Compressor moisture trap before tank?

Hi all-

What if I put a coiled copper cooling loop and coalescing filter between the pump and the tank to reduce the water collected in the tank?

Bad idea?

Thanks.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston
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Lots of folks do. Do you have trouble with a great deal of water in the tank?

In my case there's a fairly long run of copper tubing between the compressor and the storage tank, all sloping back to the compressor - so I installed a filter there with a large bowl, which does collect a fair amount of water.

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

Nah...

Variation on a theme used in my high-school shop years ago.

There, it was a coil of copper tubing with a "T" at the bottom, and things were set up so that the coil was upright. (If the top end were open, you could pour some water in, and it would run downhill until it hit the bottom) the "T" fitting was set up so that the "cross" of the T connected the bottom of the coil to a drain-trap (Nothing more than a chunk of pipe with two power-operated petcocks, one at top and bottom) and the output of the compressor "came in sideways" on the "post" of the "T". The top end of the coil went into the tank. The compressor would fire up, and whatever control hardware they were using would open the top petcock, and close the bottom one. After the compressor shut down, the control gear would close the top petcock, and open the bottom one, allowing the water that had been condensed out by the coil to run down a conveniently placed floor drain.

It was *AMAZING* how much water came out of that thing after every compressor cycle!

Even so, the teacher had to drain the tank at least once a week via its own petcock.

Reply to
Don Bruder

Not effective. The basic problem is heat removal, and for that to be efficient, you need a reservoir of phase change (melting ice, boiling liquid refrigerant, etc). Transfer to ambient air via a tubing coil has only a tiny, low-quality capacity.

Drying compressed air is like running the latter half of a still, except you don't get any moonshine out.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

The coalescing filter might work for a very short time, but even if it does survive the high temps at the pump outlet, it'll clog very quickly. They're intended to polish up air that's already pretty clean.

Unless the coil is very long, I doubt you'll get enough cooling to get any condensation in the tube. What's wrong with removing the water from the tank? It works quite well at low duty cycles.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

Nope. Works out as a good idea for me.

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I simply welded on an air conditioning condensor and let the cooling fan of the compressor blow air through the condensor. It removes a good amount of water before it gets to the tank.

Keep in mind, in my area, condensors of any kind are getting harder to find. There are a lot of air conditioners bring thrown away, but it seems that by the time it has hit the front sidewalk someone is ready to snip out the aluminum condensor for cash at the recycling yard.

I also wired my compressor up to a heavy duty relay with a 110v coil. I shoved this into a electric box and put on a garage sale $1 timer which I set to go on at 9am and off at 5:30pm. This way I never turn off my compressor manually and always have air ready when I want it. Aloha, Russell

Reply to
russell shigeoka

Thanks Don, Jim, Richard, Ned and Russell (in order received, so far!).

Don, that is really close to what I had in mind, though more automatic. I agree that this would not *replace* draining the tank.

Jim, I don't get much water condensing in the tank at all but I am always considering ways to improve tools. Draining some of the water out before it condenses on the tank walls seems like overkill. I like the idea!

Richard, I agree that I could condense more water out of the air if I could chill the tubing. Thought provoking, that.

Ned, I have my compressor set up so that draining the tank is fast and easy. There is nothing wrong with continuing to do that. I like to think about ways that tools would be designed for maximum safety, efficiency and longevity if cost was not the biggest issue. You ever do that? :)

Russell, Wow! That is a much more professional design than I had had been considering. Very nice indeed. Do you mind if I copy that? Mahalo â nui.

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

Good idea IMHO. But I'd go with something more like a small tank instead of the filter. Look at the compressor on my home page and see what I did. It works great. I barely get any water out of the tank when I drain it even after 6 months of wetter than normal weather I didn't get enough water out to fill the rather long nipple on the tank drain. I used a old propane tank (key word old means thicker than the new ones) for my collector with my unloader being a solenoid valve which opens when power is shut off. I did put some Brillo pad in the nipple to the valve so that no chunks get in it and put a nipple sticking down with a ball valve to let what ever collects there out from time to time.

I went overkill on the water collection on my system but I rarely get any water out anywhere except for the drain at the bottom of the heat exchanger header pipe and the collection tank which automatically drains.

Wayne Cook Shamrock, TX

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Reply to
Wayne Cook

Key things are cooling and a place for the condnesed water to drop out of the air.

If you can get the air cool BEFORE it gets to the resivoir, insure the air goes through the resivoir (ya, I'v seen them plumbed in off a T) and that the outlet is as high as possible and not in line with the inlet (the change in direction helps get the heavy condensate to seperate from the moving airstream and hit the wall when drawing a lot of air) you will get very dry air. The more cooling before you get to the tank, the better. Don't bother with the fiter before the tank. It won't last at all. After the tank will give excellent results.

A second, small, resivoir also helps a lot. It wil trap carryover moisture, and allow for additional cooling. A several-foot pipe run between the two helps a lot. With a horizontal tank, mount it with a slight pitch toward the drain port and use the largest drain line you can. I have about a foot of 3/4" pipe before the valve, and the water runs into the pipe rather than sit in the tank, at least until the pipe fills.

Copper is good for cooling, but you need to be careful about the heat at the pump softening it and the vibration causing hardening and cracking. My machines all have flexable sections for vibration isolation.

Wayne Cook wrote:

Reply to
enl_public

Wayne and enl_public, thanks for your info, as well.

--Len

Reply to
Winston

What he said!!

I forgot to add that I have a one foot long section of hose between the compressor and the copper pipe to the tanks. This is pretty important.

Jim

Reply to
jim rozen

||Winston writes: || ||> What if I put a coiled copper cooling loop and coalescing filter ||> between the pump and the tank to reduce the water collected in the ||> tank? || ||Not effective. The basic problem is heat removal, and for that to be ||efficient, you need a reservoir of phase change (melting ice, boiling ||liquid refrigerant, etc). Transfer to ambient air via a tubing coil has ||only a tiny, low-quality capacity. || ||Drying compressed air is like running the latter half of a still, except ||you don't get any moonshine out.

Run that loop through the side of the refrigerator you keep your beer in. Add a tap where it comes back out (lowest point).

Texas Parts Guy

Reply to
rex

Thanks Jim and Rex

Jim, That length of flexible hose is not something I thought to do. You and enl_public have the vibration isolation issue under control. A good idea, 'tis.

Rex, refrigerating the 'condensor' is a terrific idea. I have been thinking about that since Richard's post. I guess that in my lower-than-average humidity environment, it would'nt be too cost effective. If I was in say Miami, things would be way different!

--Winston

Reply to
Winston

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