[ihc] Compressed air plumbing

[me <ewalter@xxxxxxx>]

TIP tools has some guidelines for plumbing up a shop for air.  When I 
worked at a machine shop on the eastern shore of Maryland (extreme 
humidity, some times the air hose would squirt like a garden hose) we 
installed a new compressor with a homemade drier.  We used 1 1/2" pipe 
and made an ess pattern on the wall: 6' vertical up, over 1', then back 
down 6', repeated 3 or 4 times.  Instead of elbows at the end of a 
vertical down pipe, we used a tee.  We put a short section of pipe and a 
drain valve on the straight section.  The idea is that all that cold 
pipe will condense out droplets and they will go straight and not make 
the turn.  We put this between the compressor and tank with the check 
valve after it, this way any leaks in all those joints wouldn't cause 
the compressor to cycle. Also, you can leave the drain valves so they 
just barely leak and self drain.  I think its a good idea to run your 
pipe high along the wall, then run a vertical down pipe to your 
regulator with a tee at the bottom, again positioned so that the 
droplets will go straight, while the air makes a right angle turn.  Just 
like with wiring, its always good to allow for future hookups, instead 
of using couplings to join straight sections of pipe, use a tee and a 
pipe plug, it makes it much easier to add a new drop.  (Same thing with 
electrics, don't use a coupler to join conduit, put in a box with a 
blank plate and make a loop of wire in the box, makes  it very easy to 
add a new outlet.)
Eric Walter