Adding an aftercooler to air compressor. Much cooler air!
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- Опубліковано 6 лип 2024
- Here I show how I added an after cooler between the pump and tank of my air compressor to cool the air. It achieves this dramatically as and enables the inline water trap to catch a lot of water before it makes it to the tank.
Aluminum tubing:
www.amazon.com/Allstar-ALL401...
Cooler:
www.amazon.com/Derale-15300-T...
3/8 NPT compression fittings
www.amazon.com/ZKZX-Compressi...
8AN to 3/8 NPT fitting:
www.amazon.com/Aluminum-Femal...
3/8 NPT female to female fitting:
www.amazon.com/Legines-Brass-... - Навчання та стиль
I did same but use a a/c condensor its way bigger. Like 30inches wide and 20inch tall.
Inlet Temps are 220ish
Oulet temps are 85-95.
Works great.
2005 f150 a/c condensor come with 90degree lines attached to condensor.
Made setup super easy.
That's cool I never thought of that I live by Fresno CA there's a lot of junkyards over here sometimes they have half off everything in junkyards holiday special they are having one for Forth of July maybe I can find one off a big truck sometimes they have big Diesel trucks there.Thanks for posting Have a Great Blessed Day
@@johnnygarcia71 hoping if someone reads this they save a little $ using A/C condensor and gain alot more cooling than a small trans cooler, just be sure to flush condensor with some isopropyl alcohol to remove PAG oil if it's used.
You can buy 1/2" crush sleeves for like 3$ at lowes in plumbing aisle to mate condensor to compressor head and tank.
I'd recommend a f150 one just because it has two 90 degree adapters that screw on condensor and can be used to adapt to tank easily with compression fittings.
Goodluck with your project
Thank you so much for the complete description on removing water from the compressor. I just did it using the same parts. What a difference in the air temperature. Works perfectly.
It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes.
An ideal solution is using one of the Derale remote coolers, which includes an integrated fan. All the cooler cores are rated at 250 PSI working pressure and 300 PSI burst pressure. The difference between the transmission and oil cooler variants are which accessories are included. The Derale 15870 would be the top of the line choice, but it's around $360. It has a 67,000 BTU per hour rating. A more affordable choice is the 15850, which is rated at 22,000 BTUs per hour. Someone smarter than me could probably calculate how many BTUs a compressor running for an hour at some given temperature produces and spec the actual cooling capacity needed.
As these coolers have 12V fans, you'll need a 12V power supply that's capable of 10 amps or more (the fans pull less than 6A, but running a power supply at it's rated limit often leads to early failure). Meanwell makes good power supplies. The power supply could be manually switched on or off, keyed off the compressor running or not, or even temperature controlled. If the power supply supports 220V in, it could be wired in parallel with the compressor motor. The only downside to these remote fans is they can be somewhat loud.
Ideally, the fan on the compressor shouldn't be obstructed, and most compressors spec the fan as needing 18" of space between the fan and a wall to allow for proper air flow. As others have mentioned, keeping the compressor head cool helps prolongs the life of both the head and the oil. What's not mentioned in most of these aftercooler mods is there is a check valve in the top of the tank. Adding the additional volume of the aftercooler between the compressor and the check valve can make unloadershiss for a much longer time after the compressor shuts down. This can be fixed by adding a check valve directly on the compressor head. The arrangement becomes compressor head -> check valve -> cooler -> water separator -> built-in check valve.
Summit Racing (among others) carries fittings for -AN to compression. The SUM-2200076B adapts 8-AN to 1/2 aluminum pipe directly. I haven't tried this, but as long as the air temperature directly off the compressor head is less than 300F, you could use braided stainless steel hose with -AN fittings, and skip most of the aluminum pipe altogether. You'll still need a stub with an 8-AN to compression fitting for the built-in check valve.
One thing I’ve considered adding is a second small fan that blows directly on the pump head, wired in to perhaps whenever the pump kicks on.
