Chris Kantarjiev wrote:
>
> I recall a discussion some tiem ago, either here or on r.c.m, about
> someone who made up a little radiator from copper plumbing bits for the
> purposes of cooling the air from the compressor - basically about 8
> rows of copper tubing in parallel, with a common manifold at each end.
> Lots of surface area to do heat exchange ... seemed like a neat idea.
--
Hi Chris,
Yes, that was me--I just used four rows (I think) of 24" long, 3/4"
copper tubing sweated into a bunch of "T" fittings on each end so that
the tubes are all in parallel, and inserted in-line between the pump and
the tank to cool the air before it enters the tank. It works great, but
I had a problem with it extracting so much heat that the first soldered
fitting would melt and blow-out under continuous running.
Someone on this list (thank you) told me to silver solder it, I did, and
it has been fine ever since. It works well enough to keep the 60 gallon
tank cool to the touch under steady running (it used to get very warm),
and I notice a lot more water comes out of the tank drain now (moist air
striking the cool tank and condensing there), rather than at the
separator or the line drains.
Being compulsive about such things, I now have wired up two small boxer
fans (like the kind used to cool audio equipment) to the pressure
control switch so that one blows down on the pump cylinder head, and one
blows against the radiator, whenever the motor is running. I'm in a
dryer area than many, perhaps (Los Angeles), but I now have zero water
problems even with continuous running sand blasting.
doug
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