Wire it up to come on with the compressor.
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I don’t have a separate fan on my trans cooler. I have it zip tied to the cage next to the fan for the compressor pump.
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That works I was wondering does you compressor run hotter? I was afraid of oveeheating. I did a remote with a 10 in fan works great.
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No problems with overheating so far. It runs quite a bit when I’m sandblasting and I haven’t noticed any problems. The water separator is usually at least half full of water by the time I get done blasting for about 10 minutes.
I’m sure it would be more effective if I had more air flow over it.
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I do sandblast a lot too. I actually put a 20 in box fan on the cage to help the compressor cools it down faster between cycles…
It is a lot of personal preference. What works for a individual.
I liked the trans cooler best. I actually put another coming out of my tank before my air dryer. Works great for me .
I see a lot of copper pipe dryer that work. I didn’t have wall space either.
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It would be interesting to see how much more length of the 1/2" pipe you need to get the same contact time with the higher velocity in the 1/2" pipe.
Ill second @ds960 on the trans cooler. Mine gets here tomorrow.
I followed @brownfox thread on the topic for the most part. I think in the thread he mentioned that he was going to go with a copper manifold. Never saw if he did switch to… or add a manifold to his system. If so it would be interesting which one he found was most effective.
Sounds like DS960 has had better results with the trans cooler.
I went back and forth and decided to go with the trans cooler in the end.
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Keep in mind also either way will not remove all the moisture from your air. they will remove a lot.
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I think most people are wiring the fan so that it comes on with the compressor. I wonder if you would hear the fan over the sound of the compressor?
I have an extra 12v fan laying around that I am going to zip tie to the cooler. My compressor is also in the shop. Eventually I would like to move the compressor out of the shop into an adjacent storage shed that shares a wall with the shop.
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Yeah… for some reason I was imagining the fan running 24/7 with that radiator setup. Clearly that does not have to be the case which means I’m not likely to ever hear it. It seems like it would’nt be all that hard to run a mechanical fan off the existing upright compressor (Quincy 60Ga 5HP). Just extend the shaft on either the small or large pulley side and every time the compressor kicks on the fan spins with it. Hmmm… this has me thinking. 
-TM
Electric fan. My compressor only uses one side of the point. Wire it up so when points kick in to start compressor your fan starts up.
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I think where you live has something to with it. I am in Michigan and in the winter my shop goes to 50 at night and on the weekends. If the temp coming out of the trans cooler is 120 that is 70 degrees hotter then my copper air lines. I would think you would still see condensate at those temps but maybe not. After the shop is up to temp (65) it would better, but still much cooler.
Do you guys that run trans coolers use desiccant dryers too? Are you in warmer climates?
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That is on a hard pull. Compressor running constantly for 10 plus minutes.
I see it as most bang for the buck.
Even your copper tubing dryer isn’t going to get all the moisture out.
I have a fan cooled trans cooler with a separator, a fan cooled trans cooler with separator coming out of my tank, into a refrigerated air dryer. Then my bead dryer still catches moisture.
I am in the southwestern part of va.
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Oh did not think you guys were running a refrigerated dryer. So did you ever run your system with just the refrigerated dryer? That what I use but nothing else. I do have motor guard filters on my powder coat equipment and plasma cutter but that’s it. I have never changed the filter on the motor guard as it looks like new.
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I have a bead dryer, I haven’t installed the after cooler yet.
I’ve only had to swap the beads out once this year. A big part of that is I usually turn the compressor on first then get everything if ready to let the air cool in the tank. I also have a second tank in-line before the bead dryer.
I live in a dry climate tho.
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I hooked my dryer up straight for giggles. Just used quick couplings to see how it changes things. Yeah I it froze up so much moisture.
I can’t tell you how much my first one catches I leave the bottom drain loose. It looks like a water hose running…
Just a standard fill up my compressor runs for a few I use 140 gallon capacity worth of tanks.one being a dry air tank. I can hold my hand on pipes not even warm. My example earlier was a extreme condition guess should have made that note.
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Anyone ever try is fan guard mounted radiators?
https://www.amazon.com/Plate-Compressor-Guard-Cooler-26085/dp/B095KYG8H4
This one from Amazon looks like it’s good for 20 CFM. The M15 from the pdf would be equivalent to the Amazon link.
More money than the Derale 15300 but would make a slick installation. I also like the configuration of the ports better and it would likely have better pressure drop characteristics.
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I am curious if and how much hotter it would make the compressor. I did a remote cooler so Ii would not add heat to the compressor.
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I think the compressor would definitely run hotter with the radiator between the pump and the check valve of the tank.
I also believe that running hot air from the radiator then over the heads of the compressor is a robbing Peter to pay Paul situation as far as heat transfer goes.
And with the radiator upstream from the check valve the whole radiator has to unload every time the compressor cycles so you lose all that work that’s been done to the air in the radiator.
I’m sure there’s a dramatic amount of water that comes out of that radiator but much of that water would have condensed anyways in the tank in the first few seconds so you’re using this radiator to do some work that would have already been done naturally.
There’s a lot of reasons why having your after cooler after the tank is better practice.
That being said it does work but it’s just inefficient on quite a few levels.
The examples being
that you lose the volume of compressed air in the radiator every time.
The added back pressure between the pump and the tank will cause the pump to run hotter.
Much of that initial moisture would have condensed in the tank anyhow making 60% of the work it does redundant.
Cooling the radiator by blowing heat across it and then over the pumps is a robbing Peter to pay Paul’s situation.
I’m not saying it doesn’t work because it obviously does but it comes at the daily cost of efficiency and overall capacity.
I have my active after cooler about 30 ft away from the compressor.
It definitely works but in my opinion it’s not ordered correctly for the components to do the jobs that they are made to properly and efficiently.
The other factor which I don’t know will make much difference or not is that the air flow between the pump and the tank will almost be like a heartbeat pulse where the air flow after the tank will be a real steady state flow.
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I have wondered about back pressure before doing this. I had actually replaced my compressor a few years ago. Did a mod on copper line changed it all to 3/4.
The benefits I see is less water in the tank.
I have one after my tanks also that never catch any moisture unless I am sandblasting for a while…
Who know which way is best?? Anything we do to help in one place hurts in another.
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Tin, I agree with a lot of your statements…
I had been looking at a rad cooler between the head and the tank…but mine would have been on a separate fan system…therefore avoiding the Peter to Paul heat transfer…
so here is my design…
I am removing the compressor unit off my 60 gallon tank…and going to mount it at a serviceable height on the wall.
coming off the compressor I will be running the air through a simple 3/4" copper wall cooler 3 runs of 5’ with auto drains at the bottom of the runs.
then into a ceiling mounted 60 gallon tank with an auto drain on that…
then when it leaves the first tank it will go through a refrigerated cooler…and into a second 60 gallon tank…
this second tank will supply a 1/2" loop around the shop for shop use…
then before the plasma I will have the beaded desiccant and then a motorguard and into the plasma…
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