Air compressor air dryer system

[mobilehomey]

Yeah, I made another thing, lol
Just wanted to share, as most of us have a decent sized air compressor, and moisture SUCKS! You can google it, or look at YouTube for ideas; I’m not going to reinvent the wheel, my point is to show how cheap and easy it is.
It’s basically a coil of tubing immersed in coolant (choose wisely, based on temperature extremes in your area), designed to prevent any moisture from forming from thermal differences. Not exactly rocket science; if I could figure it out, then anyone can.
I bought everything from scamazon, except the compression couplings, and the bucket and lid. Total cost = $60.64 with tax! Here’s a few pics:

I apologize if I screwed something up; not real good at the technical stuff, but basically, I took a 25’ roll of 1/2” aluminum tube and re-rolled it into a vertical coil, sized to fit inside a 5 gallon bucket, butchered up some packing foam to keep everything from rubbing, and also to maintain the coil shape, cut the lid to fit the lines, and then cut the existing line on the compressor so it would circulate into the coolant reservoir before going back into the tank.
Tested and verified, it worked PERFECTLY! I cycled the compressor through 15? continuous fill/refill operations, and had absolutely ZERO condensation get back into the 60 gallon tank. DO NOT be stupid like me, and touch the inlet line! I still have leather fingertips from doing that.

Yeah, I know, it’s a mess, but it works awesome for preventing moisture from getting in the tank, plus the air is cool, dry, and clean! Here’s the complete project, lid on and coolant full (90%), too full and the vibration causes the coolant to make a mess!

I have to say, this is one of the best ideas I’ve ever tried, and using the 1/2” aluminum tubing was probably the cheapest option; overall, I think everyone owes it to themselves to make this mod, at least if you care about your compressor, your safety, and having clean, dry air.
Anyway, it’s beer-thirty, so hopefully you all get some useful information from this thread

I forgot to explain the cost before; it does include everything, except the tubing cutter. The spring benders and all the other components are included in the cost. Well, I didn’t include the Teflon tape, but what’s that, like 25 cents? And if you don’t own any wrenches, well, you may as well take your purse and leave now, lol. NO OFFENSE to the girls who share the passion.

[Knick]

So where does the Condensate go? Your not removing it if there is no where for it to go.

[Scoobydooz]

Excellent work,

Thank you for sharing…

[mobilehomey]

I honestly don’t know what happens to the condensate; possibly eliminated? Or prevented from forming in the first place? I do know that since I did this modification, I’ve had ZERO moisture in the tank; I check every day. I’ll have to look into it further, but it’s a good question

[Don]

Knick, I wondered the same thing. Water does not just disappear. I had a 5HP single phase IR compressor, so I installed one of their automatic drains on the bottom of the tank. It had a timer on it and would blast a shot of air/water from the bottom on a regular schedule.

[Knick]

Correct its going to drop out of the air stream at some point. Those companies that make those small compressors run them at such a high RPM (so they can list a higher SCFM in the specs) in turn they make a lot of water. Auto Drain on the bottom of the tank is bare minimum. The set up he has would work if there was a collection point with a drain to get the water out.

It really depends on how much air you use and what your using that air for.

I have a plasma table and some times on 1/2" sheet I may cut a hundred parts and the cut time may be as long as 80 mins. The more moisture you have the shorter the life of Consumables.

I have compressor that runs at a slow RPM, automatic tank drain, Refrigerated air drier that takes care of the whole shop and then I have a large desiccant drier and after that a Motor guard filter on the plasma table.

Where your located makes a difference to if your in a very dry area you will have much less trouble than someone in a very humid environment.

[mobilehomey]

I stand corrected, as usual, lol; while I didn’t have any noticeable moisture during initial testing, I did finally notice some after a week or two. I must say that I haven’t used the compressor very much since the initial testing, I wanted to be clear just for informational purposes.

I ended up getting a decent sized moisture filter/remover from scamazon, after a bunch of research; obviously there are plenty of higher quality filters on the market, but for my purposes, I felt that it was a decent compromise. I plan on installing it in the next few days, and my question is this- is there a “best place” to install it? I figured as long as it’s installed after the cooler, it should work fine, correct?

Thanks for all the advice!

[Knick]

Would this be the style that has a petcock in the bottom you open to drain it or a desiccant style?

All the ones I have seen with a petcock dont seem to work very well, unless the air is very saturated.

Desiccant style are good but they normally would be the last line of defense.

Let us know how it works for you

[mobilehomey]

Automatic drain style, but I’ll probably still check it, just to be sure. To be more accurate with my question, both lines run vertically, so if I install it on the cool side, (meaning after the cooler and before the tank), most of the way up so I can mount it solidly to the compressor, it should work fine, right? If I’m missing something, please let me know

[Sam]

I might be off the topic a little bit! But what about adding something and not factoring in the cost (just entertaining the idea)

Drain-All DH50-0LAAA Zero Loss Pneumatic Drain Valve - 1/2" NPT

Drain-All DH50-0LAAA Zero Loss Pneumatic Drain Valve - 1/2" NPT

[mobilehomey]

Not at all, actually right on topic; now the price; that’s a non starter, as the whole point of DIY anything is usually about saving money, and at $1,250, well, it’s just not gonna happen. My cooler has reduced the moisture I was getting into the tank, but like Knick said “it just doesn’t vanish, it’s got to go somewhere, so the goal is to eliminate, or at least majorly reduce tank moisture.

I do thank you for the suggestion though, right after I cash in my winning powerball ticket, I’ll definitely revisit that idea. I did see a nice 3 stage unit, first was the standard type collector, second was a different filter type, and third was a desiccant filter.

Can’t remember the guy who posted his setup, but it was an oil cooler based design, air cooled by 2 big fans, and then ran through the 3 stage system. Pricey, but not nearly as much as a professional industrial type system. If I remember correctly, the 3 stage unit in the biggest version was between 500 and 575 bucks.

When I finally get a decent shop built, I’ll likely go the route he did, I just wish I could remember who he was. He’s a guy that apparently works for SpaceX, lives in Texas, and has some money to burn, that’s all I remember.

Anyway, thanks for the input, it’s always appreciated.