The unloader does hiss for a lot longer with the additional air volume.
In terms of cooling capacity, even when the motor has been running for a very long time, or perhaps constantly like if I’m blasting, the air is still completely cooled so the cooler is not getting overwhelmed.
The fan on the 15870 draws 9.2 amps according to the spec sheet. Perhaps the Mean Well LRS-200-12 switching power supply, single output,12v, 17amp, 200w would be the correct choice? Also, would a check valve on the compressor head be able to handle the extreme temperature? And would getting rid of the check valve on top of the tank and just plumbing the line to whatever thread is there be a good idea? Thanks!
I’m about to do something similar to my new compressor and I was considering wall mounting my cooler to avoid obstructing the airflow over the compressor head. Not sure if it will need a fan or if air cooling it will suffice, cross that bridge later after I put the system into service I suppose. Question what is the problem with the longer hiss after the tank shuts off, besides the sound and annoyance factor?
@kcvance1974 the longer hiss is only because the residual air volume from pump head to tank is a lot larger due to the added lines, so it takes longer to bleed all that pressure off. It isn’t an issue.
So I made essentially this same setup, except I have an IR compressor(175psi). But instead of running a single filter after the Derale radiator I ran a 3 stage Nanpu set from Amazon. Filter, coalescing then desiccant dryer then into the tank. Within 3 seconds of turning it out the 1st filter stage of the Nanpu blew apart. Looks like three of the metal lugs holding the bowl cannister on had just sheared off. The cannister flew down and smashed into the floor with all the plastic parts busting everywhere. Dented the metal cannister also and a small piece of something had flown by my head. I think it was one of the lugs. My first thought was that the nanpu, which I'm sure is cheap chinese pot metal, had a stress fracture in it. My second thought was that having all three stages inline created to much back pressure and the 1st stage gave way. I am using 1/2" NPT so the lines are big enough. It was probably a combo of those two items.
My goal was to have the air as dry as possible going into the tank. But when I replumb it I think I'll go with just a 1st stage filter/regulator and put the coalescing and desiccant filters after the tank.
Also, posted this as a warning to anyone else trying it. Take precautions when starting it up the first time with any modifications, like turning it on from the break far away from the compressor! ha.
I've done this mod to a smaller tank a few years ago and there has been very little water in the tank. Thanks, for the parts list, as I am planning to do the mod on a larger compressor. One thing to be aware of. When you introduce aluminum to the air flow, there is such a thing as galvanic action and this could corrode the aluminum and cause failure. FYI.
Thanks for that FYI. The original line it had was aluminum. It’s been there for 13+ years without issue so maybe It won’t be such an issue for me.
Great video
Thank you for the video. I like how you show and explain everything in detail, so it's easy to understand. I wonder if there's flexible lines out there for this purpose, so you don't have to bend aluminum.
I have an old craftsman air compressor that I bought used. it worked ok for about a year. it stopped building air pressure about a month ago so I started looking at it to see what was wrong. most of the fittings were loose so I tightened them, then I took the head off the pump and saw that the piston o ring was damaged so I bought a new o ring kit. the crankshaft has a fan on it and I took the fan off for some reason. when I put it back on I didn't pay attention and when I turned the air compressor on, the fan wasn't installed right so it smashed the fan to pieces. the fan is no longer available so I am going to add a standalone fan. I don't know how much CFM I need so I did a search, and your video came up. I am definitely going to do this mod in addition to the standalone fan.
I'm gonna be running the same setup here, another guy I saw who also did it was seeing 250 degrees off the pipe right out of the pump, so definitely a bit north of 120 degrees. Unless you're talking C, which if you got 60 degrees C for room temp, I think that's called a Sauna.
Either way, good video, glad everyone doing this is seeing such good results with it.
120F is about the point where something gets too hot to touch. So I don’t know what the actual temp was but I knew it was at least 120F. My point there though was it got to 120F in only about 30 seconds. So it most definitely gets hotter with a lot of running.
