Richard Beels wrote:
> I want to know about this "radiator" thingie you all keep talking
> about. And about muffling the sound.
>
Hi Richard,
I guess I'm to blame for this one. I was plagued by wet air while
doing some long sandblasting sessions. What I wanted to do was
to cool the air down before it entered the tank so that the moisture
would condense out in the tank and not in the lines.
I used about 12 foot of 3/4" copper and made a five tube "radiator"
using a bunch of T couplings (excuse the crude drawing):
IN from pump
||
||---------------------||
||---------------------||
||---------------------||
||---------------------|| air flows in parallel
||---------------------||
||
OUT to tank
My thinking was to cool off the hot humid air as much as possible to get
the water to condense in the tank. I connected it between the pump
and the tank and mounted it in front of the flywheel/pump fan
where it would get a breeze. I thought it would be best to pull out as
much heat as possible before sending the air into the compressor tank so
it could condense there.
It worked just great (I could touch the inlet pipe at the tank without
scorching myself), but it removed the heat so well it would melt the
first sweat fitting and blow out under continuous running.
Someone on the list far brighter than myself suggested that I silver
solder the fittings so they would withstand the heat. Being the lazy
person I am, I just did this for the first fitting thinking that it would
be the hottest, and it worked great.
I get almost no water in the water separator now, it all condenses
in the tank. I can actually tell by holding my hand on the tank that
it now is much cooler under continuous running than before.
I also wired a small boxer fan to the limit switch so that the fan
blows on the cylinder head of the pump whenever it is running.
I also believe this made a significant difference in the temperature
of the pump under continuous running.
If you do not run your pump hard, then all of this probably is
overkill, but with my sandblaster running, the compressor
works pretty hard, and used to get very hot and the air would
get wet -- but not anymore.
Good luck!
doug
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