Shop Air

[uglyota]

There's a lot of BS elsewhere about this but what's a simple, cost effective way to run air around a shop?

I am thinking of running black iron pipe from one side of a garage to the other along the ceiling, with a little dip in the tube and drain as a moisture catcher just before each outlet. Short piece of soft line connects the compressor to the system. Anything wrong with this?

[DRAGOONRANCH]

Somebody had an elaborate setup posted up in the ultimate shop thread, let me find it.

I think if you can just keep a small slope in the pipe it will go a long ways to keeping it a bit drier and just have a valve at the bottom/end to let the water out.

[DRAGOONRANCH]

http://www.1969supersport.com/draw1.html

like I said, elaborate, but should give you a few ideas. I have started to see a few more pvc setups, I just don't know how long they would last.

[uglyota]

that is elaborate! I am thinking more like one of these:

[Jackasic]

use PVC instead of iron

[eight]

PVC has been in my dad's shop since 99.

[robertf03]

that is elaborate! I am thinking more like one of these:

I did that exact setup at my parents house and even with 3 inline filters water still gets through the lines. You need to have some distance between the outlets and compressor.

[BMFScout]

We used copper, but that was when copper was cheaper, and I think it fell off the back of my brother-in-law's truck as well. We just have an inline filter and an expansion type dryer that is probably older than dad before it goes into the lines. Nothing elaborate or expensive for sure. The tank on the compressor is huge though, and a lot of water gets caught in it, so that probably helps. No considerable moisture in the lines to speak of, but we aren't shooting paint everyday either. We have a reel by the compressor, two small whip hoses on either end of the bench, and another reel by the back door. Much handier than dragging hoses all over the shop. Why do you want to plumb air lines for a single car garage? Doesn't seem like there would be much benefit.

[uglyota]

My thought is that in a small area it will be even more important to keep everything straight and not dragging all over the place, so having the air right next to where you're working would help that. I might be able to achieve the same result just with a reel under the workbench at the front of the garage though...and it would cost under $100 to do the two drops with copper.
Maybe I could put another tank in for expansion/condensation before it enters the system?
I feel so lame for getting excited about this. Wait till you see my shelving thread!

[J Cooper]

why not just run the pipe up into the rafters and then attach a real in the middle of the garage

thats what i was thinking about doing, i have my extention cords set up that way

[uglyota]

I kinda thought about that but I think then you would always have the hoses dragging over paint (at least in a 1-car, in the middle of a 2-car it would probably be ideal), and it doesn't solve the moisture problem (though I may be overthinking this, there's really not much moisture in the air here)

[AggieTJ2007]

yeah, I don't think that moisture is going to be a big of a problem as it is here

[eight]

You think too much.

Plug hose into compressor.

[agjohn02]

ive got a 60 gallon upright with the hose plugged into the outlet. no water problems at all.

edit- dang it, thats twice in a row ive agreed with kopecki. whats happening to me?

[Reckless]

When we get ours set up in the big shop, ill try to post pics

[robertf03]

ive got a 60 gallon upright with the hose plugged into the outlet. no water problems at all.

edit- dang it, thats twice in a row ive agreed with kopecki. whats happening to me?


I think if you put an inline filter in you'd be surprised to see the water it catches. I have used some of those disposable gel filters that change color when they get full of water and they don't last very long the few times I've painted something with my setup. I have 2 water separators where the flex line meets the hard line, 1 separator off of the air chuck, and one more on the paint gun right before the disposable filter.

Most of the time the air appears dry, but if you really get after something with the blowgun then drops of water start to show up after 5 minutes or so of continuous use. And this is in Dallas, its humid as balls down here.

[eight]

Humid air is more dense, makes the impact work better.

[agjohn02]

I think if you put an inline filter in you'd be surprised to see the water it catches. I have used some of those disposable gel filters that change color when they get full of water and they don't last very long the few times I've painted something with my setup. I have 2 water separators where the flex line meets the hard line, 1 separator off of the air chuck, and one more on the paint gun right before the disposable filter.

Most of the time the air appears dry, but if you really get after something with the blowgun then drops of water start to show up after 5 minutes or so of continuous use. And this is in Dallas, its humid as balls down here.

i dont paint with it. i have a downdraft and different air supply for that.

[davido]

I liked the water coming out of the impact at Brandon's old shop. That was real cool. :)

[agjohn02]

I liked the water coming out of the impact at Brandon's old shop. That was real cool. :)

ugh. good riddance.

[eight]

Water gives it more power

[bburris]

Water gives it more power

Yeah, we got it the first time.


Humid air is more dense, makes the impact work better.

[uglyota]

ugh. good riddance.

Yeah, we got it the first ten times.
:flipoff2:

[eight]

Water, not humidity.

You never filled your air hose with water and reconnected it to the air line to break something loose? hydraulic power > pneumatic power