Plumbing compressed air outside.
by Dave
I need to pipe compressed air from one building, outside and into another building. Bill answers... Hi Dave: The problem of water in your pipe between buildings is that it will freeze in the winter time, and, depending on how much water your compressor generates, there's a real possibility of ice closing the inside of the pipe entirely. Picture a cold beer on the railing of your deck. It's mighty hot outside, and it doesn't take long before beads of water form and start dripping down the outside of the bottle as water vapour in the air condenses on the cold surface of the beer bottle. The cold beer inside your bottle is equivalent to the cold air that will be on the outside of your compressed air pipe running between the buildings. The compressed air inside your pipe is warmer than the outside of the pipe passing through minus degree temperatures, and so condensation takes place inside your compressed air pipe as does on the outside of your ice cold beer bottle in the summer time. If you have moisture in your compressed air (whether free water or water vapour)and that compressed air gets exposed to a surface that's colder than the air itself, then condensation takes place. In order for compressed air to flow in a pipe outside in sub-zero temps, and not have water condensing out inside the pipe, either the compressed air has to be colder than the temperature outside the pipe or the compressed air has to be dried to a dew point below the temperature of the inside surface of the pipe through which it flows. With the steps you are taking to insulate the pipe, you must make certain that the pipe temperature stays above the temperature of the compressed air passing through it, and, for safety's sake, you want to have that compressed air passed through an air-dryer before it exits the building. Please follow this link for information on air dryers. Hope this helps. Cheers, Bill
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