Advice on power & air layout

[Bobw]

Another thought on air... don't go too small diameter for your main run. Second thought add more shut off valves in the system. It is so nice to be able to shut off and isolate a small portion of your air system for repair or additions. Most shops I have worked in had ONE maybe two shutoffs if you are lucky. Sucks ass having to shut down the entire air system to change one fitting.

Place I worked, we had moved the shop, and We (or maybe it was just *I*), hard lined the air dryer in..

Not a smart move.. One of the fans in the thing died, and the drier froze up.. We were down for 3 hours
while it thawed enough to let air through... Just pull out the back up compressor.. Well, that also
went through the air dryer... But couldn't I just run a line from before the air dryer to after it and
keep going? No, there were no fittings before the dryer....

After the thing froze up a second time, got out the torch and un-hard-lined it.. I put a shut off on the
in and the out, and put a bypass between them with another valve.. Ran down to the hydraulic store and
got some short and fat quick connect hoses and fittings to go to the air dryer.

Think about a lot of *What If* situations, because if you don't think of them ahead of time, Murphy will,
and it will bite you in the ass.


One thing I think would be handy, and I'm going to do it.. A way to shut off the air to your main tank,
so when you have a 5 minute job on a Sunday, or just need to swing through and pump up a tire, you can
pressurize the system really quick, do what you have to do and get gone instead of sitting around waiting
for the system to come up to pressure.

 

[trochoidalpath]

Where are you at in Cali? I wired my own two shops I had there and a couple small shops for friends. I was in Riverside county the inspectors there were a complete joke. I would keep as much as you can on the down low. If it is a new shop get the basics permitted and bought off and add more later under the cover of darkness.

I'm up north in Contra Costa county. I'm stuck dealing with permits & inspections because of the amount of work. Thankfully the inspectors seem sane so far -- mostly interested in getting something reasonable and safe. Alameda county is a different story and don't get me started on SF or Santa Clara counties.

 

[trochoidalpath]

This is a recipe for water. Take the drop of the top of the main line, not the bottom. At user level, either put a T pointing off to the side or put a manifold, which gives you four or more ports facing sideways. Off the bottom of the T or manifold, put a stub pipe and then a ball valve. Any water that collects in the drop will end up at the bottom, past where you're drawing the air off, and then you just crack the valve to drain.

With a drop off the bottom of the main line and then a double 45 degree QD fitting, water will be sitting in the QD fittings and corrode them.

Great points.

I think the Transair drop fittings take air off the top of the main line and gooseneck it down.

I found a CAD model of the QD fitting. It has a ball valve above the fittings and a 1/4" drain plug at the bottom of the fitting body.

I'm not sure how you drain water out of the main line though...?

 

[Greg Menke]

Beware of using plumbing unions to hook up sections of air line, had one I never could get airtight- it would leak down the tank in a day. Endured having to schlep to the back of the shop to turn the valve on/off there for a while, then removed the union and replaced with the largest compressed air male/female pair I could find. Still acts like a union but no leaks and now the valve at the front of the shop works as intended, can leave the back wall valve on and the tank doesn't leak down.

I have yet to get any noticable water out the drop legs, but whatever. I put a 2nd leg up front with an air tool oiler on it, for the impact wrench etc. Thats been helpful, but the separate pressure regulators on each leg hasn't... next time I'd put a single regulator up front for both legs. Helpful to have a gauge up front near the hoses.

 

[Doozer]

Plumb your air trunk line a foot off the floor
and bring your taps up. This keeps water out.
Running along the ceiling is just backwards thinking.

--Doozer

 

[Pathogen]

Reading some of these comments I can't help to think you are not liked for what ever reason.

If you can run your shop from the main panel, do so as the power is low impedance and will give you the best electrical noise isolation.

If you are running anything from a sub panel be sure to keep Equipment Grounding separate from Grounded neutral.

Know that NEC is the MINIMUM electrical requirements

For long runs of power increase the wire size to prevent voltage loss, a little more money spent here pays back in spades

Be sure to oversize the neutral in locations using VFD's

Do follow the codes for all your safety regulations as you are the fool if you don't

Good luck

 

[kustomizingkid]

Plumb your air trunk line a foot off the floor
and bring your taps up. This keeps water out.
Running along the ceiling is just backwards thinking.

--Doozer

Best way to keep water out of the system is at the source... air lines on the ceiling has nothing to do with water or any logical thinking beyond the fact that it is really nice to be able to drop straight down somewhere when you need air.

 

[trochoidalpath]

Best way to keep water out of the system is at the source... air lines on the ceiling has nothing to do with water or any logical thinking beyond the fact that it is really nice to be able to drop straight down somewhere when you need air.

I agree it's super nice. Compressed gas lines are often run overhead to reduce the possibility of physical damage, too.

 

[Doozer]

Best way to keep water out of the system is at the source... air lines on the ceiling has nothing to do with water or any logical thinking beyond the fact that it is really nice to be able to drop straight down somewhere when you need air.

It depends on if you are using metal air piping as part of your water condensation system.
Is it better to have a refrigerated dryer? Perhaps maybe. But that requires additional
energy and money. It is all about how effective a given system is and how much it costs
to run.

-Doozer

 

[kustomizingkid]

It depends on if you are using metal air piping as part of your water condensation system.
Is it better to have a refrigerated dryer? Perhaps maybe. But that requires additional
energy and money. It is all about how effective a given system is and how much it costs
to run.

-Doozer

If you are actually running a machine shop with CNC's that are air hungry and think its not worth the energy and money to have clean dry air you are crazy... sure in a mechanic shop its a little less important. The worst is when you are running a 1" impact doing Semi's and the air is wet and blows all over your crotch...