Air compressor systeme

[Bob Carriere]

...don't trust the water trap they sell..... yes they will remove water but on a hot humid day..... whenyou blow sandy dust from parts you can see the water spray coming out of the hand held blower.

If you are serious about doing quality gloss paint finish you will need to buy an air dryer..... sold at Princess for $100... $50 on sale..... they require reloading with large white dissecant pellets about $29......

BUT.... if 99% of your painting is going to be OD army flat paint you need not worry as long as you drain your pipes and tank regular...... and keep you rubber hose as short has possible.

I found that a long rubber hose stretched out on a cool cement floor on a hot humid summer day.......will condense water in the hose faster than in the tank. Where you live you are used to it but on a Summer day the humnidity level is higher than you would imagine.

Watch some of the specialty primers and epoxy paint the humidity actually hardens the paint faster and may ripple before is self levels on parts.

Have a beer with some of the body shop paint guys.... they can tell you tricks that will make it easier for you and may only apply to your climatic conditions....

Good luck and happy blowing..

Boob

[Phil Waterman]

Originally Posted by Bob Carriere

....

I found that a long rubber hose stretched out on a cool cement floor on a hot humid summer day.......will condense water in the hose faster than in the tank. Where you live you are used to it but on a Summer day the humnidity level is higher than you would imagine....

Boob

About the long rubber hose condensing the water out I've actually taken a 100' air hose and coiled it in a trash can of water with 25 lbs of ice when the normal water traps were not doing the job, then connect it to the water trap after the chiller treatment, you need to open the drain on the trap a little to let it piss out the water, other wise it fills the trap real quick.

The trash can may be replace with a cooler so that you can keep your beer cold at the same time, but if you go that approach keep an eye on the ice, you don't want warm beer.

Another Comment - that having a longer length of pipe before the water trap actually works better than right at the compressor. It give the air a chance to cool so that trap can work better particularly the can types then desiccant type filter after that.

Cheers Phil

[Phil Waterman]

I've heard that plasma-cutters really don't like moisture. Most instructions I've seen strongly suggest a desiccant inline trap right at the unit. So that there are no hoses to have moisture in them.

Cheers Phil

[Bob Carriere]

We actually have two in the barn...... one permanently attached on the sandblasting cabinet and one on the wall by the main outlets which I can pipe my lines in for special painting or plasma use........

The hot Summer days are worst.... this time of the year the ambient air is fairly dry. With the compressor in the attic the first iron line goes down about 11 feet and has a tee followed by a ball valve and a 12 inch straight section that is capped. It is easy to open the tap and let the line water drip in the capped section.......close valve remove cap and drain. This is before the usual water trap which also needs regular draining of 3 to 4 ounces of water.....makes you wonder sometimes if the iron pipes are nto connected to the house well system....!!!!!! The worst accumulation of water remains in the tank itself.

What I would give for a sticky warm Summer day right now.....

Boob