I've got a excellent old Quincy 310 compressor on an 80 gallon tank... This thing has been a workhorse and served me well for years. One project I have is trying to build a nice street truck from a '53 Ford F-100. The compressor has pushed air tools and sanders and such through the whole project without a glitch. But when it came to applying some primer after all the body work was complete.. we noticed the problem. Moisture. Paint doesn't like moisture. Now, granted we were doing this during some killer summer days with temps in the high 90s to low 100s outside under a tarp shade.

My air system is plumbed with 1/2" galvanized pipe which comes up from the compressor to the attic and runs the length of the shop.

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I have three drops that are tee'd off the trunk from the top of the line and elbow'd down the wall to the quick couplers and below that there is a ball valve with a drain stub to remove the water. For years I've had no problems with moisture, but will all the work on the truck this summer with tools and spray guns it's working the girl pretty hard and the air gets plenty hot and hot air holds a lot of moisture.

I had a single trap in the line but it wasn't doing the job so I started doing some research online. There are several types of dryers/traps/filters available... desiccant, refrigerated, and even a bucket full of ice around a copper coil... they all work to some degree, some better than others and some with definite drawbacks...
I found several options...some very expensive commercial units... some that weren't much more effective than what I had... but I found several examples of what I built that had good reports and didn't require a huge cash outlay.. a good thing for an old retired guy. Black pipe would be somewhat cheaper than copper but if you're cutting and threading it yourself... it's a lot of work. Copper is easier to work and to deal with... but it ain't cheap nowadays.

Another advantage of copper is that I had access to some 'surplus' material that would help defray the costs. A lot of the traps are just a couple of long tubes mounted to the walls.. I didn't have that much room so mine is shorter and longer. The accepted idea is that you need approx. 30' of pipe to cool the air down so the moisture drops out... so mine is about 6 drops instead of two or three. My compressor is in a storage shed and I have almost zero wall space available... all I had was over the compressor.

Let's catch up with some pictures... first is my area where the trap will be installed...

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I moved some outlets and rearranged some things and got an area about 5' wide and 43" high. Next is a shot of the trap sketched with paint shop pro on the picture of the wall

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I used 3/4" copper tubing and all the joints were sweat soldered. I had never tried this but after watching a few videos on U-Tube.. I tried it... practiced on a few fittings and it seemed to work... I used a mapp gas torch and "plumbing' solder... not electrical flux core solder... it's different !! and a paste flux for the joints... It's not that hard once you get the hang of it. I'm a old man with a little shake in my hands so my joints look a little messy... but they work ..... so onward...

I began by cutting and fabbing up the main tubes for the trap . Everything is cut and 'dry' fitted first to make sure all is correct....Then after that you solder it one section at a time. When doing the short sections... it's best to assemble the two 90s and the short piece and solder it as a unit, then solder that unit to the long runs... same with the drain sections at the bottom... I refer you to u-tube for details....and when it was finished I had this thing

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Each leg is 40" long and spaced 6" apart. At the bottom of each loop are ball valves for draining the accumulated water.

The system needs to be pressure tested before installing... (and I didn't get a picture... sketch below) basically you need to cap both ends. Then I piped in a quick connect for the air hose at one ball valve and a pressure gauge at another. It doesn't have to be end to the ... the whole thing will be pressurized. You should pressure test at or above the working pressure of the system.. I used 100#s... obviously the gauge must handle that pressure. Once you get pressure in the pipe..close the ball valves and watch the gauge. A spray bottle filled with soapy water is used to check each joint for leaks. I'd never done sweating before and figured I'd have a few. 62 solder joints and NOT A SINGLE LEAK !!! I'm a sweat soldering fool, I tell you !! It held pressure for over an hour with no leak down. Ready to move on..

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I hadn't worked out the connections at this point and decided to hang it on the wall and work out the hook up after that. I probably should have mentioned that this trap goes between the compressor and the tank underneath it. Most compressors have a copper line, sometimes a coil of copper line from the compressor head thru a check valve and some pressure reading switch to the tank. So basically you are cooling the air somewhat BEFORE it gets to the tank... where it is cooled more before going to the trunk line of the system.

Here's the trap on the wall before connections.



