Looking for advice on setting up first air compressor

[saabracer23]

Well it’s not my first compressor, I have a Bostitch 6 gal pancake. I decided to take pneumatic tooling a bit more seriously. I picked up a Quincy 80 gal QT-7.5hp max model.

I have it set in its place and it was been wired electrically. I’m having trouble on how I should set it up on the air side of things. One thing I was concerned with was moisture. Per the instructions I ran the compressor for a full hour with the tank wide open. Of course the pipe coming out of the pump was incredibly hot, but the pipe that was coming out of the inter cooled that fed the air into the tank never got above the ambient temperature, even running a full hour!

Does that mean that at that point of it coming out of the inter cooler that the excess moisture would be out of the air? Only thing is, I don’t see any drain to let water out in the inter cooler area. I’d really like to prevent any water from getting into the tank and with the pipe that feeds the tank never getting warm at all (meaning the air in the tank isn’t warm at all) had me hoping that water in the tank wouldn’t be much of an issue?

I’ve seen many folks with their copper pipe lines on the wall with valves at the bottom to let water out. Unfortunately they all have those on the output of the tank, so their tank must see a lot of water. It would seem best to have those hooked up in between the output of the pump and input of the tank.

I have many more questions, but thought I should tackle this one first. Basically with the Quincy inter cooler and the input pipe of the tank never getting even slightly warm, will water in the tank be an issue for me? It has an automatic drain where I can setup intervals where it opens to drain, but I’d prefer to find a method to keep the air in the tank as dry as possible.

Thank you,
Dan

 

[dlundblad]

In theory as long as water is in the air, it’ll always be an issue. This of course depends on how much you use it too.

I drain my 50 gal once a year. Just before winter since my garage isn’t heated. I also have a Milton pre filter/ water separator/ pressure regulator just off my compressor. The water separator drains itself when it has no pressure.

I should have a loop around my garage for better performance, but I just have a 1/2” hose running to the ceiling with a hose reel in the center of the garage. 50’ of 3/8” hose or so on the reel. My Aircat 1150 hasn’t had any performance issues, but if it did, I’d just make a hookup right after the pressure regulator with 20’ of 1/2” hose so air would have less restrictions to travel through.

 

[JC1]

I have a 60 gallon air compressor. Even on my old 27 gallon that I sold after I got this I put a ball valve on the drain and made sure I drained the compressor every 1-2 weeks. I usually open the ball valve with my foot and watch the jet of water blast out for 1-2 seconds. That gets most of the water out of the compressor.

When I bought the 27 gallon compressor off a guy I brought it home and drained it. The previous owner never drained the tank. The there was at least 2 quarts of rusty water that looked like gravy. After I added the ball valve I kept filling the tank and draining the rusty water until it ran clear.

Unless you are running a paint setup, I wouldn't worry too much about the water. It's going to happen. Get an air and water separator if you want.

 

[#18FAN]

First off that is a very nice unit it would be nice to know it’s intended use. You will always need to run a tank drain manually or Automatically. I do not know what psi it was running at basically how much squeeze you were running the pump at when doing the hr break in I bet not much when you increase that tank pressure up to max 175 psi you will create more heat But that aftercooler is a big bonus and will do a ton of work dropping the water out. In all setups you have to remember you never can take water out of hot air. In any setup I would get the end air use as far away from the tank as possible with drip legs and proper filter and separator at the end use. In all you should have no problem with water keeping tank drain and a separator at its end use for most home use operating any tool or paint setup.

 

[wpod]

Moisture is a huge problem when spraying paint . Air tools , the dryest air is best but not that much of a biggie .

 

[#18FAN]

Well it’s not my first compressor, I have a Bostitch 6 gal pancake. I decided to take pneumatic tooling a bit more seriously. I picked up a Quincy 80 gal QT-7.5hp max model.

I have it set in its place and it was been wired electrically. I’m having trouble on how I should set it up on the air side of things. One thing I was concerned with was moisture. Per the instructions I ran the compressor for a full hour with the tank wide open. Of course the pipe coming out of the pump was incredibly hot, but the pipe that was coming out of the inter cooled that fed the air into the tank never got above the ambient temperature, even running a full hour!

Does that mean that at that point of it coming out of the inter cooler that the excess moisture would be out of the air? Only thing is, I don’t see any drain to let water out in the inter cooler area. I’d really like to prevent any water from getting into the tank and with the pipe that feeds the tank never getting warm at all (meaning the air in the tank isn’t warm at all) had me hoping that water in the tank wouldn’t be much of an issue?

I’ve seen many folks with their copper pipe lines on the wall with valves at the bottom to let water out. Unfortunately they all have those on the output of the tank, so their tank must see a lot of water. It would seem best to have those hooked up in between the output of the pump and input of the tank.

