DIY Cheap Air Compressor Dryer/Cooler - Feedback after a year of use!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- I built a dryer cooler for my shop air compressor out of old scrap copper 3/4" tubing with limited valves and drain points. I'm 90% happy with it. I edited this video and added some footage after one year of real use.
Totally awesome! It works really well. I was amazed at how dry my air is now.
Great to hear!
having a section of rubber hose before the tubing helps with vibration cracks, and ditch the air coupler for a Milton V etc high flow my cousin mentions. and using amsoil compressor oil helps
Good idea with the rubber hose. I'll admit I was doing most of it with the parts I had on hand to save money and avoid another trip to Menards to buy 18 more fittings.
I read all the comments so here’s my .02. Your latest orientation of how you have the air running is good but if you want your system to really work you need to fix the unloader. There should be no pressure in your cooler after the compressor stops running. If you add some type of condenser unit along with a water trap filter that has a automatic drain the water would drain from the water separator every time the compressor cycles. How your condenser is designed you may need to empty it once a day, week or the water separator can empty it every time you compressor stops. My system seems to work well, the 3 hours I ran my plasma table I had no visible water drain from my tank. I did build a ladder type cooler on the output side of the tank as additional protection and have a desiccant filter before my plasma cutter.
@@jayjayortega3102 Your perspective makes sense to me. I do need to manually drain the water out of mine every time I turn the compressor on or off. An automatic drain would solve that. But for the little $ I have into this, I'm content with it's performance. I have no evidence of moisture in my air compressor after quite a bit of use.
You need to add a large pipe at the end of your condenser coil that really slows down the airflow so that the droplets can fall out and not be dragged along. That is essentially what a water trap is. or you could buy a real water trap and put it at the bottom where your pipe goes into the floor for draining
Good idea. A large volume section to decrease air speed. Thanks for suggesting it.
Looks like you are into a bunch of the same things I am: garage beam trolley hoist, compressed air dryer, old cars. My big compressor in my back garage is just stock, nothing but a water trap on the output. Not ideal. My small compressor in my house garage has copper coming out the compressor, and going into a condenser I bought at a junk yard off a big Cadillac SUV, then copper down to the tank. That setup has a water trap at the input to the condenser (HOT air), another one at the output of the condenser (cooled air), and yet a 3rd water trap on the tank air outlet. I don't get any water in the tank, and never get any out the air hose and tools. I even tried painting a car with it, and it worked great. The only problem there is, it's only a 33 gal tank, 6hp, and struggles to keep up with air demand, but what air is delivered is remarkably dry. And this is in Alabama, where humidity is just rain hanging stationary in the air. New subscriber here! Thanks for your channel!
Thanks for subscribing. Kind of sounds like we'd enjoy being neighbors! Have a great day.
if you can find some at local scrap yard etc, get sole copper hot water baseboard sections as it has aluminum cooling fins on it. its a thinner copper though so care in handling , cutting it and soldering it is something to be aware of a guy told us .
Oh...that's a great idea!
I got a old 99 dakota truck rust bucket i put new doors on and painted without a moisture filter//lost my toilet paper water filter and got loads of fisheye--luckly i was able to wet sand out the fisheye with 1500 too 3000 to 5000 grit and 3000 grit buffing compound-- then murrer glaze or regular polish no grit--now its shinier and nice and flat looking.
Glad it came out alright for you. Sounds like it took extra work.
I think running your tubes vertical like your picture, plus a dropped tube with drain tube on each leg, would catch more water before getting back to the tank.
A drain tube on each loop would help. I was trying to avoid spending a lot on drain valves. Mine cools very well, but doesn't allow all the water to drop and drain back out. Some still comes out of the bottom of the tank. Vertical runs or slowing the air speed down might help.
@@3rdstallgarageI think the single drain with the tilt like you showed toward that drain would be fine but I'd put the valve below several inches of drip leg. I'd also put the air in via a T near or slightly below center on the left most vertical. This will force the air to split and divide causing any droplets to drop then, but mostly helping the air flow more evenly between the top and bottom runners. Feeding directly at the bottom corner will allow most of the air to stay in whichever tube is aligned with the input flow. (thinking of a dynamic system (how does it flow) instead of the static system (pressure is equal everywhere))
You should also check the temperature of the pipe heading to the tank - if it is hot it will still carry water vapor until it cools in the tank.
The way you had it first was backwards in the sense of thermal dynamics. Run the hot air into the top of the coil so the coil can cool down as the air goes downward. You don't want the hottest on the bottom so that heat given off rises to the pipes above it. It will cool better with hot on top and cooler on the bottom. Plus the air will push any condensed water toward the drain tee near the bottom and not carry the moisture up toward the top.
I used to teach HVAC and both air and hydronic systems balancing along with thermal dynamics, so I have some experience in that field after 46 years.
Hmmm....that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for pointing that out.
All you need to do is buy a cheap water trap and hook it in now just before the pipe goes into the tank. After having cooled it that is the perfect time to trip the moisture
Thanks for the suggestion. I'm still getting some moisture into the tank, so that is a good idea.
Running it vertically rather than horizontal with more drains is a much better idea.
Maybe...it might drain a little better but requires a lot more valves to drain.
Vertical is just too expensive,way too many valves,I built mine the same way and the air is wicked dry now.
Turn the cooler vertically with drains at the bottom sadly seems to be the most efficient
As a cooler this works awesome. As dryer it works decent, but vertically may work better.