I mounted 2x4s for a mount base and the Stauff clamps to hold the assembly. These clamps are standard in the industrial piping business and provide a very stable and secure mount system for industrial and commercial piping systems. They have a metal base plate that is either welded or screwed to walls or floors... two plastic (or metal inserts) that clamp the pipe and a top plate that holds the whole clamp tightly

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Looking at the picture of the trap I used the left end as the input from the compressor head and the right end feeds into the tank. A 90 degree ell and a run of tubing toward the compressor head and a flex line make that connection. The pictures get a little crowded here with all the associated 'stuff'... but I hope they are clear enough to make out the detail.

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Use pipe thread sealant (the blue stuff in the joints) don't rely on Teflon tape.. It just don't seal !!

The other end was just more plumbing.. reducers and bushings and a threaded coupling that matched the piping to the check valve. I think I will get a flex line made to connect the output of the trap to the check valve later... just to handle any vibration that might kill the tubing.

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You'll need a couple of unions in your lines to allow connecting the copper to pipe fittings... like where you change from sweated copper to threaded pipe.. it's gotta screw together and copper don't screw much. And if your flex lines don't have swivel fittings like my short input line...

After all the plumbing was complete, I threw the breaker and backed up... nothing blew and no smoke was released... yippee ! Before I started I took temp readings on portions of the system with an infrared temp gun.... Head temp was around 200 degrees... reading at input of tank was in the 90-100 degree range... output of the tank was around 80 degrees...

After the system got to full pressure with the trap in place the temps changed... head temp was still in the 200 degree range... readings at the output of the trap (input to tank) was around 70 degrees and output of tank was 65-70... significant cooling... outside temps were in the 60s. I didn't see any water at drains on trap... but didn't expect to with cool temps... will probably need to wait till those hot humid days to see the real output.
Had a nice rainy day so outside project/chores were cancelled... time to finish the drains... bought a bunch of 1/2" pvc stuff and played putting a drain line from each drain valve to a common header that dumps outside the shop. Pvc is fun to play with ... if you mess up you can throw away 30 cents worth and do it again.

Here's a pic of the drops and the header and the second one is the drain line to outside..got a little messy with the primer, but a little acetone will clean that all up.

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I really think this will help... I'll still use water filter at the end of the line in addition to the trap...

This was really a fun project and I learned a lot... it's worth a try if you got water in your air. Even with the surplus material... I still have over 100 bucks in the system... 3/4" line is about 30 bucks for a 10' stick and fittings run from 2.00 to around 6.00 the valves are in the 5-7 buck range... so it all adds up.

Still cheaper that anything commercial available... also plan on connecting all the drain valves to a common drain line with 1/2" pvc which will in turn connect to the main tank drain line... but that's a rainy day project for now... but I'll add that part to the article later.

Boilerplate denial of liability statement... i.e. the fine print
This project is something I came up with to prevent me from spending too many dollars on a high dollar commercial solution, it is not patented, engineered or even perfect... it is what it is, a home made project.

I'm sure there are alternatives to this design, some even better/cheaper/easier, I just didn't think of them or warrant them necessary... there are several similar ideas on the internet waiting behind Google for you to see/copy/build...(just like I did) This work was done by me and for me or by friends who were nice enough to help me out. I only ask that if you reproduce it give me credit for it and if you make money from it... give me my percentage.

Since I have no way of knowing your level of competence, welding or cutting skills, mechanical ability or estimated intelligence, there are no guaranties or warranties either verbal, written or implied with this article. Along with this article I am giving you absolutely free of charge...that's right ! FREE !!...the liability, total and complete liability for the use or misuse of this idea will be yours and yours alone.

It belongs to you with that in mind... I am in no way responsible for any damage, injury or embarrassment you may suffer from the use or misuse of this homemade thing. If it doesn't look like something you'd be comfortable using... don't build/use it. If you're not intelligent enough to make that decision about your comfort level... ask a family member or friend.. but here's a hint... if you have to ask someone... don't build it !
Pictures were made at different stages of construction and all assemblies in pictures may not be complete in each shot. I.e.. a picture showing 'some parts' only means that it was not finished, but I've tried to make the idea complete to the best of my ability. If you have questions or see mistakes or problems, let me know by e-mail and I'll make the corrections if possible..

Use these ideas at your own risk. Modify them at your discretion and to suit your purpose. Your mileage may vary, batteries not included, much assembly required... wait one hour after building to enter the water, additional charges may apply. not all applicants will qualify for advertised A.P.R., for ages 10 to adult...side effects are comparable to placebos. Do not take drugs when building or operating machinery. JUST SAY NO.

Copyright 2017 John Niolon, All International Rights Reserved. This document may not be copied or published without prior written consent of the author- jniolon @ att.net