Garage air plumbing plan?

A couple days ago a big new compressor showed up in my garage.  Now I want to actually plumb the thing.  I've been reading about this online where there's lots of ideas and lots of differences in what folks recommend.  Can I get some eyes on this and some opinions on what makes the most sense?  Here's a fast (not to scale) sketch of what I'm thinking of doing;

I'll be hanging all of this on one long wall.  I've read about dealing with condensation so the idea is to build in an condenser section so that's why there's that multiple S-shaped section near the compressor.  

Use case is general hobby shop use, single person, so I don't think I need more drops than this.   Infrequent painting projects, air driven sanding/grinding tools, that sort of thing. 

I was thinking black iron pipe for general strength and ability to pull heat out of the compressed air to aid in collecting moisture to be drained at the condensation drain after the S-shaped condenser section. 

The run from the filter/drier is probably 20 feet.  The only part of what is shown that has been purchased is the compressor itself.  That includes tools like pipe thread cutting.  If I'm honest I'm not looking forward to that but I don't know of another way around it besides buying pre-threaded sections form a big box store which sounds expensive.  I've not priced anything yet. 

Should I put in any other condensation drains?  What else is missing?  If there's a kit that includes a lot of what I'll need or suggestion for anything shown, please fill me in. 

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

It's a good plan. Much more than most people do. 
 

Keep in mind that the lowest point of your system is the bottom of the compressor. Pipe the drain cock out of the building too. 
 

Also, consider hose reels on the ceiling.  Those are by far the most useful parts of a compressed air system I have had. No more tripping on hoses, and an outlet is always convenient. 

In reply to SV reX :

I was considering putting a hose reel at the middle quick connect.  Can add later.

Hadn't thought to pipe the tank drain to the outside, I like that idea, might have to think about how I want to do that.  Should be pretty easy, just more stuff to buy and a single hole to drill.

Also...

For general hobby use, I'd make sure to have a drop near the door. If you end up sanding something outside, you've got a place to plug in. 
 

You may also want to install drain cocks closer to the drops.  I realize the air should be pretty dry when it gets there, but humidity is humidity, and you may need to drain condensation closer to the drops (if the piping doesn't run downhill all the way to the condensation drain).

Another thing I wish I had done was to have my compressor closet vent and/or open to the outside.  It generates a lot of heat (and noise).

SV reX said:

Also...

For general hobby use, I'd make sure to have a drop near the door. If you end up sanding something outside, you've got a place to plug in. 
 

You may also want to install drain cocks closer to the drops.  I realize the air should be pretty dry when it gets there, but humidity is humidity, and you may need to drain condensation closer to the drops (if the piping doesn't run downhill all the way to the condensation drain).

As drawn the first quick connect is about 8 feet from the doors to the building.  Let me work on the drawing, I think I know how to do this better.  Part of the fun is the hanging furnace that blocks part of that wall from where I would really want to put the compressor but I can pipe behind that and actually hide some of that condenser section.  Let me do some drawing and come back to that.

As for adding more condensation drains, if all of the quick connects are after the filter/drier, do I really need to worry about that on such a small system?  I could do a drain at the end of the run and maybe try to have a hint of downhill going to it if that helps. 

I thought about getting a utility shed and putting that on the pad behind the building... maybe that's next year's project, I'm feeling a little tapped out at the moment.  Would be nice to get the gardening stuff out of the garage and have some storage space for things that wouldn't be affected by hot/cold cycles.

Here's a revision.  This should get an outlet closer to the doors and have them above the main feed line, allowing for the condesnation drain at the end to collect more of whatever makes it past the filter/drier. 

Tank is shown in the middle but it's really all pretty close together, again drawing is not to scale etc.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Do you need to worry about the details on a small system?  Not really.  But then again... you did design a condenser piping section! 😉😂

I like the 2nd drain cock at the end. It lets you open it up and blow the system through if it has been sitting a while. 

Put your shut off valve right on the tank.

Think about using T's instead of 90's.

On your drops use T's with a strait 10-12" section on the run leg with a drain below the quick connect.

Run a pipe off the bottom tank drain with a ball valve and a length of hose to reach a container

Definitely run the plumbing high and run a drain under each drop.  The drain can be a simple ball valve.  Correction, the drain SHOULD be a ball valve.  Maintenance that is easy to do is maintenance that is more likely to get done.

