Air Compressor/ Water separator setup

Picked up a water separator the other day and the parts guy tells me to be
sure to mount it at least 20ft. away from the compressor; with that distance
the air has time to cool and more condensation will be filtered out of the line.
Have always seen these mounted right next to the comp. and assumed this
worked ok. Anyone else heard about this "new" method for install.??
Opinions??

 

yeah, they should be away from the comp. I need to move mine.

 

I have not heard that before but it certainly makes sense. I suppose I need to move mine as well.

 

Your friend is absolutely correct. The air will actually pick up moisture when it is heated in the compressor head. It takes about 20 foot of line for the air temp to drop back to "ambient air temp" and the moisture will condense out onto the inside of the airline in that first 20 foot. This is not "a new way". Its always been that way.

 

Made a big differance when I moved mine from the compressor, 20' is really a minimum, mine is almost 50'. I know nowdays it's getting pricy but use 3/4 or better copper pipe, will dissperse the heat even better.

 

Like the others said it take AT LEAST 20' for the air to cool and drop its moisture. My copper line runs from the flex hose at the compressor straigh up to the ceiling then across the side of my garage, turns and runs the lenth of the garage. It then turns 180 degrees (on the same wall) and comes back about 15 feet and drops into the manifold where my moisture seperator is. I have drain valves on the bottom of all my vertical runs.
The total length is about 50'. Overkill? maybe but I have Never had water in my seperator. it all gets dropped into the drain valves on the verticals.
Get ahold of a TP-tools catalog. They show a nice piping layout. Todd

 

I have also seen used commercial refrigeration evaporator coils placed in the line to act as big condensors and to cool the air down. with a fan running while painting and an automatic air trap ( no more expensive than a normal one) the air is clean and dry. Just run a few liters of paint thinners to remove refridgeration oil and it's fine. They can contain far more pressure than an air compressor runs at so safety is not an issue.

 

The Grainger catalog used to have advice on setting up compressors Had info about making an air loop, where to put drops, water seperators and drip legs to help keep water from the tools. With everything online don't know if that stuuf is still included.

 

I plumbed mine according to Jon Kosmoski's videos and have never had one problem. I plumbed mine with 1 1/2" pipe, ran it from the compressor, angling it down (1/4" per foot) to a tee. The tee faces upwards, then use a street "L" to go back down to the filter/seperator, and the other leg of the tee continues to a ball valve. That way you aren't allowing silt or water to even make it to the filter. It's simple and it works, but everyone who ever sees it thinks the 1 1/2" pipe is too big, the angle's wrong, blah, blah, blah. Funny how all these experts get trash in their paint, yet they don't hesitate to tell me how my setup is wrong...

 

I heard it's supposed to be as close to the "tool" as possible (Blast cabinet, spray gun, etc)

 

This looks cool

http://www.rocketcityrockcrawlers.com/memberstuff/doc/el%20cheapo%20compressed%20air%20dryer.pdf

 

Thankfor all the info.