Thread: Compressed Air
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Old 11-18-2020, 03:45 AM
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dataway dataway is offline
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What usually happens with a separator right at the tank outlet ..

1. Compressor not used much .. most vapor condenses in the tank, water droplets never make it to the separator, so very little water shows up at the separator.

2. Compressor has long run times .. tank air becomes hot and humid ... separators only remove droplets, not vapor, so very little water caught. Vapor then condenses in the air line to the sand blaster and you have water at the nozzle.

The air from the compressor head outlet will start to condense the water out at the first cool spot it meets, as the compressor continues to run that cools spot moves farther down the line as hot compressed air slowly heats up the piping system. For the typical user the storage tank is the first cool spot, so that's where most of the water collects. With long run times even the tank can get warmed up, so it starts passing vapor to the tank outlet, which will then condense at the next coolest spot ... this is usually where most people have their separators. With enough run time it will even pass vapor though those separators and into the line without a desiccating filter/dryer.

The big wall mounted copper condensers work well because they are at the end of the line, no matter how much vapor gets passed everything else on a hot compressor it will mostly like condense in that copper before it gets to the point of use.

A forced air Aftercooler is the same principle except it cools the air down all the way BEFORE going into the tank. Either one accomplishes the same thing, I prefer the aftercooler because of it's compact size and it helps keep compressor temps down and reduces potential rust in the tank. But either way you'll have to drain the same amount of water, just in a different locations.

For a permanent shop air installation, and if you have the wall space (which I don't), the wall mounted system produces the same quality of air.

Put your final filter, regulator etc. at the END of the copper piping, helps keeps the regulator and paper/desiccant filters alive longer since they will live in a dryer environment.


Last edited by dataway; 11-18-2020 at 03:53 AM.