Anderzander Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I know of someone who made a condenser for their garage airline by coiling copper in an old fire extinguisher full of cold water - it worked remarkably well. I want to replicate it and have some microbore and some fitting on the way but I'm stuck for a container. Fire extinguishers seem to be sold as collectables if they are old - or full and useable and expensive because of it. I did think of a bit of plastic waste pipe - but they don't seem to have a cheap direct fitting blank. So can anyone make a suggestion ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Ps this is Land Rover related as it will help me spray my series 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Why not just stick it in a bucket of cold water? Or a dustbin? or a [insert conatiner name here] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 That is a very sensible question - my response may not be Space in my garage is at an absolute premium - and something taller and thinner - but with enough weight to be stable and perhaps even act as a bit of a heat sink - would be a better option. Primarily though it's the form factor for the space and stability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 It doesn't have to be in the garage .... it could be outside But I do understand your reasoning .... if you'd seen my workshop you'd know I have space issues to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Are there any gas cylinders of a suitable size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Out of curiosity how many turns of pipe did he have in the cylinder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Outside is a bit of a lightbulb moment - it's a concrete sectional garage - but if I could drill two 10 mm holes in the wall I could have it all outside in the cold.... I couldn't say how much length of pipe or how many coils he had - only that they filled a large extinguisher and cured the moisture problems he was have using a blast pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 Here it is .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I have used a coil of 15mm tube in a bucket before and it worked very well. The key is keeping the water cool (i.e replace it often when using the compressor for long durations) and having a pipeline with a minimum flow restriction as it will add resistance (and lower delivery flowrate). It all depends what you are doing and how dry you want the air? I was sandblasting, and used a bucket of ice filled with cold water, and used two 3hp compressors for good flow (cfm) of air. Microbore in my opinion, one coil will have a fair restriction on your airflow (simply blow through it with your mouth and you'll see the restriction). If however you have two pipelines in parallel, that is better than one 15mm copper coil because of the increased surface area, and (from memory) the bore would be equivalent to two 10mm pipelines. My final and current solution is.... a feed and expansion tank from Toolstation (cheapest I could find) complete with ball valve and overflow. Mounted up at high level in the garage on a wall bracket. with an overflow outside the garage, and the ball valve set slightly above the overflow, so when I'm using the compressed air, I open up the tap and it trickles into the cistern, and keeps the tank water cold and condensing the moisture in the compressed air. Note, you'll also need a water trap / filter (recommend auto drain 1/2") after the loop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 What about a length of plastic gutter downpipe, floor to ceiling? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Idris Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 What about burying it outside? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigo Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Our fire extinguishers at work are regularly retired as they reach a certain age. I am told the old ones are not allowed to be reused, so I have one in my garage and so does everyone else at work. Most recent batch, I couldn't find a home for, so still have one lying about. Probably not worth the postage cost to you, but other companies local to you would probably have the same issue. Might even be worth speaking to a fire extinguisher servicing company and asking if they have any scrap ones- you are not going to be using it as a pressure vessel, so they should be ok with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbs Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 What about a piece of 6 inch plastic drainage pipe, brown or grey-they come in 3m lengths and when you apply a stopper to the bottom end they become water tight so you can as long or tall as you want with only 6 inches in diameter John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtyninety Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 If you're ever up this way, I've got loads of old extinguishers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertspark Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 What you want is a good volume of water to absorb the heat from the copper pipeline. As the heat is absorbed from the copper pipeline and the compressed air is cooled below it's dewpoint, the moisture comes out of it as droplets. However, the volume of water will over time heat up as it absorbs the energy (hence my feed and expansion tank, with a fresh water trickle). if it has no way to disipate the absorbed energy it will get hotter A drainage pipe does not actually have very much water volume. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.