What is the gray canister left of the aftercooler ? Is it a Coalescing Filter?
these two systems picture below are the closest i know of that come close to your description.
that is this membrane dryer
And this is a pseudo version of The vortex cooler
Also the efficiency of the compressor drops as the pressure increases so you are really robbing compressor efficiency to cool the air through pressure drop.
Lots of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
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that is an automatic water trap with a small filter as they come.
ignore the grey flexible conduit. That transports teletricity…
I read this entire thread. As others have pointed out it may have little effect to aftercool in between compression and tank so I opted for a post tank design.
Steps in water extraction in my system.
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Auto drain on timer that is powered only when the compressor gets juice. This drains the tank every time I turn it on and currently every 15m after.
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Transmission cooler/after cooler. As noted I acknowledged Jims observation about distance from the wall. There is actually 1/2” space and volume wise with the fan pulling its not a major concern but I will probably add spacers. PID timer set to 125d for fan. Notably, this step only makes a difference on long runs where the compressor will turn on and start producing water. For quick cuts on the plasma it will be using stored air.
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Automatic water trap
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Dissecant (2.5cups) water capture (not installed yet)
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M60 air filter
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main service line set to 122psi max
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water trap drop line
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Mini regulator distribution blocks with drains
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Arizona low humidity
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I also installed a 20” box fan above the AC that I can angle to push air into it
All of this has to fit in that tiny little corner of a two car garage. All of the space is taken for tools and processes. When I return from vacay I’m going to order a 4x4 CNC router/mill that takes up 7’x7’ space. I am also adding a combination fixture table, table saw, construction table with three langmuir arc flat welding tables. Haven’t told wife yet. Underneath that table will be a planer and jointer on drawer slides. I am planning a fairly huge grizzly dust collector too, and a miter saw station along the wall…
This picture should make it easier to understand which hose I am talking about . Is it hooked to the outlet of the compressor’s tank directly.
Hard to tell from the video but the hose looks light black to me.
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oh. ya that’s black high pressure 275d flash hose
I got the 300 degree 300PSI hose last week, installed it and in 2 hours of use it had already heated up too much and split. I’m just going to get an 8-AN to 3/8" compression fitting and run an aluminum line. I don’t remember who it was but someone was saying it doesn’t matter putting the cooler between the compressor and the tank, I disagree. If you put your cooler and water separator before the tank you are keeping the majority of the water out of your tank AND get 200 degree cooler air in your tank. If you run your cooler and separator after your tank your tank still gets the hot air AND all of the moisture. The only thing I would recommend to do differently is mounting your cooler away from your tank, my setup is using the compressor pulley fan to cool the cooler but I have seen my compressor head temp rise by about 40 degrees. My 2 cents, as a rank amateur.
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I had mine that way and took it off after doing some testing. Your compressor will have much longer cycle times. You will not catch all your moisture pre tank so no major benefits. As for me I didn’t gain anything having it pre tank except almost double cycle times.
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I am curious about this hose. Do you have a part number? Seems like a very short operating life.
Do you think it was defective ?
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You want stainless steel braided Teflon hose to go from the pump to tank. Too hot otherwise. I had some made at a local hose shop when I had my cooler installed.
I feel bad having promoted this mod only to reverse it two years later.
If the cooler post tank shows any water collecting, then I guess we will know that pre tank it may have served a purpose. But if having it post rank doesn’t show anything, I think it’s definitely debunked.
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I had one pre and post tank my post tank always caught moisture on long runs
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I want to chime in here. I just ran one pre tank and for almost all intents and purposes loved it. I was collecting no moisture in tank. Purging a ton of water from cooler each cycle and thought all was good. I saw @brownfox comment about double the cycle time and began to think my cycle times were kinda on the long side for my supposed compressor output. Just for fun I bypassed cooler and ran directly into tank. Cut my charge time almost by half as well!! Perhaps my cooler was too restrictive. The actual line was about 1/4 inch diameter. It did everything I wanted it to. Lowered temp dramatically (like 200 degrees delta) stopped a ton of moisture and I had no moisture draining from my tank. At time I could still get condensation in my air hose on humid days if I wasn’t using desiccant but it was grabbing a lot of water. I have now decided to take the cooler out of the loop. I am trying a diy refrigerator cooler instead. I coiled about 60 feet of 1/2 pex around a piece of 5 inch pipe in two layers. I placed this in a mini fridge that I have adjusted to 34 degrees. I made penetrations through the door for the inlet and outlet lines and places a auto purge coaelescing water trap immediately exiting the refrigerator door. Need to pick up a couple of short flexible airlines and I will give it a try. I theorize that if my compressor was running almost double the necessary time then perhaps If my bar fridge works I will be in the same realm energy consumption wise but not working my compressor so hard.