For whatever reason my infrared thermometer was not picking up the heat from the tubing so I couldn’t measure it.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer might be too reflective, sometimes that'll screw with those. Coincidentally after setting mine up I did accidentally grab the hot pipe. It was quite unpleasant for the next few days 😁
@@jonnymiskatonic ROFLMFAO, I bet it was 😁😁😁😁😁😁
This condenser set up works great! This with a Tsunami water filter and some additional filters and traps around the shop it keeps my CNC air dry. I have the same trans cooler but use Parker 836 series hose and pushlock fittings, makes for an easy setup.
What are these push lock fittings that you speak of? Do you have a link? Thanks.
@@mguerramd I believe he is referring to the fittings for poly hose. They are like the sharkbite fittings for plumbing, but sized for poly hose.
@@mguerramd Can just search for Push-Lok
Nice! Getting the air as close to ambient as possible before going into the tank helps tremendously. I wonder how much heat from the motor/cylinders conduct into the tank.
Minimal to none because the tank remains cool to the touch now. Before I installed this cooler, the tank would get very hot to the touch after a lot of running.
Nice little project. Its worth noting that if tubing size on cooler is larger than compressor output, it yields benefits as with reduced velocity comes increased time to pull heat out. For example if my compressor out was 1/2" tubing, I'd look for a cooler made with 5/8". If you ever want to step up to stainless tubing at some point, time to abandon the cheap bender and look at Swagelok. Good job setting autodrain at low point before routing to receiver - should be fairly trouble free..
It has been completely trouble free and has worked really well for me. It’s been a few years now I think??
If you read the recommendations, they say use flare fittings for copper and alum tubing.
My air compressor came with compression fittings on the aluminum line from the pump to the tank, so I just continued it. I bought this compressor in 2010.
I'll definitely be doing this!
Now that you've been running it for a while, is there anything you would change? How much water gets to the tank?
The only thing I would change is a bigger water filter that’s auto draining. This filter does remove a lot of water and if the compressor is running a lot and you don’t drain it occasionally it will fill up and overrun into the tank. I’d say this has eliminated 90% of the water going into the tank. I do notice the desiccant filter in my paint booth (which has a Motoguard M60 sub micron filter before it, and a water oil separator before that, and the inline water filter on the compressor before that) almost gets no moisture and stays blue for a very long time now.
do they have something like 1/4 or 1/2, 3/4 because 3/8 is not easy to convert? but you did a great job thank you
Yes they’re available in most common sizes. In Amazon you can select which size you want.
Hey you Hay Farmer... Nice video! BTW. What type of air compressor do you have. Looks a lot like my 60 gallon Sunborn 220 volt. If it is, I will definitely use your system for cooling. Keep the good stuff coming Mate!
It is a “Morgan series” compressor, which is a remanufactured compressor I bought at Northern Tool probably back around 2010. It looks pretty identical to a lot of 60 gallon compressors I’ve seen. So who knows what it really is.
Are you seeing any drop in pressure when painting with it bleeding the pressure off when the compressor turns off?
No, because the compressor pressure bleeds off in the line before the tank and not in the line coming out of the tank.
Thanks for the post. Have you finished setting this up? I'm about to tackle the same project and just watched a similar video from 2020 with a guy using a used A/C condenser radiator out of a Ford F250. It looks like it works really well. Are you also going to use a fan to blow on the condenser? I have a 100 gallon tank / 5hp unit able to run at 175psi but plan to run at 120.
I had it finished and tested in the video. It’s been working really well and pulling out a lot of water.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer What's the size of your compressor, rating, and tanks size please. I have a BIG Saylor Beall 705 with a 5hp motor and 120 gallon tank. After looking this over I'm wondering if it may just be too small, mainly the 3/8" fittings for my pump. It seems like it would be stuffing a lot of air through a very small tube and making the motor and pump work harder than it should. I think I need a larger condenser with larger fittings ..at least 1/2" or 5/8" or possibly even 3/4" which is what comes out of my pump.