I have many more questions, but thought I should tackle this one first. Basically with the Quincy inter cooler and the input pipe of the tank never getting even slightly warm, will water in the tank be an issue for me? It has an automatic drain where I can setup intervals where it opens to drain, but I’d prefer to find a method to keep the air in the tank as dry as possible.

Thank you,
Dan

Can you post up backside of the unit mainly the aftercooler and pipe routing.

 

[saabracer23]

So it’s a bit hard to get photos of the backside as I have it seated about 9” or so from the wall. Don’t judge my wiring lol, it’s temporary!

So the pipe comes out of the top of the pump and swings around and goes into the top of the inter cooler.

The pipe comes out of the bottom of the inter cooler and then swings around to enter into the top of the tank.

Uses: I have a blasting cabinet, the smallest HF had and it calls for 10 CFM at 90 PSI, which this compressor will do over double that and if I’m not mistaken this would be my most demanding application. It is nice to know though that I can upgrade cabinets at some point that may require more air volume and be fine with the same compressor.

I have a powder coating setup

I picked up a couple of painting guns, and HVLP and HTE

Wood working is a passion, I like restoring old 1930-1950s tube radio consoles and would like to spray film finishes

And then tooling like nailers, sanders, grinders, etc.

I don’t see any type of water collection or drain on the entire inter cooler system. So any water that comes out of the hot air coming from the pump once it cools in the inter cooler must be making its way to the tank. Seems like the best thing to do would be to buy 3/4” copper pipe and build a 50-75 ft winding “inter cooler” with the pipe on the wall and place it between the output of the pump and input if the tank. Not sure I have room for that though. I’d just really like to keep as much moisture from entering the tank as possible.

For moisture filtering I picked up two. I got a IR FA75IH which also has a drain on the bottom of it for when it gets full.

For the second filter in the system I got a Motor Guard, read that it was a very decent filter for the money. The IR filter can handle 250 psi so it can come before the main pressure regulator, the other one will have to come after it.

I’ve read that it’s best to put filters like 30-50 feet down the line of the output so that the air has time to cool and it lets the moisture out of the air. That appears to be true with a standard compressor where the air goes straight from the pump to the tank.

With this one having an inter cooler between the pump and the tank to cool the air before it enters the tank will I still need 50 feet between them? If so I’m not too sure where to mount them. This is all in a “two” car garage from 1934, so on the smaller side of two car. I have a 3 foot length of 3/4” hydraulic hose that I was going to run out of the the tank to a wall mounted 3/4” steel pipe that had the filters and regulator, all within a few feet of the compressor. I have a 50 foot length of 1/2” compressor hose that I was going to run to the blasting cabinet to supply that and everything else was going to be supplied by a 50’ spool of 3/8” hose.

I was thinking I’d really like to add a desiccant dryer to the line up, after these two filters, thoughts? Would that be needed? I’ve seen peoples DIY versions, but they’ve mostly used a clear plastic or acrylic tubing which is not good from what I’ve read. Could easily turn into shrapnel. Any suggestions for one that isn’t too costly?

So anyways, would like to keep as much moisture from the tank, but regardless I’ll set the timer to open the drain valve at least once a week, preferably at like 2 in the morning so it doesn’t freak me out during the day lol. Would love getting assistance on setting up the filters and such.

Thank you so much,
Dan

 

[saabracer23]

Should I put something like this between the output of the inter cooler and input of the tank to collect moisture coming from the inter cooler?

Dan

 

[#18FAN]

Yes to properly achieve what you want out of that aftercooler you need to install a centrifugal condensate separator before entering the tank I would install directly on the bottom of the aftercooler it will do a lot of the work and timer drain on the separator may or WILL be needed while in use. I still would hard pipe 10 feet min of tank and setup filters downstream after that.
Only had a few seconds to type but wanted to give some idea.

 

[saabracer23]

Yes to properly achieve what you want out of that aftercooler you need to install a centrifugal condensate separator before entering the tank I would install directly on the bottom of the aftercooler it will do a lot of the work and timer drain on the separator may or WILL be needed while in use. I still would hard pipe 10 feet min of tank and setup filters downstream after that.
Only had a few seconds to type but wanted to give some idea.

I appreciate you taking the time to do so. I’ll pick up that separator, does it look like a decent one?

Any other tips on getting this setup to be the best it can be please do share!

Thank you,
Dan

 

[#18FAN]

It needs to be a centrifugal separator needs to be sized for unit bigger is not better in this case.

 

[saabracer23]

It needs to be a centrifugal separator needs to be sized for unit bigger is not better in this case.

