Air Compressor Distribution Line

[Ari]

Hey All!!

My air compressor works @ 110psi, 20 CFM.

I'm preparing to run a cooper pipe air line in my shop. Plan to use ¾" or 1" pipes and have a lot of questions!

Here in Brasil there are 3 different classes of cooper piping: "E" = 0.5mm "A" = 0.7mm and "I" = 1,0mm thickness. Must be an international standard, I think.

Questions:

a) I plan to use class A = 0,7mm. Is this OK?

b) How to cut pipes, hand hacksaw or tube cutter?

c) Pipe fittings, use cooper or bronze? Pressure lines use bronze?

Any more recommendations? Any thing to remember?

Thanks for the help.

Ari

[BadgerDave]

Can't say as I'm familiar with the "E", "A" and "I" rating system. Here, copper tubing is classified as either "M", "L" and "K" with "M" having the thinest wall. Type L or K would be my choice for pnuematic service. It would appear to me that your A would be an equal to our L so it should be OK to use.

A hacksaw would work just fine to cut it but a tubing cutter would be a better tool and give you a more precise cut. Whichever you choose, be sure to deburr each cut piece before assembly.

Copper sweat fittings would also be my choice over bronze fittings just because of the cost factor. Because of the moisture in compressed air, don't forget to place a bleeder valve at the bottom of each line coming off of the main line to make flushing the system easy.

Some good info in this thread, I got schooled ... Compressor Piping

[plumber]

Ari,

You will be fine with copper fittings. The brass fittings will be fine for your adapting over to your air tool fittings and valves. Consider using the heavier gauge of pipe for your loop, in a shop environment the line is going to be hit and abused more often than you would think. Badger dave is correct when he mentions the installing of bleeder valves in your lines to help eliminate moisture problems. There are dryers available but for your application a few bleeder valves will do fine. Also use the one inch diameter, this will give you a bit more storage capacity along with your tank on the compressor.

Support your pipe well, use hangers or straps, copper coated or rubber insulated at regular intervals. In a workshop environment my recommendation would be not less than 5 ft intervals.

You might want to consider silver soldering your fittings also. Regular solder will hold but silver solder works better for higher pressure applications.

[Ari]

That's why I like this place very much!

DAVE: I will install bleeder valves at the bottom of each line. And will be using a tube cutter.

WBRUCKS: Thanks for the link.!

PLUMBER: I will need to learn more about silver soldering and use it. May I use the RT100 solder for it? Thanks for all the tips!

Just for future reference, let's not forget about the line inclination of about 5° that helps draining moisture out.

Thanks guys for your time and kindness.

Greetings.

Ari

[plumber]

Ari,

5 degrees of slope is too much. Its not even a good idea to build a gravity drain with that much pitch. Plus your finished project will look awful.

If you look in other shops and mechanics garages you will see the air lines level or nearly level. The bleed valves on the drops to your hose connections and the moving air will allow you to remove the moisture with out problems.

If you are familiar with gas piping the drip legs at the end of a gas line just before the appliance is installed to catch moisture and dirt before it can foul the appliances gas oriface. If you install your air lines in a similar fashion you will be very pleased with the results. Install your bleeder valves at the bottom of these legs . This also allows you to hold a small bucket under the valve when you bleed it off, but be careful as the air and moisture rushing out of the pipe can cause any small debris in the bottom of the bucket to fly out and enter your eye so wear saftey glasses when you bleed your lines.

Out of curiosity, how long will your loop be when it is completed?

[ 02-09-2005, 08:05 AM: Message edited by: plumber ]

[Ari]

Originally posted by plumber:
Ari,

5 degrees of slope is too much.

Sorry!!, this will be .5% off the total length.

Originally posted by plumber:


If you are familiar with gas piping the drip legs at the end of a gas line just before the appliance is installed to catch moisture and dirt before it can foul the appliances gas oriface. If you install your air lines in a similar fashion you will be very pleased with the results. Install your bleeder valves at the bottom of these legs . This also allows you to hold a small bucket under the valve when you bleed it off, but be careful as the air and moisture rushing out of the pipe can cause any small debris in the bottom of the bucket to fly out and enter your eye so wear saftey glasses when you bleed your lines.

Plumber, this is my view of the final work. I,m trying to make some thing like this:



Do you like it?

Originally posted by plumber:
Out of curiosity, how long will your loop be when it is completed?

The horizontal loop will be about 32 feet long with 4 vertical terminations.

I hope I undestood every thing...

Greetings!!

Ari

[plumber]

Ari,

If you build your system like that it will work very well and it will work very well for a long time. The slope of the main trunk line shown is exaggerated I hope.

I apologize that I do not have the computer skills to draw a picture of what I would like to explain. The slope of your pipe should be barely perceptable to the naked eye. One half of one percent would be the maximum of what I would want for fall on a compressor line. The force of the air and gravity will help eliminate the moisture. The piping diagram you have shows the drip legs as they should be.

If you are not familiar with silver soldering I would suggest that you go ahead and use regular soft solder unless you feel like practicing for awhile before you take on this project. Silver solder is best, in my humble opinion, for what you want to do but regular solder will work.

For a 32 ft long loop you should not need to install a dryer. If you have very high humidity and a lot of temperature fluctuations then a dryer might become a factor. But its something that you can always add later without a lot of work.

Good luck with your project.

[Ari]

Super Plumber!

Yes, the drawing is exaggerating the slop. I got your point and will follow your less slop tips.

About computer skills, this image was ready, it is not mine. The most sophisticated computer command I know is CTRL ALT DEL

In fact, I'm doing all this for learning. I never made silver soldering and I would love to. The problem is that I don't have the tools, oxygen and so on. At least I'm assuming in my ignorance that I will need oxy right? If so, how about BernzOmatic stuf?

About a dryer, Brasília is like Las Vegas, super dry and I will use good filters also.

Well, I will look for some information on silver soldering and will be updating here.

Plumber, once again, thank you very much!!

Ari

[ 02-10-2005, 04:44 AM: Message edited by: Ari ]

[plumber]

You are welcome Ari,

If you want to silver solder MAPP gas and a turbo torch will be hot enough. Its a lot cheaper set up than an oxy acetylene set up. About 40 to 60 bucks for the turbo torch and 8 bucks for the MAPP gas.

But if you get the oxy acetylene kit you can do a lot of other things as well. As time goes on you will probably end up with both set ups anyway. I,ve found that I never have enough toys or tools.