Clean dry supply air for spraying

[crumpton]

I believe in gravity to keep most moisture out of the lines entering the paint booth but gravity alone won't do it. What are you guys using as your final dryer/filtration.

My compressor is at least 50' from the booth and bulk of that run will be sloping towards the source.

I'm considering the Camair QC3. Gets great reviews and is somewhat affordable at sub $200.

Recommendations?

[Rody]

Nick,

Here's what I like...

Item Detail

The greatest disadvantage of the QC3 system is the need for the replacement cartridges...just hate paying 40 bucks a pop when the life is indeterminate.

You know painting aint cheap, better to buy right the first time.

rody

[EricKeller]

This is what we use for air, no painting though. Van dryers have dissicant pellets sold separately. The pellets last for a while

[Curt Goodrich]

I use something like what Rody uses. It's not DeVilbiss but some other maker. It cost me around $500-$600 from my local jobber. Money well spent.

[Curt Goodrich]

Also I installed an automatic float drain on my compressor. I think this helps to reduce what makes it down the line to your primary filters.

[zank]

I've been looking at this dryer/regulator. Comes in at $360 with free shipping. I've had amazing service from them. I'll be buying my next welder from them.

Max Dry for Plasma Cutters, Welding Parts, Metal Working Accessories, Welder Supplies | USAWeld.com

[crumpton]

Zank, thats looks really sweet. Any reason to suspect it may be too good to be true? Normally looking at $600+ for what they describe.

[zank]

I have always got excellent service from them and they stand behind their stuff. I'll be buying my next welder from them. I'm a fan. Jeff and Diana there rule.

[crumpton]

Well I went for it Zank. I'll report back.

[crumpton]

I went for the Max Dry for Plasma Cutters, Welding Parts, Metal Working Accessories, Welder Supplies | USAWeld.com They were on BO so I had to wait an extra week. When it did arrive it had been poorly packed and knocking around the box the nipple attaching the final stage/regulator had broken. USAweld very quickly shipped out another with a return label. Very good service and nice folks as Zank indicated.

The filter... for $360 shipped you cannot go wrong. I mean time will tell but this appears to be a quality assembly that if you tried to do yourself would spend well over $600 for quality stuff.

Although I don't expect it will have to do much as I teamed up with my favorite plumber to devise an un-tapped 50' run from the compressor with a riser and trap at each tap after. Seems the first trap is where most of the moister goes. The paint room(where this filter lives)is still another 50' away. If any of you guys are wanting to plumb your shop for air in the most pro manner possible, short read with all you need to know Air Line Setup

[surlypud]

That is a great reference. Thanks for sharing.

[EnginCycles]

I have about 300 ft of lines supplying my shop. Mostly 1" and some 3/4" black pipe. I ran the same concept except I only put ball valves on the bottom of some traps. I found after experimentation the high use ones need draining and the last spot but many with a 4" nipple as a trap it does not get full even after years of use. I did however add a ball valve at the 90 degree exit from the tank. That fills up quickly. My dry air for the blast cabinet is at about 270 ft from the compressor and the Binks filter I have there barely fills up with water. It helps how far away it is. It is rather humid here which obviously makes life harder but on average I drain about 1 cup of water a day from the tank and it doubles the days I run the blast cabinet since it runs for a very long time when that is happening. My lines add a healthy amount of extra air which is also a bonus. One thing I did was use pipe dope instead of tape on all the joints and I feel it made a big difference. We also used 3 feet of leverage on the wrench. For how many ft of lines I have there is only one leak and I know where it is. It is a coupler that I need to replace with a union. Then it would hold for a day without turning on if I did not use the air.

Life is grand when you have a good compressor located outside the main shop!

[progetto]

Any reason why you couldn't use glued pvc pressure pipe instead of black pipe?

[EnginCycles]

Any reason why you couldn't use glued pvc pressure pipe instead of black pipe?

That glue used for PVC is so nasty and toxic. I just prefer black pipe. Stuff is cheap and strong plus is super duper durable. I have pipes that are every bit of 70 years old and still kicking.

[Mark Kelly]

I wouldn't go eating it, but it's not particularly toxic. It's just PVC dissolved in a solvent which is mostly MEK with a bit of cyclohexanone. None of them is toxic at likely exposure levels: MEK has about the same LD50 as ethanol (like in beer).

[crumpton]

PVC is great till it isn't. one hit from the right object after a couple years service and it will explode sending PVC bits at a very high speed.

Now pex is one I would not be scared of. It has a super high burst strength but gets a bad wrap. had I not had a top notch plumber hanging around I'd of done it with pex to speed things along.

[Mark Kelly]

The brine lines in my first brewery were done in PVC to save money. One tap from a forklift and 10,000 litres of fluorescent pink brine went flowing down the street. Fortunately the boss was driving the forklift (craft brewery before the term was invented).

[progetto]

I spent 30 years in a former life as a plumber and dealt with the glues and cleaners on a daily basis. It is definitely not pleasant stuff, the toxicity tends to build up in your system after a while and can make you feel pretty ordinary. No direct evidence but since I've given it away I have way less headaches and other symptoms.
Polybutylene and PEX pipe is great to work with, pressure grade pvc can take a bit of abuse but is definitley more prone to damage than others.