Half done hooking up compressor in the factory

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Once you get it running, find the most distant air outlets, and run them until the water stops flowing. Them move towards the compressor, repeating with the other outlets. Finally, check back at the end to make sure that none snuck by while you were draining the other outlets.

Remember -- just because *you* are installing an air dryer, there is no certainty that the previous owners did. You may be lucky, and find out that they did.

I remember when I used to work for a certain company in this area, if you started to use an air drop which had just been hanging there for a while, you had to expect to get a lot of water out of it before you got any air.

Good Luck, DoN.

If you end up in that situation, it can be fixed. All you have to rework is the main trunk line larger, say a 1", and then when you reconnect all the intermediate tap points you make the tees off the mainline go UP off for 6" or so, then they go horizontal out to the individual outlets. And they have a drip leg at the bottom with a butterfly valve at the bottom.

You can rework the original 1/2" pipe that way too, if you never plan on using more than one drop at a time. But you'd need to put all the big draws like bead blast cabinets Right Next To the compressor.

Do the three ball valves (In - Bypass - Out) between the compressor outlet, the Air Dryer, and the mainline - so you can cut it out of the loop quick and easy if something goes wrong.

And when you get to the far end of the Mainline - that has conveniently sloped downwards somewhere between 1/16" and 1/8" a foot or so from the high end at the compressor and air drier toward that point, you put a drip-leg and a drain valve there too.

And you don't put Any plain couplings At All in the new Black Steel Pipe mainline - they're all Tees with the unused spigot pointing up and plugged. That way you don't have to take the whole thing apart again if you want to add a drop. Threaded Pipe is always a pain in the arse that way.

Me, I'd use Brazed Copper all the way - you want to add a tee, it's not an issue. Cut and braze when and where needed. And make the taps go UP the same way, so any water that condenses out gets left behind.

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Good point. I will do that. There is a lot of plumbing work to be done, hooking up compressor to the dryer, dryer to the compressed air system, etc.

i

Heh, I refer to my 3800 sq ft of stuff as 'The Facility'. Used to be a machine shop as well.

Weird how there was a machine shop out in the middle of just cornfields, but that was the reagan era for you, the defense buildup was so large there was (I have to assume by the existence of this setup) an actual lack of machining capacity.

Dave

Why black pipe? We're not doing nat. gas here. I used all 3/4" galv steel for my main and 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/2 tee's UP, then two 90 deg street el's and 1/2" down to my outlet, ball valve and Q/C.

Sch 40 pipe will be expensivce enough, copper would require another mortgage.

Randy Remove 333 to reply. Randy

All tees? Good idea!

Galv flakes a lot. I hope you use a FLR on each drop, with or without lube. F'rinstance

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C'mon now. Iggy bought that property from pocket cash. Or one month's Google ad income would pay for the pipe job.

-- Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself. -- Thomas Jefferson

Where is the compressor located, floor wise? Is it on it's own concrete pad separate from the rest of the floor. We have a 60 gallon air compressor, 3-phase, 4 cylinder compressor. Don't know the HP. The cylinders are in a "V" configuration with a primary pair and a secondary pair operating together. Don't know what you call that.

However, the compressor is bolted to the floor in one corner of the shop. When it operates, it vibrates the entire floor. I put 1" thick rubber between the feet and floor and that helps a lot. Then built a two sides soundproof wall around two sides. One side is hinged to be able to service the compressor. Then replaced the solid pipe outlet connection with a flexible connection bent into an "S" to absorb the vibration transmitted to the air piping.

You can still feel the vibration when it is running, but is very much less than it originally had.

The correct installation would probably be on it's own concrete block, outside the building and the concrete block surrounded with some type of dampening material.

I don't think carpeting under the legs will do much for you. Especially when it gets compressed over time.

Paul

I did not bolt the compressor to the floor, but, instead, bolted it to

2x4s, which stand on carpet. Vibration is quite manageable.

I will keep an eye on this, I hope that I will be able to change these things easily with the material handling options that are now available to me.

i

Hockey pucks, pieces of truck tire tread, or other machine pads would be the best thing to isolate the compressor to help with vibration and "walking".

Carpet also works great.

i

I made my own Isolation Mounts - a square washer under the compressor foot like they use for bolting houses to the foundation, and a square of 4 Mason "Super W Pads" (molded rubber pucks about 1-1/2" square,

1/2" thick) on each foot, with a hole punched in the middle of the square for the anchor bolt.

Earthquake Country around here - a vertical compressor needs to be bolted down, but not too tight. And as the entire east coast just found out, EVERYWHERE is Earthquake Country to some degree.

The Mason Super W Pads are available at any air conditioning supply house. You usually put one under each corner of a condensing unit on it's pad, but they'll work like that under other free-standing things like air dryers.

Now if you really want to do it right, you get the Mil-Spec Isolation Mounts - not that Iggy would have a source for these or anything...

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My horizontal compressor stands on carpet on 2x4s and it works great.

The carpet is very plush. i

My Atlas Copco 3-stage V compressor sits on 2x4s and they sit on 4 casters. Connection to the tank is hydraulic hose. It's a heavy cast iron thing back in a corner. The casters not only eliminate vibration to the shop, they also make it possible to wheel the thing out into the shop to change belts or whatever, rather than standing on my head back in a corner with a drop light.

This is clever. I hope that it does not dance around when in operation.

Sounds like you would appreciate a 10,000 square foot building and a big crane on wheels.

i

Not to speak of. Locking casters seem to work well enough.

BTW, I'd dearly like to have a manual or exploded parts diagram for the compressor. It's so old that Atlas Copco has no record of ever having made it.

(I think I already got an answer here on r.c.m. to the blow-off problem mentioned on that page but further opinions welcome.)

New 30x40 shop was perfect 8 years ago. As of this year, I'm almost wedged so another 1200 sq ft would be nice. 10,000 sq ft would be fun but a bit in excess of my needs. I would love to have a bridge crane on wheels with powered drives on everything. But present needs don't justify the cost so I get by with a 2nd hand engine hoist and a couple of come-alongs. [1] (I'm at the age where I no longer pick up 200# anvils off the floor. :-)

[1]

I love the pictures of your projects! Please post more of them!

i

That's nice. Thank you.

Just go to the root URL,

look at the "gallery" or "new shop" links.

And there are a few things in

linked anywhere else.

Great idea. I wonder how long the hyd hose lasts with that hot air going through it.

Why would it? Most of the motion is rotary (heavy, well-balanced flywheel), and the movement of the 2 pistons in the V somewhat cancel each other out. But there's more than enough mass there to sink any imbalance before it turned into dance material, da?

Who here would NOT? ;)

-- Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Larry Jaques fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Mine has lasted 14 years without maintenance.

"Hot" air? My compressor is inter-cooled, and has a large storage tank. The air leaving - even at full capacity - is only about 30F above ambient.

How long do hydraulic hoses last with "cold" hydraulic fluid running through them (150F or better)?

LLoyd