That is a good point going to big will cause the air to move in a almost perfect laminar flow which would not subject that to exchanging heat very well. When sizing geothermal systems the heat exchangers have to be designed in a way to create turbulence which does cause static pressure but also helps the heat transfer immensely.
The term for this turbulence is the Reynolds number.
But having pipe that’s too big in all the areas that aren’t the heat exchanger is okay you want laminar flow here and low static pressure in these areas.
But in a heat exchanger you do want some turbulence.
Great… now I am going to be hearing Dr. Kaluarachchi’s voice in my head saying REE-Nol-ds number and “am I right - am I right”. The rest of the day.
I asked him a question in class once… he gave his answer after which I was even more confused then before… He ended his answer with his traditional… am I right, am I right. It must have been a long day because instead of thinking it… I guess I said out loud… “I dont know” prompting laughter from the rest of the class and frustration from Dr. Kaluarachchi
I’ve had a Harbor Freight one for about 20 years. It is still working well. It chills the air down to just above freezing, so it’s hard to beat that with a refrigerated system. Desiccant will produce even dryer air. I live in Houston, so water in the air is a big problem.
Being you’re using a large machine screw compressor your output temperature on the compressor is going to be only 60% of what it is for a reciprocating compressor.
A screw compressor may be around 200 Fahrenheit output temperature.
A reciprocating compressor could be 300 to 350 Fahrenheit.
You have way less heat load to deal with to start with.
So you already have a starting advantage of 100° less temperature which is probably the reason you can get away without a after cooler.
A lot of refrigerated air dryers want a inlet temperature of around. 115f or less.
You can run higher temperatures in them but it will vastly reduce their overall capacity
This will be key and a cheap IR gun this should be something I can easily measure on my current Quincy 60GA Upright (5HP Single-stage)…If my output temps are scorchingly high, it would be good to know that now. Getting a good deal on the HF refrigerated dryer is good, but maybe the hot setup (pun intended) is to first run the air through that large stacked-plate cooler that you linked to at the top of this thread???
Been curious how much hotter the aftercooler between pump and tank makes a pump. I wish I had checked before and after.
I have a 7.5 h.p. two stage 24 cfm compressor with 140 gallon storage 5 dropline around a 1500 square foot shop.
From a cold start one cycle I assume something like 125 to 150. Whatever is a standard I don’t trust my gauge. It took 3 minutes to cycle. Temp in garage was 75, compressor at exhaust was 260, after trans cooler was 88 going in the tank.
I do have a 20 inch box fan attached to the squirrel cage blowing on compressor.
Can’t really compare to anything just interested in seeing how others compare.
Would be good to have numbers from people with the copper tubing.
It will still be hard to compare them because there is so many different setups.
Which I also forgot I had to change the electric motor on my setup. I broke the motor pulley me being as cheap as I am. I wouldn’t pay the price to buy a new one so I made one. The stock I had was a little smaller than the original. That will make my cycle time a little longer.
One other think to think about is your cut out air pressure. I have seen piston compressors set up as high as 175psi. This in it self will make more water. 125-130 psi is plenty.
I also said Trans cooler in a earlier post, that might not be what you want to use. What ever you use would have to be rated for 200 psi min
Oh I agree my compressor is set at factory settings. I have never changed it my compressor is rated for 175.
I would never or never would recommend someone to use anything under pressure or at pressure. That is how people remove themselves and others from the gene pool.
The numbers I posted last night was so people can see what the results of a trans cooler would be. The hotter they run the harder it is on the compressor in theory.
This is to help others decide what they want to do. Then if they go one way or the other they can do test to decide which way they need to go.
I am truly satisfied with my setup. I have spent a lot of time and money to get the moisture out and very satisfied with results… I am getting between 1500 and 2000 pierces in .250 material with a single set of consumables.
I don’t believe I am doin any extra harm to my equipment at all .
If others can share their experience with dyer setup. say temp or any other way to test load on equipment it can help other make decisions.
I know measuring compressor temps isn the best way to determine stress on equipment it’s a cheap start.
Another air drying note. A lot of people don’t have the money to do a elaborate dryer at first.
When I started into the plasma thing and determined I needed to dry my air.
I decided it had to pay for itself. This wasn’t the best but it was a start. I had a moonshine worm in a 5 gallon bucket of ice water, two small bead dryers and a small filter .
Use the best you got to get to where you need to be.
