Plumbing Compressed Air ; continued.

The first page of information on this topic, found here talks about the plumbing of a home shop portable compressor.

The next page, found here, provides details of fixed compressor installation.

What next?


Drop lines to the application

In the home shop your air main may only be 1/2" polyethylene tube running around the ceiling to keep it out of the way. You have to get the air from that main down to your application.

It's best to take the air off the top of the main so if there's water in it that water won't run down the drop line, but again, if you're not using a lot of air, you probably don't need to be concerned.

When you get your air line down to the bench, you might consider plumbing it into a manifold. A manifold will allow you to bring a supply of air into one end of it, and then, via a series of smaller air ports along the side, add a number of checked couplers, into which you can plug air lines for a variety of tools.

Back at the compressor, all we have installed at the discharge is a compressed air filter.

If you've got lots of water in your air, that means that it's bypassing the first filters as water vapor, and condensing in the air line between that filter and your application. You'll need to add an air filter where you are using the air, as well.

You will want to install an air regulator downstream from the filter so that you can reduce the pressure to the minimum necessary to do the work. This reduces your operating cost somewhat, and at the same time, reduces or eliminates (depending on where the pressure is set) the pulses in the compressed air supply created by the air compressor kicking on and off.

Depending on the air tool or application, you may need a lubricator as well. Get complete information on air line lubricators here.


Questions?

If you have any questions about plumbing compressed air, please feel free to ask.