Compressor "water trap" or "air filter" where to buy, how to assemble and what to buy

Ok I have a 15 gallon rolling craftsman compressor that im using to do some primer and paint on my project cars. What do I buy, where do I buy and how do I set it up? I need to seperate all the moisture.

Show us your set ups!

 

Grainger. Ebay. You can get them almost anywhere. Northern Hydraulics. Industrial supply store. Eastwood.

 

I just dont dont know what exactly to buy and how to set it up

 

Do I need a water and oild seperator? Or just water?

 

Go to the web site Garage journal free to join and search compressor set ups water traps etc. There are at least 50 pictures and 100 reply write ups on this from simple to exotic

 

I second the GarageJournal suggestion.
Once you get over the envy of some of those fellows' shops, there are some really neat ideas to borrow.

 

Nice to know I'm not the only one without an 80 gallon compressor.

I'll be following this. I was wondering the same thing myself as I plan on shooting some primer and paint in the fall.

 

Yeah im at harbor freight and nobody hear knows a damn thing and I need to set this up

 

Most important is to have enough metal line for the air to travel through and have a chance to cool before going through the water separator. If the air isn't cool enough, the seperator won't work very well. Also, be sure that that line is going at least slightly downhill with no chance for water to pool. Normally, that requires a long length of pipe running around the walls of the shop going slightly downhill...and at least one or two water drops...that is, a downward pipe with a blow-off valve at the bottom, to be manually opened once in a while to remove accumulated water.

But if you really don't have the room, and you want to make a more compact system, you could do as I did. I ran pipe from the regulator on the tank to the wall, going slightly downhill, then up to the ceiling...with a water drop at the turn-up at the wall. Then another short pipe...again slightly downhill to a point away from the wall, and supported from the ceiling. Then a coil of copper tubing hanging from the downturn at the ceiling. The copper tubing is positioned as a coil spring in a car's suspension...so the water runs downhill and doesn't pool. The bottom end of the copper tubing goes back to the wall and hooks to another downward pipe attatched to the wall with another valve at the bottom to manually blow out accumulated water. My dryer (water seperator) was an inline model which sat on the floor...so a short piece of rubber air hose from above the bottom of the last pipe to the dryer, and then my long rubber line from the other end of the dryer to the spray gun...all with quick disconnects.

This was a very compact system, and the copper tubing did a great job of allowing the air to cool before getting to the water seperator. I never had any indication of moisture at the end of my main air hose.

Now some will warn that the copper tubing is not rated for high pressure. But the safe high pressure limit recommendation is set well below the danger point. I ran this system at a constant 100 to 120 lbs of air pressure with no problem.

 

Can you please post a pic?

 

Sorry 56FC...we moved, and I don't have that system anymore.

 

50 feet of black pipe to cool the air then this -

http://www.tptools.com/Air-Line-Hookup.html

 

Do I need those yellow handled valves and the regulator even if there is a regulator on the compressor?

 

Yes. Being the wonderful person that I am, I typed in "water separator" Burbank. Since I don't know where you live. Home Depot came right up along with several others.

 

yes you should have the valves as incase the hose comes off the pipe so you can sut it down faster , and the regulator on the compressor is crap . if any junk gets stuck in it or the gauge fails ( which they often do you will have a mess on your hands at a paint gun . always have the regulator after the filter so it will operate correctly and cleanly . as Ice can form at the one before the water is removed .

 

Ok cool I will have to figure this all out

 

Build a Franzinator... Or just use metal lines, sloped back towards the compressor. 20' of iron pipe with an 8' rise and drop, drip legs and take off the top of the line - decent dry air.

 

you can also use 50 feet or more of air hose in place of the black pipe.

 

air hose holds in heat and will also push any water drops inside the hose as its a small diameter ( often 1/4 to 3/8) you want to get rid as much heat as possible to cause the vapor to condense

 

We run Onans on our trucks for work. Not much room for piping, but we run a dessicant trap. May want to look into those although dessicant can be expensive. A quick look showed this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Compressed-..._Automotive_Tools&hash=item53fa4100d1&vxp=mtr

 

I couple my trap AND regulator 12 feet, on a rolling stand, from the end of my 1/4 inch hose where the sprayer attaches... and usually 25 feet of rubber 3/8ths back to the compressor.

Home depot sells a good cheap one.

But, warning, at fifteen gallons your compressor is gonna be working hard.

 

I misspoke. stimpy's right...the regulator shouldn't be on the tank, but after the air is cooled and filtered.

 

I just bought a nice looking dryer/ regulator at Lowes that I thought would work for me. When I use my blow nozzle or anything else, the thing honks like a car horn and I really wish when they outsource stuff to China, they would send them a pipe thread gauge. Took many wraps of thread tape to get them to tighten up before they ran out of threads.

Blue

 

Im sorry guys but this is pretty intimidating for me. Im using a smaller 15 gallon compressor with a regulator on the tank. Can somebody walk me through this whole thing? I would like to set this up the right way but not suoer exspensive. Also so I can eventually upgrade to a bigger compressor. I use air tools but im using an air gun right now.

 

...

 

To speedy and everyone else here im not racist by no means! This damn phone and my fat fingers. I do apologize for this!

Speedy canuck can you please delete the quote? Thanks

 

So, what you guys are saying is that my miles of PVC piping I use in my garage doesn't work and thats why I have water?

 

Good info from everyone here. I've got an I/R 5hp w/80gal tank. I run a regulator/water trap about 5' off the compressor then 30' of 3/8" air hose which connects to this.................



then 1 more water trap after the MotorGuard filter. Maybe not the anally correct way to do it but I get clean, dry air!

 

Male QDs in and out?

 

It is true that it is good to filter the air before passing it to the regulator.

But, If the regulator is regulating (dropping) the pressure, the pressure drop will cause a drop in temperature, and some moisture (fully evaporated water vapor) will condense out at that point if the final temp is below the dew point temperature.
Ice forming in the regulator demonstrates there is a significant cooling effect there.
Water vapor will pass thru a mechanical water separator as easily as a ninja, where it can condense as soon as the temperature drops.

That is why most every Binks owners' manual stresses the importance of mounting oil/water separators at the end of the piping, not near the compressor.

Continuous running on warm day can get the compressor tank full of very humid air, ready to dump water every time it cools.

The pressure difference on a Sprint car's wing is enough to cool the air and form a vapor trail on a humid night.
http://luckyshotphoto.smugmug.com/O...i-XnPhj4q/0/X2/WG100811TRWNATTY-OPEN68-X2.jpg

The dessicant filters on my air lines turn color even when there is no water caught in the water filter.