water in air line
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Hi guys
I’m having a bit of an issue with water in my air line.
I have cleaned and dried the moisture trap. I drain down every day. There isn’t a lot of water in the tank each day. I have moved the compressor out from the wall where it was to allow more air around it.
I just noticed again a little water at the tool end. I drained down and will clean/dry the trap again but I noticed the compressor tank is getting very hot.
Thoughts, suggestions?
FWIW its a 15 year old JetAir J15 230V single phase 3HP / 150 litre belt drive unit
If you have a compressor you will have water. This being said all ya can do is treat it. Don’t worry about your tank being hot, that is what happens when the air is compressed. There is a couple things you can do for water. 1 air dryer ( separate unit just to take moisture out of air line) this will work very well but is expensive and mainly for dedicated body shops. 2 water trap sounds like you have one but if you add another it will help your situation. 3 The way you run your piping can result in less water. There are numerous diagrams on line that will show different ways.You can also add a separate tank this will also help. But even a brand spanking new compressor will pump out water just like you old one(maybe more)as long as its not pumping oil your fine.
I appreciate there will always be water but its never really been a problem before. I might replace the water trap it is as old as the compressor.
try using two water traps or an in line water separater. It a relativly cheap fix for such a big pain in the azz problem. :silly:
Water in airlines is a fact but as previously stated. I would suggest controlling it if its never been much of an issue in the past then I would suggest doing maintenance on your compressor (new intake filter, oil change)
As the compressor compresses the air, the air heats up from the compression and its a short trip to the tank, which would make that hot too, so that part is normal along with moisture in your airline. As the compressor compresses the [u][b]”humid”[/b][/u] air, moisture is then vaporized with the compression of the air and it will stay vaporized until the air can cool down. Which means you need to run an “aftercooler” of some sort, cheap way is to buy black iron pipe and run it anywhere from 25′-50′ feet out of the tank and then put your moisture trap on that so now all the moisture is condensed (condensation) from the cooling of the air through the piping, and the moisture trap can then actually trap the water. Moisture vapor will bypass your moisture trap and run through your line to your tool if you do not control it in your air delivery system (compressor, traps, driers and lines)
And don’t plug your trap and airline to the end of that, but put a drain valve going down to the ground and run your trap and line off of a separate upside down “T” running off the top of the low point drain valve because all the condensed water will flood your moisture trap so let that run down to the drain valve.
as mentioned earlier there are many diagrams online of how to route your lines and different materials to construct it out of. I hope this helps a little bit and is not too confusing
Mike K
[quote=”alistair” post=23357]I appreciate there will always be water but its never really been a problem before. I might replace the water trap it is as old as the compressor.[/quote]
Is your compressor running more on this job than it has before?With a high duty cycle (pump running often) the air in your tank will be pretty warm (as you’ve noticed). If that’s the case then a water trap won’t be effective as there’s no real water to trap, it’s still vapour in the warm air. This is then condensing out as it cools in your air hose and coming out at the tool end.
As Mike explains, the only way is to get the air as cool as possible [b]before[/b] it reaches the trap, then it’ll catch all that condensed water. This is how industrial refrigerated drying systems work, they chill the air to just above freezing to wring every ounce of moisture out. Clearly these units aren’t feasible for DIY use so I’ve used a series of copper pipes to achieve this, but it’s still not 100% effective. I really need more pipe length. Another option is to daisy chain into another tank which will have a similar effect.
[IMG]http://i321.photobucket.com/albums/nn385/Duluxdude/Work/P1010105Large.jpg[/IMG]
Hi guys, a newbie here and pretty much a diy’er. this is the best and simplest info I’ve found concerning water in air lines. I especially like the pics provided. My compressor is in an out building about 30 feet from my garage and i think I’ll use a set up like in the pic when i finally run the air into my garage. Again , many thanks for the info and explaining the concept so simply for an amateur.
all good advice here guys, if i can add one, before the air line exit, even before the regulator with the down pot, make a T down tube with a ball valve and empty it regularly by opening the ball valve, it works great, i did a bad drawing of it, here is the pic, excuse my lack of talent 😆
I’ve grabbed myself one of those hurricane or whirlwind things to try on the gun too.
[quote=”desualt” post=23392]all good advice here guys, if i can add one, before the air line exit, even before the regulator with the down pot, make a T down tube with a ball valve and empty it regularly by opening the ball valve, it works great, i did a bad drawing of it, here is the pic, excuse my lack of talent 😆
[/quote]
There is a drain down there to the left. Where else do you think that pipe’s going? 😆
In fact you can even see the yellow handle of the ball valve if you look closely 🙂
[quote=”Andy T” post=23620][quote=”desualt” post=23392]all good advice here guys, if i can add one, before the air line exit, even before the regulator with the down pot, make a T down tube with a ball valve and empty it regularly by opening the ball valve, it works great, i did a bad drawing of it, here is the pic, excuse my lack of talent 😆
[/quote]
There is a drain down there to the left. Where else do you think that pipe’s going? 😆
In fact you can even see the yellow handle of the ball valve if you look closely :)[/quote]
Sorry i missed it, must be all that junk everywhere in that picture that got me blinded :cheer:
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