It's amazing how much water gets into the lines, then condenses out in the lines.  Make the drain lower than the hose fitting so the water can collect somewhere that isn't the hose.  I used to have to pop open a ball valve twice a week to get the water out of the line near my bay at work, and this was with water separators on the compressors.

Another nice idea, if you want more volume than your compressor tank has, is to use the largest pipes you can stand for the main run.  Adds a fair bit of volume without taking up much more space.

If you don't mind drilling holes in walls, I'd also run a quick disconnect fitting outside.

Another nice thing is to have a way to shut off each individual drop, in case a hose bursts or a quick disconnect starts leaking or something, you can just shut the valve without having to kill the whole system, wait for 30-40 gallons of air to escape before fixing...

For a container for the main drain, I used to use a 5 gallon bucket that had a spout in the lid (it originally had Agip racing oil in it).  Short fitting through the lid near the side had a 90 inside the lid so the air blew around the side of the bucket, not straight down or in.  An old cloth glove was ziptied to the spout.

That bucket could get completely full before it started spraying water out of the lid.

(Cleveland can be pretty humid)

Here's a recent discussion about the rapid air maxline setup.  I really can't recommend it enough, it's super easy to work with, looks nicer and doesn't rust like iron pipe will:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/shop-talk/rapid-air-maxline-for-shop-air-lines-any-tips/266320/page1/

Here's a not so recent discussion:

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/product-review-rapidair-maxline-34-shop-plumbing-s/97371/page1/

Well first off the condensation drops you have drawn need to be turned 90%. The long part needs to be vertical with the short parts on the top and bottom. Each bottom needs a drain to empty the moisture out of the line. A T with a 8" pipe with the valve at the bottom works best. I found after about 4 of these drops there is not much water left in the line. So 6 and a oil and water filter keeps the lines moisture free for me. other than that the rest looks good to me. Also any horizontal run should have a bit of a slope with a drain at the lowest point for just in case. 

Seems like AI is getting more useful

In reply to WonkoTheSane :

I second this. Buy a Rapid Air kit. It comes with everything you need. So easy to install and modify.

Can I ask, what air tools will you be using that will be moving enough air for that condenser stage to function?

A system like that will work when higher CFM of air are moving through it. For things like occasional impact wrenches, ratchets, nailers, air over hydraulics and shorter bursts of die grinders it won't do much. 

Tools with higher CFM requirements like DA sanders and spray guns will definitely benefit from it.

I find the most important piece of the system is a tank drain solenoid on a timer. Even our massive rotary screw compressors with a refrigerant drying system have to be drained at the tank source regularly 

https://a.co/d/iQkd15G

The condenser section won't do enough to make it worth the work, not to mention the cost.  You can probably get an aftercooler for not much more than the pipe and fitting cost, maybe even less, and you could rig a small fan on it, or not. It will actually do something.

What are you using for a filter/dryer? I'd either put a filter directly after the compressor, or an aftercooler, then a filter/separator, then a dryer at the point where you're going to be painting.

A timed drain is a must if you're going to be using a lot of air, but if it's only occasional hobby use, a ball valve, draining it every time you use it is fine.

One of my responsibilities at work was looking after compressed air systems from 30 to 1000 HP

I'm still working through the setup but I and close to finished building this out using black pipe in the same general configuration as shown.  The condenser section is mounted to a sheet of plywood using p-clamps.  Plan is to drive a DA sander, a cut-off wheel, spray paint, and maybe other stuff I haven't thought of yet.  Filter/dryer is part of a regulator I got on the jungle site for about $100.  I've got an inline ball valve tank drain for now.  Occasional hobby use and if I saw a lot of moisture every time I drained it then I would move to a timed drain.  Good ideas about using a bucket and venting it etc.

Unless there's actual issues... surprised to hear that the condenser section "won't do enough" after so much guidance seemed to say this this was a generally correct way to go about this.  Interested in getting this thing done and using it to see how it goes.  Maybe if I have problems I'll come back to this; I wasn't expecting to see this thread getting bumped.

I plumbed a similar system for my garage. Big 60 gallon 240V compressor and copper hard lines. I do not have a "condenser" section and honestly I don't think you'll need one either. The filter dryer just off the compressor does a good enough job. I have never had water come out of my low-point drains whenever I try them. I also drain my tank condensation directly onto the floor and it's never more than a small puddle. And I'm in the moist, humid South. My hobbyist use case is probably the same as yours. Maybe the condenser makes sense for an industrial situation running 8+ hours a day everyday, but for us casuals I think it's way overkill.