Mine is 60 gal, 13 CFM, and I think motor is 2.5 or 3.5 hp. I used 3/8” because it’s what was already on my pump. If yours is larger, I’d think you want a higher flowing line. Or to be easy, go with the same size fitting your pump had originally.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer Yeah I think I need something bigger which is a shame because I love your setup. After looking at Amazon for the 15300 condenser it appears a lot of people are using it. But for comparison, my pump alone is maybe twice the size of what I'm seeing with yours and others in photos on amazon. I feel like I may need at least 5/8" fittings and therefore a larger condenser too...maybe something 50% bigger with slightly larger fittings. I'm just kind of at a loss as to where to find a larger condenser though as I don't see any bigger options..on Amazon at least.
I don’t think you need a larger condenser. Those are 1/2” lines. Just get the fitting sizes you need to adapt it.
Have you noticed any corroding on the pipes or fittings? I am looking to do the same thing, but I will have brass, aluminum, and stainless steel touching each other.
I wanted to see if I should be that concerned that Galvanic corrosion would take place and cause the plumbing to leak or fail pretty quickly
I haven’t had any leaks or corrosion.
Hi, beautiful mod. I'm curious about the water filter.
Would you still recommend It?
what thread specs have you used 1/4" NPT (High Flow)?
Greetings from Austria! Best Marc
You definitely need the water filter as the entire purpose of the condenser is to cool the air enough to condense the water so it can get trapped in the filter prior to the tank. I used 3/8” NPT thread on my filter since my lines were 3/8”. I wouldn’t recommend using the filter I got because it’s actually not auto draining and fills up pretty quickly.
gotcha! Thanks for the follow-up!
@@TheScientistHayFarmer which water trap would you recommend? And does the units inlet psi and outlet psi play a role much?
I don’t have a particular water trap I’d recommend, but get one that has the smallest micron rating you can find so it has better separation capacity. Get one that can hold a lot of water and get one that is auto draining too. This will drain it every time the compressor shuts off and bleeds off pressure to the line.
You want your inlet and outlet psi to be compatible with whatever psi your compressor runs at.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer crap! I think the one I just got in had 125psi output (but it also states max operating pressure is 150) my compressor is a 150... That's a problem you think?
Sorry but I.m new to you tube and compressed air. I like this idea, but on a direct drive compressor that I am looking at I don’t think I have access to the pipes so can I run this after the air tank and before the blow gun. Also what is cooling the air ? Is it just the metal or are you blowing air over the cooler ?
I responded to your other comment, but the air is being cooled by heat dissipation on the fins of the cooler pipes as well as air blowing across it, just like a radiator cools your coolant.
Just have to take it apart to access. There's almost always a line connection from pump to tank
Nice setup. My only critique is I would have mounted the cooler with the tubes in a horizontal position, 4 to 5 degrees off level, with the downslope towards the Input/Output for drainage. I would have also made the top fitting the Inlet and the bottom one the Outlet, then added the regulator/water separator.
Good call on the slight slope. I think my top fitting IS the inlet and bottom fitting is the outlet.
The 4 degree slope kind of makes sense, but then half the time the water in the line has to move up a 4 degree slope, so is there really any benefit?
45 degree angle on the transmission cooler would help so that the lines don’t accumulate water and they can self drain
No, because half of the lines would be going uphill. They will all collectively drain better if they are level.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer I may not have explained it clearly so I have linked a video that illustrates the point I was attempting to make. The point of contention is at approximately 5:30 mark. ua-cam.com/video/NkXfN2beaUc/v-deo.html hope that helps better describe what I was trying to say.
Thanks for the video. I have almost the same setup. Only the tank is smaller (50L). I also use the same PneumaticPlus spearator. It works well and catches lots of water. However some water still escapes it to the tank. I know becauese I also have a separator on the tank outlet and it catches some water coming from the tank. Is this inevitable?
