Garage air line plumbing options?

[ws27]

The only way to remove moisture from air is to cool it. You could use an expensive mechanical means, or you could just try to get the air to give up most of it's temp to its surroundings. I went what I thought was the cheaper and less complicated way.

For the compressed air to cool to it's surroundings you will need piping that conducts heat the best. PVC, plastic, pex, and rubber hose are all great insulators and won't help with heat transfer. Metal is the best. Copper does conduct better than iron, but iron will be stronger. You may not need the strength except maybe where you are plugging hoses in, quick connectors can be buggers at times.

I have an advantage as my business is heating, and I do a lot of steam heat with iron piping, so it was a no brainer for me. My thought was to slow the air down to give it a chance to cool and drop the water out. It goes through about 100 feet of iron, about 60' of 2" and 40' of 1 1/4" I then teed off with Weil Mclain Alumapex which is virtually the exact same thing as the speed air tubing. I used the Alumapex up high and in a circle with 3/4" iron drops.

For normal operation, air tools, waste oil heater, and my blast cabinet, all water drops out in the piping next to the compressor. If i have to use a high volume of air (25-30 CFM) this system doesn't work because the air flow is too fast for it to cool.

I installed the speed air system from Norther tool in my brothers garage in Virginia and I thought it was great. It is aluminum with pex on the inside and outside. It won't corrode, but it won't help much with cooling either. It is decent quality though.

Here are some pictures of my cobbled together system.View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689892 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689892 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689892 View attachment 689889 View attachment 689890 View attachment 689891 View attachment 689892 View attachment 689889

 

[ws27]

I have absolutely no idea how I did that

Let's try those pictures again!

 

[ws27]

The alumapex is hard to tell, but it is the horizontal tubing above the Dodge sign and the curved tube at the very top of the last pic.

I used hydraulic lines for flex from the compressors to the manifold dryer. I did have some rust particle problems, but I did use used iron piping because I'm a cheap bastard...and I was tripping on the stuff. Very fine rust clogged a regulator for my waste oil heater, so I just installed a filter before hand and everything has been fine since.

Hope this helps.

 

[Detroit Iron]

You guys are talking about drains, and drains on drop legs... may I see photos of these?

 

[747mopar]

You guys are talking about drains, and drains on drop legs... may I see photos of these?

Sorry for the slow reply. A drop leg is basically just a length of pipe extended below the air outlets to allow water to collect in and then drained.

 

[747mopar]

I'm about to pull the trigger and get started, still torn between Maxline and iron but think I'll give the Maxline a try. Tell me what you think about what I came up with for the layout. I've got roughly 50' of piping elevating away from the compressor with the exception of one drop (at the garage doors) before it drops downstairs? The program I was using made it hard to illustrate everything but I will install a T at 12:00 in the first drop but I hope to bend the tubing into an upside down P trap at the second drop, might have to use a few 90's?

So outlets will be on both sides of the lift, all along the workbench wall, in between the garage doors, at the lathe in the rear and 2 upstairs because I can lol.

 

[oldbee]

Let me know when ur all done and I’ll give you an unbiased opinion. ( I’m retired, takes a looonngg time for me to get working on anything,lol)

 

[not so famous bob]

You would have to have a kick *** air compressor to burst copper tubing. Even the thin stuff. Maybe 1000 psi? I know a business that just uses pvc pipe for there air lines.

I used schedule 80 pvc, back about 30-40ish yrs ago. Have vibration connection on the 3rd air comp. that`s been on it. Have added a reg. 1/2'' pex water line over to the other side for convenience , haven`t had any problems w/ any of it. Was a plumber for over 45 yrs---------------
drip legs at every outlet, valved-----

 

[dla4567]

I'm about to pull the trigger and get started, still torn between Maxline and iron but think I'll give the Maxline a try. Tell me what you think about what I came up with for the layout. I've got roughly 50' of piping elevating away from the compressor with the exception of one drop (at the garage doors) before it drops downstairs? The program I was using made it hard to illustrate everything but I will install a T at 12:00 in the first drop but I hope to bend the tubing into an upside down P trap at the second drop, might have to use a few 90's?

So outlets will be on both sides of the lift, all along the workbench wall, in between the garage doors, at the lathe in the rear and 2 upstairs because I can lol.

View attachment 699916

I think you put more effort into this drawing than I did in installing my air compressor and running all the lines.

 

[747mopar]

I think you put more effort into this drawing than I did in installing my air compressor and running all the lines.

Not at all, it's a program called Sketchup. It only takes minutes to produce something like this but having it makes visualizing the routing so much easier not to mention providing dimensions.

 

[dla4567]

It looks good to me.

 

[bm02tj]

Anyone with airlines with PVC should remove or incased them so when it shatters no one loses an eye or is injured
PVC is not UV stable and goes brittle with age

 

[not so famous bob]

Anyone with airlines with PVC should remove or incased them so when it shatters no one loses an eye or is injured
PVC is not UV stable and goes brittle with age

In a dimly lit garage, after 40 or so years, and schedule 80 , I aint too worried about it. If it was out in the sun yes----pex included.

 

[ckessel]

So, PEX is ok to use? How about thin wall aluminum or steel? I've seen where there are companies that use thin wall aluminum with screw together fittings but its quite pricey due to the fittings. What about the thin wall or Pex using Shark Bite fittings? I have used those fittings on plumbing repairs to Pex lines and did use them on the connections to the condenser I used for my compressor. Seemed to work fine.

 

[bm02tj]

I know Rehau pex is rated for air and if I used it I would use the everlock fittings
not the crimp rings most pex uses

 

[747mopar]

So, PEX is ok to use? How about thin wall aluminum or steel? I've seen where there are companies that use thin wall aluminum with screw together fittings but its quite pricey due to the fittings. What about the thin wall or Pex using Shark Bite fittings? I have used those fittings on plumbing repairs to Pex lines and did use them on the connections to the condenser I used for my compressor. Seemed to work fine.

The thin wall aluminum tubing is an awesome product but given it's price I don't know why a person wouldn't just use copper? I'd research any plastic before using it, oil from the compressor will break down certain grades of plastic.

 

[747mopar]

Got sick of thinking about it and called Summit, very next morning this arrived. Love Summit! I'll start a thread on the installation since there seems to be some interest. My first impression is it's VERY stiff which is what I was hoping for.

 

[ckessel]

The thin wall aluminum tubing is an awesome product but given it's price I don't know why a person wouldn't just use copper? I'd research any plastic before using it, oil from the compressor will break down certain grades of plastic.

I'll check into the other materials. I had 1" copper in my old one as the line was free but spent some bucks on the fittings. I like the alu units I've come across with the plastic screw together fittings but they seem to be overpriced to me for whats there. I have time to research and get opinions as its info gathering time for the new garage.

 

[POMONAMISSEL]

cleanest setup was the main line ran the roof ridge , and all the drops had drain chokes on them . clean clear water free air for tools and blowing things off .

 

[POMONAMISSEL]

oh ya it was all hard lined copper as well .