intercooler for a shop air compressor

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rbkt65

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anybody have one? if so, any pics? thinking it might be a good deal to add to my compressors.
 
I’m getting ready to do this, my Quincy comes in next week. Will let you know how it goes.
 
Intercooler goes between the first stage & second stage of a two stage compressor....

Aftercooler goes between the compressor discharge & the tank....

Then there's a condenser cooler that goes on the discharge of the tank....
 
Going the aftercooler route on mine with two drains on the run in the garage.

Running water separator/filter between cooler and the tank the another one bonfire the hose reel.
 
Going the aftercooler route on mine with two drains on the run in the garage.

Running water separator/filter between cooler and the tank the another one bonfire the hose reel.


Don't waste time or money putting a separator close to the tank.. Until the air cooler the water is a vapor & the separator won't touch it...

Typically 50 feet of metal piping, Copper/aluminum/iron all work, PVC doesn't, it acts as an insulator not allowing the air to cool..

Here's my setup...

IMG_1821.JPG


If I were to do it again the biggest change I would make is using at least 3/4" & preferably 1" piping for the condensing cooler.... The after cooler being 1/2" is fine but not good for the condensing cooler...
 
Don't waste time or money putting a separator close to the tank.. Until the air cooler the water is a vapor & the separator won't touch it...

Typically 50 feet of metal piping, Copper/aluminum/iron all work, PVC doesn't, it acts as an insulator not allowing the air to cool..

Here's my setup...

View attachment 1715894240
That’s quite the setup! From what I’ve read, having one between the aftercooler and the tank cools the air enough to allow the water to separate. After the tank I’ll have a drain valve where it goes vertical, then about 40ft and a drain on the vertical coming down then to the other separator/filter to the hose reel. Will see what kind of water I pull once it is setup. Trying to keep water out of the compressor tank.
 
Well if the after cooler was good enough it's strange how much water I get out of the condensing cooler...

I will agree I get allot of water out of the first three drains on the after cooler but then the last two barely have any moisture... But my automatic tank drain still gets water & the first couple drains of the condensing cooler get allot of water.... Honestly I wound up removing the Desicant filter since it was highly restrictive & in three months the desiccant stayed blue so the air was already pretty dry...
 
I run a similar style as 1wildrt

I have 4 runs up with a drain (ball valve) at the bottom of each .
I also used my old 80 gallon compressor tank as storage and cooling.
Then made another run up and down with drains.
I never see moisture now.

About once a month I crack open the drains (valves)
Once a year i drain the tanks or if I think of it in the humid summer.
 
My aftercooler is between the compressor and the tank, very similar to these pics. I have a qt-54 and the output from the compressor is around 270 and after going through the cooler it's around 15-20 above room temp. After running 20 mins straight, I get very little water in the main tank. This "aftercooler" is a option on Quiney's higher end compressors.

View attachment 1715847787 View attachment 1715847788
@rbkt65 this setup was in another compressor thread here.
 
I put a radiator between the output of my 5hp two stage pump and the tank mounted on the belt guard. The fan/pulley on the pump pulls air through it. There is an automatic water drain after the radiator. The temp drop is huge from inlet to outlet and so far it seems to do it's job. I get very little moisture from the tank now. I have 50' of 3/4" copper to make a condensing cooler but I'm not sure it will make a lot of difference. We'll see this summer as I use it more. I used this video as a guide but my hardware and tube size is different.
 
I am just finishing up on building one of these for my 7.5 Hp 80 gallon tank.
I am using two tranmission coolers with electric fans that go into about 30 foot of 3/4 copper then to the tank.
I can get pics tomorrow if you like?
 
Slow the compressed air down with a bigger 3" pipe after the 2 Stage Compressor Tank and the water will drop out if it, helps to cool the air also.

20220402_021104.jpg
 
It’s done and is working remarkably well. you can actually feel the temperature difference across the coolers with the fans running.
It will be hot going in and cool coming out before it even gets to the separation system.
This is all before the tank.
 
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