shop air compressor

[Byronic]

Someone posted a thread how they made there air line in their shop. It had a zigzag pattern that ran down the wall made of galvanized pipe. I have searched for 2 hours now to no avail. Any body know where it is? Thanks

[70 Suburban]

just google it.. there are lots of diagrams and how too's for moister drops and air supply drops.

[markeb01]

Don’t know about the article, but can show how I set up my system. I designed it for painting cars, so the primary focus was keeping water out of the spray gun. As it turns out, in 7 years I’ve only done one paint job, but it’s been very handy for general use.

I’m running a Home Depot upright compressor mounted on discs made of MDF.



I removed the original drain valve in the bottom of the tank and installed an elbow, pipe and ball valve, allowing the tank to easily be drained of water. I also bolted a guard on the concrete floor to prevent accidental damage.



The compressor output is connected to the piping system via a flex hose I picked up at Graingers, after going through a ball valve in case the entire system needs to be shut down.

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The piping system is all ½” copper. ¾” would be better for a commercial application, but ½” has worked fine for what I wanted. All lines in the system angle uphill away from the compressor, so that any condensation will have a natural path back down the line to the air tank. I installed 5 drops (hose connection points) in the garage, and 2 in the basement.



Before compressed air can get to the drop, it must first go uphill through a riser before heading down to the quick connect. This makes it much harder for water to get into the air tools. Below each connection point, the pipe continues further down the wall, with a ball valve at the bottom. This way if any moisture does make the turn at the top and get to the drop, it will fall past the opening and can still be drained out the bottom of the run.

The drop next to the man door has a separate riser and ball valve, since it is used most frequently for blowing off parts, furnace filter, benches, etc.







There are also several inline ball valves allowing part of the system to be shut down if not needed or should there be a problem.

With this arrangement, prior to a paint job – each ball valve can be opened to drain any built up moisture, and the compressor tank can also be drained. When painting, I connect a pressure regulator and water trap at the wall quick connector prior to the hose. I’ve seen galvanized and plastic pipe used – but have also read stories about plastic bursting in the temperature extremes where I live, and iron pipe has a tendency to collect moisture, crud and rust inside since it is not smooth inside.

When I put this together the cost was around $150.00. It would probably be higher now with the increased cost of copper. I has certainly been worth the work it took to install and gets used almost every day I’m in the garage. When I did paint my car this summer, not a single drop of water made an appearance, so I was glad the design worked as intended.

[structures]

http://www.tptools.com/StaticText/ai...ng-diagram.pdf

I used this diagram. In my small shop I installed black iron pipe, 1/2" DIA.

[ChiefRocka]

That guard you made uses a J arm from a Genie Garage Door Opener....

Thought noone would notice, huh ??

[TR65]

Hey MarkB,

Very nice system. Thanks for the tips!!

TR

[cdowns]

www.tptools.com they have nice diagram and instructions

[drogers]

Take a look at http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=6 post #146.

[Byronic]

Originally Posted by drogers

Take a look at http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=318544&page=6 post #146.

Thanks drogers, That was one of the two I saw. Due to my limited space that seems the best plan for now.
Thanks to everyone who responded.

[70 Suburban]

not sure how cold it gets there but not so bad here... I have used pvc for years with no fail. its cheap and works well