@@3rdstallgarage cooler doesn’t mean much if it doesn’t translate into dryer air running through your equipment only system I saw with one drain that looks to work halfway decent is liquid cooled copper coil both drier and cooler air
Though i haven’t seen anyone use old car antifreeze for cold climates yet
I was thinking of building a copper unit like you did and put it inside a old stand up freezer- might be better for summer time-or at leiste while panting vehicles,? THANKS for posting your plan-- the one in the picture might work better in a freezer too. OR maybe put the radiator under ground- with a tube to vacuem the water out of a lower tank ss steel tank-maybe copper tube would last long under ground -not sure on that though.? NICE JOB SHOP YOU HAVE THERE 57 CHEVY
I've heard of people running the copper through a 55 gallon drum full of water. That sucks the heat out of it quickly too without needing a fridge or freezer.
Have you ever seen an automotive radiator with No fins? Copper tubing with No fins and No fan is terribly Inefficient! Air to air heat exchangers Need fins! It's all about surface area exposed to Air Flow! Please look at a hobby sized Passive moisture removal system, designed by a real engineer, Doug Kronemeyer in a 3 part You Tube video series titled: ( DIY #9). He explains the layout, & logic of his genius system. His system is so efficient that it rivals the performance of a refrigerated air drier at a small fraction of the price! A junkyard auto AC condenser from a big american car or van would do an awesome job with Ducted electric fans sucking air thru it, plus 2 water traps (the 2nd one of Dougs design), would eliminate any more tank water for long tank life & safety! Give it a good look!
Also a shout-out to Bud Stiner, THE Compressor Guru (YT), for DIY video tutorials, parts, inc. Real aftercoolers, & sales & local service. Keep trying & never stop learning! Good luck, Paul from hot S. Central Tx
Thanks for the suggestions.
Just thinking about your cooling setup- why not run the air through a charge cooler that is bolted to the back of your cage that covers the main compressor pulley? Use the fan of the pulley to pull air past your pipe work / charge cooler? Looks a nice setup though
That would work too. It all depends on what you want to buy and how much space you have. There are lots of different ways to accomplish it.
Maybe a metal bulb type dryer with auto water drain after cooler but before your tank would keep more water out of your tank. I would be concerned if I were you at the amount of water that drains from your tank. I'm sure you improved things but there's still quite a bit of work to do if you want to protect your tank and tools.
Good point. I'm more worried about sending dry air to the sand blaster and paint tools. The tank is still getting some water to it, but not as much and it's regularly getting drained. Previously I hardly ever remembered to go upstairs and drain the tank which allowed water and rust to collect and plug up the bottom of the tank drain. Doing it regularly helps it stay drier.
i think you just need to place a filter(evapuator) before tank and it will collect all your water. its the cheapest way. whithout that filter some of the water still be going even thru the most difficult scheme. how you can reserch it - fill the vertical pipe with some water and give a pressure from the bottom, and all water will be evapuated in a time. because you have 10atm pressure. or you need to make very very high pipe (or many pipes) and it will be very expensive), much more expensive than filter
Thanks for the input!
What pressure rating are the copper pipes, and what does you compressor max out at?
My compressor maxs out at about 120-130 I think. I don’t remember the rating of the copper pipes. Sorry.
COPPER PIPES ARE RATED HIGHER THAN 3000 PSI COSE I HAVE USED THEM ON NITRIGEN TANKS. WHY DO YOU ASK WHEN YOU CAN GOOGLE IT. JUST TO WASTE PEOPLE'S TIME I GUESS.. PS IF YOU ARE THAT STUPID YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE A AIR COMPRESSER OVER 1 GALLON !!!!
Hello, I have a humidity problem in my house. Can this device be used for my problem?
Or this device what exactly is it used for?
Mold problem
No. Probably not. Sorry.
I am curious as to the possible pressure drop going thru all of those bends? Also I would of made it with 3 or 4 10' lengths of copper tubing. And then bend a large radius on 2 parallel lines and solder the 2 pieces together using a union. Also using PEX is dangerous unless it is Upanor PEX.
Lots of different ways to do it. Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Does the unloader valve drain all the air in your 50+ foot cooling system?
If you are talking about the two ball valves that drain the water off the system, they would drain all the air if I left them open. Usually I just open them for one second and blast out the moisture that's collected and then leave the system pressurized.
@@3rdstallgarage not that, on the check valve on the tank, it unloads the pressure in the pump when the compressor stops.
@@jamesmcgee3532 Ahh...I think the check valve is missing on my compressor. It's an old compressor and I bought it used. I'm not sure I fully understand exactly how it should be, but when the pressure switch turns the compressor off, it does NOT relieve the pressure off the pump and air slowly leaks out a small hole in the side of the compressor head. I know it's not exactly right (they way it is now) but it works and the compressor seems to start up fine, so (for now) I've decided it's not worth trying to fix. I'm not familiar enough with them to know how I would go about fixing it or what parts I would need.
Condense!!!
Thanks for watching.
If you turned your system 90° and put a drain valve between each bottom elbow the tank would stay dryer.
That's true. I was trying to avoid having a ton of drain valves for expense and ease. But yes, that would be another way to do it.
THERE IS A EASIER WAY TO DRY AIR MY MAN !!!!!!!!!!!
There's always multiple ways - easy vs cheap vs effective vs using what you have on hand...
I guess you have been waiting for someone to implore you to share your knowledge so here it is: Could you please enlighten us less experienced in this intriguing subject?