I also get water from the tank but not near as much as I used to. I think it is inevitable unless you actually had a refrigerator before the tank.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer Do you think I can use it as it is for painting?
@@skorkmaz no for painting you will still need additional water filtration. I have a paint booth for painting cars and from my tank my air first goes through a 25’ coil of 1/2” copper pipe to further cool, then an oil/water filter, then a Motorgard M60 sub micron filter, then a desiccant filter to remove any remaining vapor, then the regulator, then gun. So two filling steps and 4 total filtration steps. Since I have incorporated this aftercooler my desiccant lasts a very long time which indicates there’s very little water making it to that point.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer You have a nice setup. Do you have uploaded some photos I can see?
@@skorkmaz i don’t. But eventually I’d like to make a video of my paint booth
I’m thinking the closer the cooler is to the pump, the more it will act as a heat sink, extending pump life and maybe increasing efficiency too.
Unfortunately, the hot air exiting the pump will continue on into the top of the cooler. If there is any cooling of the head transferred mechanically by the line, it won't be much, if any at all, by way of the aftercooler. The head highly depends on air flow for cooling. If you want to supply additional cooling to the head, an electric fan will help air flow across the cooler and head as well.
^ this right here.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer Perhaps. Some real world data would be helpful, maybe in a video format *hint hint* And if the small mass of the copper pipe connecting the compressor head to the cooler isnt sufficient, what mods would do the trick? How do we use a cooler to not only remove moisture from compressed air, but also cool our compressors.
The pump generates SO much heat so fast I think any heat sink properties of the aluminum tubing coming out of it is negligible. That I can tell on my compressor just by how hot the tubing gets in a matter of seconds.
I would agree the best way to cool it would be to have a fan blowing on it (but not blowing in the direction of the cooler).
Please excuse me, but exactly how is the air being cooled. If I can’t het access to my pipes, can I run this after the tank and before the tool?
The air is cooler by running through the piping in the cooler. It has fins connected to it to help dissipate the heat, and the air compressor fan is pulling air through them.
You can cool after the tank but you’ll want water separation after the cooling. It will probably cool fine after the tank but you’d want a fan blowing on it for more cooling effect. A lot of guys will run rows of copper pipes on their wall to cool it. It’s beneficial to cool the air before the tank so you get less water going into the tank.
With 16 180 degree bends and 16 feet of 3/8 line, do you notice any pressure drop while in use, or volume restriction?
I’m sure there’s probably some, but nothing I notice. I have painted several cars and a 28’ camper with this set up.
Examining your fitting parts, could you not have gone with a compression fitting with 3/8 female end straight into the 8an/npt male adapter without using the female to female adapter?
That may have been possible, but in my searching I couldn’t find that part configuration.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer ahhh.. I wondered if that was the issue. Thanks. That helped a lot.
@bosshawg7427 were you able to find a direct 8AN female to 3/8 compression fitting by any chance?
Anyone have a recommendation for a cooler for a 9hp compressor? Hose from pump to tank is 3/4" and hose from tank to regulator is about 5/8." Too use said transmission cooler, would seem too small diameter.
Yes, trans cooler too small. You need an appropriately sized air to air aftercooler designed for the higher cfm of your compressor. On UA-cam look for THE Compressor Guru, Bud Stiner in Pennsylvania. He has some in stock. Look for contact info. from the show description. Super knowledgeable, friendly guy. Tell him Paul from S. Central Tx sent you. Blessings!
@@PaulThomas-qo9vy Thx, that's great. I also saved The Guru's website.
I had the same problem. I decided to put a T-fitting and use two of these coolers, then joint them together at a 1/2" water separator. This is still a bit under sized but much better than a single 3/8" cooler. It seems to work very well.
neighbor uses a computer server fan called a muffin fan as its 110Volt and low draw they pit in a tin cover box over the cooler to really help. they get the 110V from the switched power somehow
Is their a pressure rating on the cooler?
Yes, I think it’s around 300 psi. It said on the listing. It was much higher than the 150 psi my compressor shuts off at.
