Air Line setup,, Water troubles

Water in the lines is not a quick fix. Water droplets will adhere to the inside of the line and then randomly show up. I suspect this due to no changes to the system and the system now showing water. So will agree with the super heated air, cooler lines, condensation. I have battled moisture here at school for years. Have installed many moisture traps, good quality traps, drops and we open two ball valves to release any moisture before turning another valve to pressurize a line. Just this week we have not had to change the desicant in the traps on the main line. I think we finally have a handle on moisture control. Now this is if every student follows this procedure. One day of releasing moisture if it still is there, we will start all over again.
Your drop on the paint room that is a T, I would think a Y with the top of the Y being the input, the other top of the Y being the output to the spraygun, the bottom of the Y being the moisture trap/ball valve at the bottom. Make gravity your friend and the path of least resistance for the water.

I emailed a few questions concerning our school set up to this company (Steve). Got replies with in a couple of days. Eventually bought what they suggested and have the most success I have ever had here in this shop.

http://www.aircompressorsdirect.com/tools/consumer-air-compressors.html

Notice at the bottom of the page, you can call Steve direct and ask him questions.

there is one thing that i did change and that was to get rid of the plastic lines some time back..to the copper i now have.. so maybe the metal is giving me this change over plastic??? will try to check out your guy jonathan.. thanks

hey jonathan what did you end up with for your school that seems to work? any pics or links to products..

To be honest, it is only a "quick" fix. By that I mean, when this group of students moves on, if the others don't follow the regime, we will have the same problem. I am the first in a series of lines that go to two other shops and maintenance. Maintenance has no problem leaving a leaking valve on or a tool with a poor fitting connector lay around leaking all day and night.

For the small shop, or a small area:
http://familywoodworking.org/forums/showthread.php?24451-Air-Supply-Suggestion




.

hey,, mike i have done what you suggested i think in the pics you can see the loops and the the distance is over 50 ft of pipe to help cool things down first and i have one of those type of traps in my finish room at the end of the line..???

I see you have a mix of copper ans black pipe. I would think the copper wold dissipate the heat better than the black pipe. Could it be that the black pipe isn't cooling the air enough to remove the moisture and when it hits the copper it cools more rapidly releasing more moisture from the air?

I used my compressor for an hour straight today and had no moisture coming out from it. I'm talking it was running nonstop and I was using the air nozzle to clean out the track for our edge bander at work. My nozzle is also drilled out to supply more pressure.

Only other difference between our systems is that my hose connections that come off the main rise above the main line instead of teeing off horizontally.

Larry,

One of the problems I see is the horizontal sections, where water can gather. I like to go up, with a trap below, and from that height there's a downward trend (with drops and drains). The filter in this trap, is it a toilet paper filter?




.

yes it is called a coalescent filter mike according to the manufacturer.. its supposed to be the best for my application. i have talked with the company rep and he gaveme some ideas as to how to correct what i have.. he is saying to eliminate the loop i have at the compressor and go with a riser at the first filter..

I wonder if you could make a copper cooler somewhere before the water trap to help condensate the moisture out. I'm thinking a 2-1/2" section with a 1" pipe running through the center. You would plumb the larger pipe to circulate water through when you are using lots of air on humid days..........I guess this is what one might call a hillbilly cooler? I also have intermittent condensation problems but haven't addressed the problem yet. I was quite surprised when I moved the compressor outside last week that there was no water in the tank. It seems my water trap has started to work again........

larry merlau said:

i have a small air leak in the line which causes the compressor to run occasionlly when i am not there like 3 or 4 times a day maybe..

Click to expand...

I remembered seeing this, and have to comment. My compressor is shut down any time I leave the shop. For whatever reason, a small leak can become an all out constant depletion of the tank causing the compressor to run continuously. Results...can be a fire. I have a picture of a burned out basement showing the melted compressor. It's in one of my computers...I'll look for it. But, my suggestion is to shut things down when leaving the shop.




.

thanks mike,, that could be done easy enough..

I have huge troubles with water in my new shop. All of my lines are PEX, and its a continuos loop around the shop. Another complication is I run some stupid pressures. I run 160psi and that does not help anywater issues either. The drops that are seldom used collect a lot of water. Some more than others for no reason that I can determine.

In my old shop I had black pipe. I'd get water if I wasn't good about draining the compressor and the drops, but other than that it wasn't too bad. I only had a couple of drops, and I always had the drops coming off the wall with a T, with a bit of pipe with a valve on the end. Its not perfect, but it worked pretty well.

With my current setup I was thinking I'd run a bunch of small diameter copper pipe vertically up the wall to feed the rest of the system from the compressor. Build a sort of copper radiator. The issue with my setup is that it comes out of the compressor super hot and it doesn't cool until it reaches the ~150 of horizontal piping that runs around the rest of the shop. If I can cool the air a bit it'd probably help immensely.

The only real solution is a use a line air dryer. My current compressor is giving the early signs of dying, it'll be replaced with a screw type with a built in air dryer.



Yep, I'm no help. You're welcome. lol