75% more air storage capacity

[Batmanacw]

I think I posted about this a long time ago.

I have a quiet Husky 20 gallon oil-less that runs at 165 psi max. I honestly don't remember the kick in pressure.

My buddy gave me an old 15 gallon air compressor tank to use for extra capacity.

Originally I just hooked it up to the 100 psi line I had coming across the shop. I was informed that was stupid since it really didn't offer a significant increase in capacity.

Today I finally changed up some stuff. I bought a regulator for the two parts of the machine shop and a smaller second regulator for my garage line.

I have the compressor regulator up all the way. There are two ports on the front of the compressor.

One is going to the smaller regulator that runs my garage work area and work bench at 80 psi.

The other is connected to a 1/2" line running to the 15 gallon tank at full pressure. The other side of the T is hooked up to a regulator with filter that then 3/8" T's to both sides of the shop. I initially set that regulator to 110 psi. I'm thinking I'll drop that to 100 psi. It runs blow guns and an air nozzle on my mill.

Basically I went from 20 gallons at 165 psi to 35 gallons. I hope I notice a difference running the few air tools I have like the little sand blaster that I hardly ever use. Lol. I have a plasma cutter too. That will like having another water separator in the line.

Any other poor people who set up their air like this?

 

[Red96]

Extra storage capacity can be very helpful when you need to use the occasional 'air-guzzler' tool like a die grinder or such.

One caveat you might keep in mind is that the compressor itself was designed to run at a certain duty cycle to fill its tank, and if you add too much extra storage capacity, it may overheat trying to fill all that volume in one go. Your extra 15gal shouldn't be an issue, but might not want, for example, to plumb in an extra 80 gal tank.

Enjoy, friend!

Ps, your old iron posts are great to see! Cool equipment.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I have a 5gal compressor from the 70s that is like new, that I got from my neighbor who was throwing it out as he somehow snapped off a brass fitting and thought the whole thing was trash.

Thanks Vince!

Small and quiet and fits in the corner of the basement shop out of the way and its plenty for just blowing out a hole or whatever. Perfect for that little space.

I do however want to hook my 30gal that is in the garage attic up to it so I then have the choice of using one or the other or even both for the odd time I need to run an air tool down there.

Its not often I need this, but the added capacity would be nice as a 5gal on a die grinder goes flat real quick.

 

[Batmanacw]

I have a 5gal compressor from the 70s that is like new, that I got from my neighbor who was throwing it out as he somehow snapped off a brass fitting and thought the whole thing was trash.

Thanks Vince!

Small and quiet and fits in the corner of the basement shop out of the way and its plenty for just blowing out a hole or whatever. Perfect for that little space.

I do however want to hook my 30gal that is in the garage attic up to it so I then have the choice of using one or the other or even both for the odd time I need to run an air tool down there.

Its not often I need this, but the added capacity would be nice as a 5gal on a die grinder goes flat real quick.

Those old quiet air compressors were slow but nice. They didn't seem to mind running a lot.

Mine is supposed to be quiet, and it is across the garage on a shelf above my garage work bench. It's still noisy enough to be glad it's in a separate room.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Those old quiet air compressors were slow but nice. They didn't seem to mind running a lot.

Mine is supposed to be quiet, and it is across the garage on a shelf above my garage work bench. It's still noisy enough to be glad it's in a separate room.

Yeah it just sits there doing its one lung McClung pucka pucka pucka slowly filling the tank.

I made a filter/resonance chamber for it out of an ovaltine can which quieted it down, though it takes a lil longer to fill the tank.

Not a bad tradeoff and this thing will run all damn day.

 

[MikeInOr]

My 2 gal California Air quiet compressor in the garage gets the most use. Tires, nail guns, etc.

I usually use the 30 gallon SpeedAir in the shop. It has a 3 piston pump and had plenty of air for most tools.

The 80 gal 2 stage Husky compressor is pretty much only used for the blast cabinet. It takes too long to come up to pressure for a quick job like using the blow gun then just sits there and slowly looses pressure over a day or two only to be empty the next time I need it.

I bought all 3 compressors used. The SpeedAir had a bad tank so I transferred the pump and motor to a tank that had a bad direct drive pump.

 

[Batmanacw]

I see some concern on line about over pressuring the remote tank. My remote tank is an old air compressor tank and it has a pressure relief valve on it as well as the pressure relief valve on the main air compressor. I guess I lucked out on that part.

 

[extropic]

I see some concern on line about over pressuring the remote tank. My remote tank is an old air compressor tank and it has a pressure relief valve on it as well as the pressure relief valve on the main air compressor. I guess I lucked out on that part.

To eliminate the major safety concern, you should hydrostatically test the receivers (tanks).

 

[fixit]

Placing air storage at the extreme far end of the air system can be helpful. If your major air use is toward the end of the line the air needs to travel a great distance to the use point. the airflow and pipe resistance will lower the available air. (imagine running a welder with a #16 gauge extension cord 50 feet long) So if you have an air tank at the far end of the system it will make up for the line loss. I was in facilities engineering of a major glass producer, we had 3500 HP of compressors running 24/7 and it made a difference when we did that.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Placing air storage at the extreme far end of the air system can be helpful. If your major air use is toward the end of the line the air needs to travel a great distance to the use point. the airflow and pipe resistance will lower the available air. (imagine running a welder with a #16 gauge extension cord 50 feet long) So if you have an air tank at the far end of the system it will make up for the line loss. I was in facilities engineering of a major glass producer, we had 3500 HP of compressors running 24/7 and it made a difference when we did that.

We had an intermittent issue on a new assembly line we setup where we couldn’t keep the “new” air guns set to the proper torque.

They would test fine in the plumbers shop, but would occasionally lack torque.

Turned out some penny pincher decided 3/4”
Pipe would cost less than 1” and still deliver air, and it did.

For up to something like 5 guns at a time.

If everyone wound up in synch the smaller pipe would starve the guns of air. Not all of them and not all the time so it was driving the team leaders nuts.

I suggested reposing the whole project, but the bean counters went with small pony tanks that n a couple places along the line.

Now it’s a waiting game to see if they get water bound or speared with a forklift first.

Then there’s the option of some bored yet enterprising yute will drive a screw into one.