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I’m not sure if it was defective, I think it was rated for 300 and I was getting 360 degrees off my compressor head so I was using it beyond it’s rated operating range. Here is the hose:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XDHZTNW?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
My supply line from the compressor head to the cooler is 3/8"OD 5/16"ID and my cooler is 1/2" ID, in my case it’s more likely that any restriction would come from the water separator but I haven’t noticed a longer cycle time. Well I guess I should couch that, I blew the supply line and when I run my blast cabinet it takes more air than my compressor can supply so I typically run about ten minutes before my pressure drops below 90 and I let it finish the cycle before starting up again. I should have the parts tomorrow so I’ll let you know if there is a noticeable change in cycle time. I’m going with 3/8"OD soft copper tubing so I can bend it how I need it. Had to get an adapter to go from 8AN to 6AN and then a 6AN to 3/8 compression adaptor.
The cooler I used was designed for a car ac. No doubt it was highly restrictive. In my hookup I had used flexible stainless steel natural gas lines to plumb the cooler in. The flare fittings didn’t match up so I simply soldered them allowing me to keep the 1/2 gas flex line from compressor head to tank. I believe the corrugations may help with heat dissipation although they may also be restrictive in their own right due to the corrugations. That would be an interesting flow problem out of my capacity but right up @TinWhisperer level! Anybody know whether 16 inches of 3/8 copper or 1/2 corrugated stainless steel has more back pressure at 90psi flowing at 17cfm? I’m interested to know about ur runtimes. I am also curious if creating a longer circuit is the culprit for the decrease pump efficiency??? Could the circuit length between head exit and check valve to tank cause issue with the efficiency of the pulses and valve timing of compressor heads??
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Maybe? it really depends on the specs ( Height and Spacing ) of the corrugations in the stainless tubing.
This question is a huge rabbit hole.
In HVAC at low pressure a rule of thumb is a lets say a 6" flex duct moves about the same amount of Air as a 5" solid pipe. This is kinda of but not really comparable result .
It subjects the air to the resistants’ of the pipe for longer so yes it does.
Think if you added a 100’ feet of exhaust pipe to your car; What would be the result ?
" Increased back pressure levels can cause increased emissions, increased fuel consumption, and can negatively affect engine performance ."
While not totally comparable the effect on a air pump would be similar
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Another good argument for open headers!!! 
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If this goes on any longer I’m going to ask Mark Rober to see if he can help us.
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Howdy, I removed my air to air cooler/dryer from between the head of my compressor and the tank due to extended cycle times. I built a refrigerated cooler. I found a 35 dollar used mini bar fridge. I took about 70 feet of 1/2 pex and made two coils going down a 18 inch long 5 inch diameter steel pipe. i places aluminum tape between the two layers of pex. essentially just wrapping the first layer prior to wrapping the second layer. I turned the refridgerator to 33 degrees. Prior with the air to air dryer. my compressor charge time was 5 minutes. I would capture a ton of water before it went into the tank. Tank was staying essentially dry however I was still having to dry my desiccant every 30 to 45 mins of cut and the beads would be significantly saturate along with some indication of moisture having passed thru my consumables based on discoloration of nozzle and electrode. I removed the air to air dryer. My charge time dropped to 2min 55 seconds. I am getting some water in my compressor tank that purges ever cycle with the auto drain. I think I am going to just plumb an easily accessible quarter turn valve off the bottom of my compressor and make that a nightly routine to empty it. Today I ran for a little over an hour non stop cutting with just over 900 pierces on brand new consummables. I have a machine torch on a everlast 52i. The consummable i was using was a 45 amp version of nozzle that harbor freight sells for the titanium 45 amp plasma torch. I had zero cut issues. Nozzle is still cutting well. There is absolutely no indication of any water contamination on the inside of the nozzle/tip. My I opened and emptied my fire extinguisher converted desiccant holder just to see if i had any discoloration of my beads. I could not detect any but put them in oven to dry anyway. I am not getting any water in my water trap immediatedly post refrigerator however when i disconnect on the inlet side of the fridge i get a ton of water ejected back out. so currently to purge it of water i simply connect and disconnect it a few times. the air lines exiting the the fridge are are cool enough from the cooled air they are carrying to condense water on on the outside of the lines for a couple feet beyond the unit, and the temp of my desiccant holder 5 feet away is noticeably cooler than the ambient air temp. Over all I am very happy with this concept so far. attached is a little video of the setup and images of the consumables.
$50 diy refrigerated air dryer
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