Can you just use the traditional A/C radiator from a car? Those things do not route all the way like a coil serpentine but more like a normal water radiator, and the input and output are on the same side
It depends how much pressure they’re rated for. I don’t know.
Yes. Getting lines to attach may be a problem. Most AC condensers can handle 600+ psi.
Yep. A 2005 f150 condensor use 1/2 lines. Super easy to adapter to compressor. Since it come with 2 bent lines with condensor.
Dropped my Temps 120degrees 220 to around 85-95.
@@AutoMotoMechanic Thanks!
Have you had any air leaks?
Not at all.
can i use air hose instead of tubing for the lines?
i only see people using tubing in their videos.. idk why
Going into a cooler I’m not sure an air hose could handle the heat. It gets extremely hot.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer ive seen temps of less than 200 degrees only
Probably too hot for it. Within 15 seconds that tubing will get so hot you can’t touch it.
Can you provide a parts list/links?
Yes, I’ve been meaning to get around to that.
@@TheScientistHayFarmer Well, I happen to have the same cooler on order, but still need to identify and order the fittings and tubing. If you can link any items, it would be helpful. Thanks.
@@toofusnook links and parts list added. Note you will need to size them based on what size fittings your compressor already has on the tank and pump.
Just checked and the cooler went up 20$… damn!
I paid $64 this summer on Amazon and now it’s $70 on Amazon. I’m not sure what you’re seeing.
'Wostor' is actually pronounced 'Worchestershire'
I think we all run the craftsmanship program of fancy -> lazy -> fancy -> lazy
What you do is take a tank of water.. put multiple
Stainless steel fish stones under the water inside the tank that allows high cfm...then use the air from the top of the tank...it will be dry High quality air
The tank should be stainless steel High PSI and enough size for the amount of CFM...
How many times has the line wore in the head? That is the question.
I don’t understand “the question.” The line in the head is the same material as what the compressor originally came with. The system has worked without fail.
Good deal. Seems a smaller compressor than what I use. Put a little too much demand on mine. Continues to flow the line out. Way too hot. Same exact setup. Do paint cars with this. 60gal 3.7hp
Maybe it is the same? I paint with it. Upgraded the compressor to 80gal 5h.
That’s the same as mine.
@joescrewdriver9000 I paint with mine too. A LOT. Painted an entire 28’ camper last summer as well as a 1970 F250. Did a Harley this year so far.
Hey, nice video. I'm looking at doing the same. Love the compact design, but I have a doubt about this Derale unit. The way it is designed, it would seem there will an accumulation of water as it does not allow condensed water to drip down with gravity and fully empty out, as shown in this video:
ua-cam.com/video/RutBpkvSG_M/v-deo.html&ab_channel=JeffWillard
I have seen other models (Hayden 43) which would seem would empty out, but does not come with correct end fittings like the Derale 15300 model does.
Or am I missing something? Perhaps I don't fully understand this units design. Do you have this problem of water being trapped in this unit?
Does it even matter if water remain trapped?
I don’t think it would be possible for water to accumulate in the Derale unit because it is always under pressure with air running through it, and pushing the water out to the subsequent water filter.
The purpose of the water traps shown in the video you linked is to catch the water entirely before it gets to the filter, so there is less loading of the filter itself.
I do not know if I have issues with water actually staying in the system or not prior to the filter, but I do know that the filter removes a lot of water. I have significantly less water in my lines than I ever used to. In my paint booth air, I do see that the desiccant last much longer than it ever used to. I am sure if I added a vertical water trap like he has done it would capture it even more water prior to the filter. My biggest issue is if I am not watching closely, my filter will fill up because it is not auto draining, and then can push water through into my secondary filter.
People seem to forget, ITS PRESSURIZED 150psi. Water is not going to "get trapped".
Never use compression on this application. Use flare. Vibration. Look it up
The reason I used compression is because the original fittings on my compressor were compression fittings.
SS-600-1-6