Pressure light and auto shutoff

Jcoyote fired this volley in news:453bbb94- snipped-for-privacy@q16g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

You probably need a bigger water separator ahead of that unit. A dryer isn't always necessary, but a big honkin' coalescing separator might do the trick.

We have a lot of humidity here in Florida, so I spent a few bucks (much less than a dryer, though), and ran an 80' length of 3/4" iron pipe along one wall of the barn, tilted to about, oh, an inch per foot. I have a small collector tank at the low end with a drain, and the house supply takes off the top end. I never (ever) get any liquid water at the equipment end, but sometimes several quarts a day out of the drip tank. I had a coalescing filter at the compressor outlet, but the bowl was too small, and it got saturated often. I find that with all the goo that grows in warm, wet air lines, the float-actuated automatic drains aren't all that reliable -- most have tiny drain valve openings. Some day, maybe I'll get a timer-driven drain with a big enough valve to bleed out the rats'n'bats, too.

LLoyd

Trucks with air brake systems, at least here in Europe I would expect the US to do similar, use dessicant dryers and have automatic purge cycles to blow the collected water out of the dessicant. The systems have a separate small purge tank used for the blow down. A mate used to work for a company that designed air brakes and I have an air dryer that one day may be plumbed into my air system, a number of compressors as well although they are mostly water cooled and require a pressure oil feed, easy when connected to a big diesel engine.

Maybe you can rig a similar system with your filters.

Fortunately I seldom have that problem here in the desert. Today we have 12% humitidy.

On the other hand...in winter..we have fog and thats when I get wet filters. So I put a chiller next to the compressor and all is good, no matter what time of the year.

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

Easy to DIY one. I used a solenoid valve and a modified water timer. The timer triggers the solenoid on 2 seconds every 2 hours. The discharge runs outside into a gravel pit. Nice and quiet.

Iffen you're getting rats'n'bats in the output, perhaps it's time to check your -intake- filtering, too, Lloyd.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

Which does bring to mind..what is a good filter for an air compressor?

Mine all have 1.5" input ports..so what is a good long term filter unit?

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)

Gunner Asch fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Gunny, I built my own compressor. The pump didn't have any elements in the filter cans, so I built a new "collector" can with a K&N automotive filter, and two output lines to the two first-stage cylinders.

It's so big I don't have to clean it any more often than about once every six months.

LLoyd

AFTER all the baffling and/or muffling which keeps the noise down (an absolute MUST in my book) one of these would look nice:

Ackshully, any paper filter (or K&N) with the housing necked down to the diameter should work nicely...as long as your environmental air isn't heavily riddled with oil. Got oil-based coolant misters? Try one of the oiled foam air cleaners. It'd self-oil.

-- Not merely an absence of noise, Real Silence begins when a reasonable being withdraws from the noise in order to find peace and order in his inner sanctuary. -- Peter Minard

I put my air compressor a good 60' away from my shop space, under cover. A master control box engages contactors for lights, RPC, vfd and compressor.

I hate hearing air compressors kicking on and off all night long while Im working metal.

Gunner

I am the Sword of my Family and the Shield of my Nation. If sent, I will crush everything you have built, burn everything you love, and kill every one of you. (Hebrew quote)