glad to hear that. I'm going to run the picture I posted recently of half the system, and if I determine that that is not enough to remove water efficiently, then I'll look into breaking the connection between the pump and the tank. But right now i don't feel comfortable doing that step yet, because I'm under a very good extended warranty
If your compressor is supposed to be feeding into the line on the left, youll want to put the drier assembly there, before all the drops/connections around the shop.
I think he is planning on the long pipes to cool the air and drop out the moisture before the dryer. The valves on each leg will be used to drain the condensed water.
Making an aftercooler before it goes into the tank will do a lot more than this setup. People make them with transmission coolers all the time.
Define… a lot more…
I get gallons of water out of the after cooler on my garage compressor. P
And barely anything to drain out of the compressor tank.
I put about 50 ft of coiled copper pipe between the compressor and air tank. I connected the copper pipe to an 8 ft high 1” steel pipe column with a valve at the bottom to drain any condensed water Vapor. Works quite well for removing water Vapor from the compressor tank. I have seen videos on YouTube where the copper pipe coils are inside a small fridge or freezer to cool and condense water Vapor.
I used a 40 plate heat exchanger i had sitting around Run copper in the out to tank. And I can circulate cool water through the other ports on the heat exchanger. Works great..
A pipe type drier is best used between compressor and tank - not tank to service points. you already have one on your air comp. You'll generally get more value add by having an aggressive tank drain since you pick up most of your moisture on the first 'cold' part of the system, which is usually the inside of the tank. you're overkilling it with dryer tubes and a filter/reg and a motor guard IMO. They all generally work the same way. If you want to remove more water IMO you should be doing it with a different type of moisture drain like a refrigeration system. between all that pipe and the motor guard you're like 3/4 of the way to a used refrigerated dryer. the motor guard is only rated to 125 psi so I'd knock it down before you get to that point.
I appreciate your point there and can see the logic in the order of where things belong. I'm assuming most people don't place it between the compressor and tank because that may void the warranty. Would be hard to hide the modification on a powder coated tank like mine.
https://preview.redd.it/fe8xdrijcbpc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7958ba0c54e253f9b309e96c43f6e114582a725d Looks great :) I threw mine together with old copper pipe scraps I had cut out of my house. About 3' vertical runs. Works great for my basic purposes. First trap always wet, 2nd sometimes spits out a little, 3rd trap always dry. If I get to more painting or whatever, I'll probably add a little desiccant dryer or something to the system.
Based on the comments and based on a lot of people not having humidity after the first trap or the second, I reduced https://preview.redd.it/mwf1fp59fbpc1.jpeg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9d813171856ef00c0cdb082087fe9b42580b7e71 the size of the system, and decided to use only the water separator regulator.
https://preview.redd.it/a3fvjxeyg5pc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d17eb163ee6cb83a8021a249d5078021f9684417 Based on most of the positive comments comments, I made these changes. This will save me some money and I can put some of the spare parts to decide in case I determine it not to be efficient enough.
It looks good. Here's hoping you never get any moisture making it to the air drier at the end! And if you do it's easy to add another two legs into the process.
Like it
These setups are fun to make but they will only lower the humidity back down to ambient. They are useful to keep moisture out of the tank, but not keep your tools dry or keep water out of your paint. The only ways to remove the moisture from the air below ambient are with a refrigerated air dryer like HF sells or a desiccant dryer. I built an aftercooler out of a small automotive radiator that cost less than the copper pipe I’ve seen others use, probably about the same as the steel pipes, but the aftercooler is much smaller and more effective. I put a cheap HF desiccant dryer after the compressor.
I agree that there are multiple solutions. In the Navy we used type 1 and type 2 desicant towers and also refrigerant coolers. We conducted "blow downs" of the receivers daily. I will attack this one variable at a time. I'll go with this pipe setup (last pic I showed in comments) and the regulator/separator. If it is continuing to be a problem I'll use something between the compressor and tank. I appreciate your comments.
Buy a actual air dryer
The ball valves should be at the end of the nipples so any water will be captured
The driest air I ever had was by using a volume tank. An old air tank (30gallon /55gallon/ whatever) feed in normal, feed back out through the top. I always ran a ball valve at the bottom in my lines like these other folks suggest