Rebuck33

Hey fellows. Any advice on a water trap for my air compressor? I have a pretty new IR compressor 80 gallons/6 HP. I am in the process of sanding the car and water it just pouring out of the sander. I certainly need to fix this problem before painting. I have drained the tank several times and only get about a cup out but when its running continuously while sanding, I get A LOT of water out.


After sanding last night my wife needed a car tire blown up and the tire attachment squirted me when trying to fill her tire.


20 years ago we used to run 50' of hose through a tub of ice water to help with this while painting but there has to be a better way!

929nitro

I use a FinishLine 80 CFM Air Control after about 50 feet of air line for general filtration and moisture and for my painting work I have a Cam Air CT30 after the Finishline.

porchdog

moisture trap reg then a mcguard cartridge filter .

DUB

I have a complex system. An after-cooler, refrigerator dryer and also moisture traps and oil separators/filters. It is all hard plumbed into my air compressor for my paint booth.

I check my air in the booth by using my pencil blower and blowing air onto a mirror. So far..I have never gotten the mirror to fog up or see water droplets.

DUB

TWINRAY

Wow, that sounds like a lot of water! It must be running a lot. Is that a 100% duty compressor because internet says alot of IR Compressors fail. I have this one with a small HF model on my belt and no water has spit out doing my car with only a 3.5 hp Quincy . I have the bigger filter after 25 feet of upward direction hose.

Rebuck33

Running a lot..... YES! Probably 6 hours non stop the day the water was really bad. The compressor tank was probably 150 to 180 degrees. I have a few of those HF air filters and they do not work like I need. I had three of them on last year (at the same time) when sand blasting and I still had trouble.

My compressor is a continuous use rated so I should be ok there but if it blows up, so be it. I think it's still under warrentee. If not, I will get it fixed. I can not have tools like this that limit my work time cause I have so little time now so as it is.

I will ask the paint supply place if they have any recommendations and go from there.

I will be starting a new post on a spray gun they keep suggesting to me. Please visit that and let me know what you think of the gun.

DUB

YEAH...this moisture issue is WAY MORE important than the paint gun at this point. (My opinion)

If the compressor is running all the time...then you might need to plumb in some piping and have drains in this piping to get the water out.

DUB

Rebuck33

I have a 30x50 garage and it is piped to each bay. I happen to be in the far bay away from the compressor and I am using a 50 foot hose reel attached to the pipping. My water traps were always on the outlet of the compressor, should they be further away from it? Does length of pipe assist in water separation?

porchdog

i have a mcguard at the compressor to catch any oil vapor. then just a few drop downs . in the booth i have a regulator moisture trap then a mcguards filter.
if running air tools run them at lower pressure .

DUB

The way the shop was piped DOES make a difference. IF the pipe is graded downward to your bay...then all of the water is coming right at you. When I piped my old shop....I did the up over and down design of piping. When I had the run of pipe coming off the main compressor pipe. At every junction where i planned on having drop so I could hook a hose to the coupling. I put a 'T' in the pipe where I wanted it to be...positioned the branch to where it pointed straight UP...then I had a short piece of pipe in it ( i.e. 2")...then a 90 degree fitting...then another short piece of pipe (1" to 2")....then another 90 degree fitting...then the pipe I attached to it that would drop down.....then another 'T' fitting....then another piece of pipe where I had my drain attached....then coming off the branch of that 'T' fitting is where I attached my coupling. SO...all water that came off the compressor....really never had a chance to get into this set-up where it went 'up-over-down'...because the main run of pipe was graded where at the end of it it had a 90 degree fitting and a very long pipe where at the end of it there was s valve that I could drain the water out of the main run...DID that make sense.

The idea is to get the air cool....due not being hot....thus the water will collect and it has to do with how many valves you have that can allow you to drain off this water. I was at a shop a while ago where they had only one drain valve and the water problem was really bad. The dryers were always needing to be serviced

SO...yes...the dryers need to be at the end of the piping system...so-to-speak...and then you can have a regulator and your rubber hose. ALSO...the size of the pipe can make a difference. Larger diameter is better in the main run and then you can scale it down from there....because the larger pipe is also providing MORE air space.

PVC pipe is NOT good if it has long spans where it droops. The idea is to keep the pipe straight.

DUB

cmonkey713

Google Compressor Piping and pull up several diagrams that show simple but effective piping. the secret is allowing the hot compressed air to pass through sufficient piping length to condense the moisture into a drip leg which you cal drain frequently. You will also need a water separator to catch any moisture which may exist. My system consists of about 20ft of 1/2 black pipe, two drip legs and one separator. Works perfect for maybe $65 investment following internet diagrams. It took me about three hours start to finish.

Rebuck33

Hey fellows. I do have an up-over-and down piping system. I tried it today with a cheap HF water trap in my service drop in the far bay which is about 35 feet away from the compressor and it worked much better. I used to have it right at the compressor. This makes me feel good about a quality one working really well.

DUB

A 'work in progress' that is heading in the RIGHT direction.

DUB

13611

Just to keep giving you options, here's a link to a quick write up I did about mine. I no longer have water issues.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...regulator.html

65silververt

I didn't have time to read all the replies, but the biggest difference I ever noticed was after running my lines straight up from the compressor to the ceiling, then over 15 feet to my air dryer. I have zero moisture in my lines now and I contribute it mostly to running the line vertical off the compressor and then far away from it.