Air Compressor aftercooler Info thread - #209 by Joek.
@Domo here is a thread where near the end I did a lot of testing on my compressor with a aftercooler.
I am not working today just got home. I have a few projects to wrap up later I will pm you a detailed description of my dryer and air fryer system🤣 if you want.
We literally just bought an air fryer about 4 months ago despite the rants and raves that we heard for years… They are certainly good for crisping tater tots on the quick, but I’ll be dead ass honest here… That thing will cook wings JUST as good as our deep fryer. Fries not so much, so we still keep the deep fryer around for occasional use, but we do use that damn air fryer for a lot of stuff at this point. We did a pork tenderloin in it the other week, fresh cut/battered chicken nuggies too, and both delish. We have a whole (young) chicken defrosting currenly to try and run it through and see how it does! 
Not an official air fryer cult member, but do see the benefit vs heating up the big oven…
Thanks Phillip, I’ll dig into your thread now!
And yep; if you get a moment, that would be awesome!
And sorry, I do realize that there is a search button, but figured I’d include a couple of quick questions to append to my intro. As I move forward, I’ll try not to create redundancy’s by searching first. Looks like a great thread by the way, just gotta get to the top of the thread! (damn tablet / mobile interface)…
Another help for “dry air” that is simple to do: Set up an automatic drain for your compressor tank. I put a temperature sensor from “Inkbird” on the compressor tube going to the tank. When it warms then the “cooling” circuit of the Inkbird device closes and my tank valve is cycled to open the drain for 0.5 seconds. (Both available on Amazon)
Then you never have to remember doing this! I also have this “cooling” circuit trigger my fan on my after cooler coils/radiator.
Note: You might say that the Automatic Tank Drain has its own timing circuit. That is true but I believe the longest duration between openings is 45 minutes. That would have that device opening 32 times per day, which is definitely over-kill.
Click this red button at the bottom and it’ll bring up a scroll bar where you can quickly move to the top.
The Scroll bar opens on the left side
The link I provided (same thread) above will also get you to the top of the thread. 
Didn’t notice your reference.
Ahh, sorry 72 but missed your plug to the thread.
I read that thread and man it’s packed with some good information! Not to bridge threads, as I still need to go back and read some of the engineering concepts presented re dew points, tubing diameters, operating pressures (oh my…), but my biggest thought on mounting the after-cooler right next to the compressor “drive-wheel/fan” is that fan is now sucking hot air sapped from the radiator and blowing it on to the compressor head which would “seem” to equate to a shorter service life (if I’m thinking about this right). Also, moisture in the tank IMO isn’t as big an issue “to me” as compared to moisture at output to the table. I still have MUCH reading, re-reading, and thinking to do before feeling confident enough to move forward without anticipating future regret though…
Also, thanks for the forum tip; was looking for a “top of thread button” 
. I have found in other forums that the mobile device sideways picture issue can be remedied by taking a screenshot of the picture in the correct orientation and posting that…
Chelan, that’s a nice idea for repurposing you inkbird from your grow to your shop! No, jk… but I am familiar with the inkbird devices, and that’s a good use for it! 
Btw, Tin… Nice job utilizing that compressor coil for aftercooler! We JUST had a unit replaced last year, if I’d had only known then…
"In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established… 
You have your 3 witnesses… that thread is a good place to start when considering options for air drying. And as shown in that thread and here @TinWhisperer and @Phillipw are both much more knowledgeable than I am on the subject. I had purchased all the components for an after cooler and had planned on installing it pre tank before reading that thread. Especially all the testing Phillip did there at the end.
Indeed. I see that, and I can see that there is much knowledge in this forum in general. I certainly won’t be one for flare my chest around here, instead will give credit where it’s due, as I have a LOT to learn. Demon has a quite nice setup as well. I am still keeping the $500 HF air fryer on the back burner to let that stew a bit as well. As said, so many possible variables, not to mention that fact that I “may” make a sound enclosure for the compressor in time, which will only add one more. One that I should plan around though in the event that I do…
Glad I can help. I know I snowed you:rofl:.
There is a great group here. If one person doesn’t know it someone will.
The corollary to this is:
If one person thinks they know it, there will always be another person who claims to know it better.
BTW, this response is the proof of that! 
Thanks in advance!
@Domo welcome to the forum! I’m also in central VA, C’ville area. Lots of great info and people in here that are extremely helpful.
-Dan
@Domo was going to pm you the way your profile is set up or being a new user for some reason it won’t let me.
i was going to pm you to keep clutter down on this thread… oh well.
so my air set up i have a 7.5 hp 80-gallon compressor that for tightwad reasons i slowed my speed down 20% i did at one time have a aftercooler pre tank. i have a aftercooler post tank with a water separator and fan that now sees a of moisture after removing the pre tank cooler. then a refrigerated air dryer then a bead cell dryer with filter to catch the dust from the beads. this hits a airline system that has drop lines around my garage i have 2 30-gallon dry air tanks for storage and to keep pressure drops down from the dryer setup and long lines. i pull air for my table plasma and powder coating gun out of one tank that has a filter to catch any dust that may be in the dry air tank.
my setup isn’t fancy doesn’t need to be. just sit down and think before you spend money on unnecessary stuff.
It made sense to me to use a condensing coil from an air conditioner to condense water vapor.
Phone one of your local HVAC companies this is the time of year when they’ll be switching out lots of equipment. I’m sure they’ll have some old units that are pumped down, tagged and ready to go to the scrap yard. in particular I’d look for American standard or Trane units with the spline fin coil.
I am also not an engineer.
@danbrown Hey, I’m about 45min west of Richmond in Powertan I love the C-ville/Nelson area! I’ve spent a fair amount of time in that area hiking, camping, dirtbiking, whitewater kayaking over the years. My son and I geared up and took up snowboarding this past winter; many trips to Wintergreen were had!
@Phillipw Thank you for that! Yeah, I need to pause any more spending until I really wrap my head around what I want to accomplish, and as you said, it just needs to be effective. I’m going to peruse a many of threads and ideas in this forum before going hog wild. You mention powdercoating… damn, that will be my next great adventure if I can get my current project buttoned up and running smoothly! Did you build your oven?
I took a look at my settings and found that PM’s are allowed, maybe I am still in a probation/vetting stage, we’ll see.
@TinWhisperer Man, GREAT idea on getting with HVAC co’s to snag an old unit! It’s that time of year no doubt and the company that serviced us last year is a mom/pop good-ol-boy operation that would probably be inclined to assist! My only concern is (due to my rinky dink shop) that I would have to mount it outside and would encounter freezing issues in the winter. But as I type this, I am remembering that I have 11.5’ ceilings and some OSB shelving material… frigg… 
Yeah, much thought… The table assemble and other stuff that I have to take care of prior to air drying will buy me time.
Ahh, I see some of this oven building discussion going on…
This is a really neat forum, which I already like better than some of the other plasma related forums out there, if for nothing else that it’s Langmuir centric. I used to post on Weldingweb years ago, but didn’t feel the connection. Lot’s of old school mindsets (not bad, great actually), but not a lot of innovative home shop designs, thus responsiveness to some topics low. Also the ego’s of some hangouts… meh, not much on ego, more so on actual.
