My compressor is one of those Campbell Hausfeld 20 gal horizontal tank jobs. You know, the ones with the tank drain underneath and almost unreachable.
Drain after every use? Yeh, right...
I finally decided to rectify the problem. I was going to make an extension but while looking for the parts i discovered there's is indeed 'nothing new under the sun'. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Exten ... /205183928
Mine arrived today and will be installed tomorrow!
Cherryville Chuck wrote: ↑Thu May 26, 2022 1:43 am
The link wouldn't work for me but I have a good idea what it is. Besides rotting the tank out, the excess water can do damage to tools too.
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Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
SNORK” Mountain Congressional Library and Taxidermy...
I have a small 6 gal tank that I carry in one of my storage compartments in the motor home. To drain it, I would have to unload it and all my tire tools to get to the bottom of the tank. This would be ideal for me.
Thanks Dan.
My compressor is an 18 cfm 80 gal vertical tank Ingersol Rand with a 3 hp motor. To prolong it's tank life I made a condensate tank from 3" galvanized pipe with reducers to 1/2" on each end. The outlet of this tank has a gate valve and then 1/2" pipe is run from it out through the side of my compressor shed to an elbow pointing straight down. Every day that I use my compressor, I open the gate valve for a few seconds to blow out any condensate that may have accumulated in it. Condensate never accumulates in the compressor tank. It all drains into this fat pipe accumulator.
To keep condensate water out of my tools and spray guns, I added fins to the pipe running from the air compressor heads to the tank to cool the compressed air as much as possible before it enters the tank, so the condensate falls out of the air before it reaches the outlet pipe to the shop. For shop use I have never had a moisture problem in my shop air lines.
A couple of years ago I rebuilt a refrigerated compressed air dryer, and can now add it in line between the compressor tank and the shop air lines when needed. I don't use it all the time though, since it reduces the flow a bit, I only use it when we have high humidity days here and want to paint or sand blast. Otherwise, it is bypassed.
Many small air compressors have their tank inlets in the top center of the tank, with the outlet to the regulator and tools right next to the inlet. Warm air rises, and cooler air falls. When the air is cooled, it releases the moisture that it can no longer hold at this compressed pressure. In use, with the compressor running, the hot compressed air doesn't get a chance for the air to cool and give up it's moisture before heading out of the tank through the air lines and tools. Separating these entry and exit points gives the compressed air a chance to cool and release it's moisture in the tank before going out through the regulator and lines. Increasing the length of the pipe between the compressor and the tank, and adding cooling fins to this line will make a huge difference too. I have one compressor that I added an automotive transmission coil to, in this line between the compressor head and the tank. I located this coil so the fan in the compressor pulley could pull air through it. This cooled the air coming from the compressor quite well before it entered the tank, and the condensate collected in the bottom of the tank instead of coming out through the lines to the tools.
When you have run your compressor quite a bit, check the tank temperature by touching the tank at the top, middle, and bottom. The cooler air with the least condensate still in it is near the tank bottom, but the bottom is where the condensate collects, so away from the inlet at the top, but not in the bottom, is where the compressed air should be the driest. An outlet port at about mid level, like the end of the tank, will be the best place to attach the pipe to the pressure regulator. A reducer and a couple of brass fittings, and a pipe plug to fit the now unused outlet at the top off the tank, along with a short length of soft copper pipe should be all you need to move the line from the top of the tank to the end of it. The size of these will depend on the size and model of your air compressor.
Any, or all of these should help you improve the dryness of your compressed air. Some are easy to do and some take a little more effort. My son's 20 gallon 2 hp air compressor now has the exit from the tank to the regulator connected to the port at the end of the compressor tank instead of at the top near the inlet pipe.
My first system was patched together from parts. The tank and regulator came from a small one lunger with maybe a 1hp motor. I added a new double piston compressor with a 3 hp motor and added a second tank I salvaged off the air system on an old logging truck.
The second tank does the same thing Charley's system does. The first tank collects pretty much all the condensate so you get dry air out of the second tank. Plus you have extra air storage. I would still have the compressor air coming in one end of the primary tank and out the other end to the secondary if possible.
