Plumbing Compressed Air

Over the years that this site has been active, there have been a number of questions posed about plumbing compressed air.

So much so, that I now think it useful to have a page specifically about that, as the "how to" of plumbing compressed air seems to be of interest to the DIY (Do It Yourselfer) and the industrial mechanic.

Let's start with some fundamentals about compressed air.

Fundamentals

Compressing air generates water. The larger the compressor and the more frequently it runs, the more water will be generated. There's lots of information about compressor water generation here so we needn't go into it further on this page.

Since there aren't too many plumbing applications for compressed air where water spraying out along with the air is a good thing, and you have an application where water will be a problem, then you'll need to attack the water problem at the source.

The primary water removal device is the compressed air filter. It's covered in detail on the pages reached from the preceding link, which open in a new window or tab.

So, if water is a problem for you, when you are plumbing your compressed air, you will want to install compressed air filters. More on that below.

First, what's your compressed air for?

The needs of the at home workshop compressed air user and those of the industrial user are similar in concept, if not in scale.

In the workshop, you may not want to be plumbing compressed air permanently, but be able to move the compressor in and out of the shop. In industry, usually the compressor installation is fixed.

Home Portable Compressors

The low end big box store compressors, which normally work very well by the way, usually come equipped with a regulator to adjust the downstream air pressure to the application, a coupler attached downstream of the regulator, and a separate PVC air hose with a connector on one end, and a coupler on the other so you can get air from the tank compressor to your air using device.

So far, I haven't seen one of the lower cost (under $250.00) come equipped with a compressed air filter, one of which should be installed upstream of the regulator to filter the air coming out of the compressor tank before it can get to the regulator.

Haven't got a filter on your home compressor? Don't panic. Frankly, if you're using your compressor once in a blue moon, and you drain the tank and leave the stop cock open after every use, you probably don't even want to bother.

When used sporadically and for short periods of time (a couple of minutes), by the time your compressor has generated an appreciable amount of water in the tank, you've already shut the compressor off and drained it.

If you are using your compressor for longer than a couple of minutes at a stretch, and since most applications don't want water, install a compressed air filter before your regulator.

Depending on what you're doing with your home portable compressor, that's really all you have to do when plumbing it, unless you're doing a lot of work with air tools.

When I'm using my air tools, just before use I drop three drops of air tool lube oil into the in port of the tool, and when I'm done, I put three more drops into it, give it a 1/2 second blast of air, and put the tool away. That's all the lube I use, and my tools stand up well.

Mind you, I use them for a couple of minutes, put them down, do something else, and then use them again for a couple of minutes.

If you're using your air tools constantly, you'll want to consider an in line oiler. Here's lots of information on air line lubricators .

Fixed Installation

Folks with a home shop might opt for, or the industrial compressor users almost always have, a fixed compressor installation.

Here's more information on these.