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- Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech
- Path: sparky!uunet!caen!batcomputer!theory.TC.Cornell.EDU!gould
- From: gould@theory.TC.Cornell.EDU (EWD)
- Subject: Copper air lines and secondary tanks
- Message-ID: <1992Jul22.131536.14645@tc.cornell.edu>
- Sender: news@tc.cornell.edu
- Nntp-Posting-Host: theory.tc.cornell.edu
- Organization: Cornell Theory Center
- References: <1992Jul21.205450.1536@Happy-Man.com> <1992Jul22.071839.3969@mr.med.ge.com>
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 13:15:36 GMT
- Lines: 58
-
- In article <1992Jul22.071839.3969@mr.med.ge.com> you write:
- >josh@Happy-Man.com (Joshua_Putnam) writes:
- ><stuff deleted>
- >:
- >: If you have a tool that gets intermittent use (a wrench, nailer, etc.)
- >: you won't need to supply its maximum air consumption continuously, so
- >: a tank is an acceptable way to increase capacity. If you have a tool
- ><more deleted>
- >
- >This brings up a question I have. I have my 5hp (Sanborn, not too bad)
- >compressor in my garage, and would like to run air to my barn (50 feet
- >away). Frank Mallory (?) mentioned that 3/4" copper can be used for
- >compressed air, is it good up to 130 psi? Also, I was thinking of
- >using an old Nitrogen H-cylinder (big one) for a resevoir in the barn. Would
- >this be better for instantaneous, high-flow demands, as I think it would? does
- >anyone have any experience hacking something like this together? I'm a fairly
- >competent amatuer plumber, is it worth the effort?
-
- I ran air in my shop with 1/2 copper, works real well for even big sanders.
- My HVAC buddy convinced me at the time that 120 would be no problem at all,
- but I can't quote the spec (300 lbs hi side AC pressure kind of sticks in
- my mind, but I don't know if the copper sees that on a normal system, but
- it seems that it would have to--all the way to the evavorator). Anyway, the
- reason we went with copper was its ease of installation and low resistance.
- My buddy said the only drawback was dielectric corrosion where you go back
- to steel. We used steel down-runners so we'd have something substantial
- to fasten to the beam that we could horse on with pipe wrenches. Check out
- hydraulic hose from an industrial supplier to get you from the compressor
- to the stationary system, I don't know what they use in the real world, but
- I had a piece laying around and it works great for that section.
-
- A secondary tank would insure maximum whallop for your impact wrench it
- it were close to the load. You can calculate your cycle times for various
- loads, I believe each drop of ~15lbs yeilds one volume of the tank. Likewise
- you can calculate the delivery rate of your compressor by timing the
- system as it pumps through the pressure interval you're interested in.
- So now you can judge how big a secondary tank you'd want for a particular
- tool and a particular cycle time.
-
- You want to keep the primary tank small enough so, for instance,
- you will have air for the tires by the time you've finished checking the
- oil. All things being equal you'd want the secondary tank close to the
- load. And naturally you'd want to be able to valve-off the secondary
- tank. If you have good plumbing you can just leave the system on all the
- time, but contacts and pop-offs can stick.
-
- Cheers,
-
- Eliot
-
- Eliot W. Dudley
- RD 1, Box 66
- Cato, New York 13033
- 315 626 2878
- edudley@mailbox.syr.edu
-
- >Dave Hinz
- >hinz@picard.med.ge.com
-