Oh why specifically a centrifugal? Would you be able to post a link to an appropriate one? I can’t seem to find any that are labeled as centrifugal. The only thing I could find are meant for water systems, to eliminate sediment. Luckily I hadn’t ordered it yet, but that one I posted above wouldn’t benefit me at all then?

Dan

 

[#18FAN]

Oh why specifically a centrifugal? Would you be able to post a link to an appropriate one? I can’t seem to find any that are labeled as centrifugal. The only thing I could find are meant for water systems, to eliminate sediment. Luckily I hadn’t ordered it yet, but that one I posted above wouldn’t benefit me at all then?

Dan

This may be helpful

 

[saabracer23]

This may be helpful

Awesome, thank you! One more question. You said it needed to be sized for my unit and that bigger isn’t always better. You linked a 1/2” threaded unit rated for 50 CFM. Would it hurt its performance if I stepped to the 3/4” threaded unit even though it is rated for 125 CFM? I figure that way I can thread it directly into the after cooler and pipe. If I get the 1/2” threaded model I’ll have to get reducers and or unions I guess. I’ll have to see how I can install it, but this gets me there, thank you.

Dan

 

[Creekside]

I would run a flexible line to a T on the wall with the bottom setup as a moisture trap and the top running into a Wix Aquachek filter. I don’t like lubricators, I prefer to just put a couple drops in the tool when I store it. Slope any lines to a low point moisture trap and drain. Install an auto tank drain or monitor it closely and be aware of any laws in your area about compressor discharge on the ground. Not supposed to just spray it on the ground here.

 

[Creekside]

Also, when you first drain the oil do yourself a favor and add a drain pipe so the oil goes where you want it. I service a fleet of QT-15 units that see more hours in a week than yours likely will in a year. Keep up on your reed valve maintenance. One of ours dropped a valve and cost big $$$$ to repair. There’s carnage pics on here.

 

[#18FAN]

I would run a flexible line to a T on the wall with the bottom setup as a moisture trap and the top running into a Wix Aquachek filter. I don’t like lubricators, I prefer to just put a couple drops in the tool when I store it. Slope any lines to a low point moisture trap and drain. Install an auto tank drain or monitor it closely and be aware of any laws in your area about compressor discharge on the ground. Not supposed to just spray it on the ground here.

I don’t see or that their is a lubricator or that one is recommended in the setup.

 

[#18FAN]

Awesome, thank you! One more question. You said it needed to be sized for my unit and that bigger isn’t always better. You linked a 1/2” threaded unit rated for 50 CFM. Would it hurt its performance if I stepped to the 3/4” threaded unit even though it is rated for 125 CFM? I figure that way I can thread it directly into the after cooler and pipe. If I get the 1/2” threaded model I’ll have to get reducers and or unions I guess. I’ll have to see how I can install it, but this gets me there, thank you.

Dan

To be honest the question should be answered by the MFG. but when I was building same setup I asked very question and they led me to the filter sized fo the CFM output. I do have all the parts you may have pushed me to finish the job Lol.

 

[saabracer23]

Just wanted to share a little info I got as I was worrying about over sizing it and actually thinking about getting the 1/4” NPT rated at 25 CFM since it was even closer to the 24 CFM rating of my compressor.

First I called Tyler at Moisture Boss, super helpful. I talked to him about getting a filter that closely matches the output and he did indeed say that if the filter is too over sized from the output of the compressor that the filter will indeed not be as efficient at removing the water. He wasn’t entirely sure how less efficient it would be just that it would be.

I was hoping to figure that out since I’m undiagnosed OCD lol. I called Walker Filtration and they got me to the distribution manager. I asked these same questions and he was under the impression that it was actually the other way around, but appreciated the question and wanted to get an answer himself. He said he was going to go talk to the engineering team and have me talk with them. They called back and this is what I was told. The oversized filter will actually be more efficient and remove more water than one that is rated near the output of the compressor. So I told them I had 3/4” pipe and fittings coming from the inter cooler and they said it would be even worse if I were to step down in size using reducers, make the filter even less efficient. If they made a 50 CFM rated filter with 3/4” NPT, it would be great still, but the one rated for 125 CFM would do even better even though there is only 24 CFM going through it.

They said if I bought one rated for 250 CFM and hooked it up to a compressor that only offered 2-3 CFM then that is when you start losing efficiency, when you’re talking 24 CFM then you don’t have to worry about losing efficiency.

Who knows, they could have been trying to sell me the more expensive model, but I don’t think that is the case. Hopefully I relayed that info in a way easily understood.

So basically if you have a decent compressor that’s bigger than a pancake you’ll get better performance from a filter that highly overrated and whose fittings match that of the pipe, not requiring reducers.

Dan

 

[Creekside]

I don’t see or that their is a lubricator or that one is recommended in the setup.

I’m unclear on whether you’re asking or telling me something?