It shouldn’t increase your cycle time at all…it’s just a longer path the air is traveling to the tank, but the drop in temperature will be huge.
Looking back I probably should have went with the two row cooler for the more humid parts of the year.
Here is how I did my system. Since that time I added the pusher fan and the power supply to drive it since I already had them laying around.
The reason I asked. Yes it will increase your cycle times you have a lot of restrictions with bends and curves. Probably smaller diameter pipe than stock.
I actually installed one on my compressor and quickly removed it after seeing the negative effects.
It doubled my cycle times. I checked Amp load on the motor and RPM of motor and pump both ways. There was no change in anything but cycle times.
That meant that half the air my compressor was making became blow by at the piston rings or compressor head.
I have actually seen one person blow a head gasket granted it was on a older compressor that anything could happen to anyway.
I installed my after cooler post tank it does the exact same thing without the extra strain on the head and motor of the compressor.
If you add something that is undersized then yes you will create restrictions and lead to longer cycles times.
Check the flow rate of the cooler…they aren’t using hard 90 degree bends…they are large radius bends that have no to extremely low pressure loss in fuild…even less than air.
What I’m sharing is what is done commonly in system design on large scale.
I am not here to say you are right or wrong. This is a topic that comes up in one form or another about every 3 to 6 months. There seems to be theories and data on both sides of the fence.
Full disclosure: My after-cooler is after the tank and I like it there.
Here is where it was discussed at great length: more than 350 posts with input from 47 members. I can’t say that the information really swayed one side or the other.
I am not trying to convince you one way or another. As long as it works for you great! I didn’t change the size pipe on my compressor I actually had a 5/8 bore after cooler.
It it in my opinion it is common knowledge the farther distance the pump has to push anything air or fluid the more back pressure your pump will see. Then any time you change directions hard 90 or not it probably adds back pressure as well.
I was mainly curious to know if you had seen a noticeable difference. It would be interesting to see the difference in actually numbers though.
I had the same opinion as you when I did it thinking it was great to remove some moisture pre tank and the temp drop was amazing.
My point now is you can have the same effect post tank without risking premature failure of the compressor head.
Either way your tank still has moisture in it. I am glad it works for you.
I apologize guys for beating a dead horse again …
The issue with after tank cooling is that the cooler simply doesn’t have the same efficiency as before tank. Pressure drops across a cooler is relevant point, but it becomes a very nonexistent detail because they don’t incur a meaningful pressure drop if sized right.
The absolute best heat exchangers operate with a minimum of 8 degrees between the media needing cooling / heating and the media bringing the heating / cooling. On average 10 is reasonable. Since most of us are using ambient air it mean that at best our outlet temperature will always be 10f higher than the temperature in the shop.
On a 30f day in my shop, the outlet of the compressor is about 100f, and the air to the tank is about 40f after 5 mins of running. (It’s the last time I measured this)
If I were to move the cooler down the line further after the tank…the cooler may never rise past ambient +10 - 20f unless the compressor is running for an extremely long time ( or it’s a very small compressor) meaning little to no heat transfer is happening at the cooler until the compressor, tank, and lines have fully heat soaked. One might be lucky to get a 10f drop on the temperature on a properly sized system and have passed a lot of humid air through the system.
The same sized cooler is far and away more efficient with ambient air as the cooling medium the higher the inlet temperature…meaning it’s highest efficiency will always be as close to the heat source as possible. The higher the delta T, the more moisture removed all else being equal at the same flow rate.
The reason I don’t design compressed air systems with the cooler after the tank…is because if the tank is my main means of condensing (which it is very poor at doing quickly) (any space where velocity slows is a condensation point) it’s the equivalent of passing air over water…essentially regaining humidity. Not to mention the other issues with water in a steel tank ect.
I am glad you are satisfied with your setup.
I am only sharing my experience. I did also go back and test my setup both ways there is more than a opinion involved.
I am saying what I am to give everyone a warning before attempting this type of setup.
In reality the reason for a after cooler pre or post tank is to drop the air temps to the point a refrigerated and or desiccant bead dryer can do their jobs efficiently and that’s it. Either way there is still moisture in you tank that has already dropped out. This is my opinion only the incoming air would have to be very hot to pick any of it back up.
With my air setup my refrigerated air dryer never sees temps above 70ish degrees. This is checking temps with a it thermometer on iron pipes.
Just word to the wise you may be doing unnecessary damage to you compressor pump.
I’ve said it on other threads
I don’t know if I am lucky, dialed or what.Pro is over 3 years old 3k pierces on my last set of consumables ( I accidentally reset counter so could be as many as 5k. I’ve changed consumables once this set has 1k pierces and cuts. The only reason I changed the first ones is cuz I thought it was time. I have a cheaply HF inline air dryer, central cal = low humidity and I’m running a HT 30. I didn’t jinx it last time I posted let us hope I didn’t this time. I just trip out when I see some other people’s issues.
We will just quietly move on…No we won’t. THAT IS GREAT!
I built a DIY dryer using an oil cooler and an electric fan followed by a water separator between the compressor and the tank. At an ambient air temp of 96, I was measuring 350 at the compressor and 94 where it goes into the tank. The separator has an automatic drain and every time the compressor shut off, it would dump at least a cup of water out. I went from draining about a quart of water a day to just having a mist spray out of my tank with this. It cost me about $100 to put together.
At my plasma cutter, I have a regulator with a built in filter and water separator, followed by 2 additional water separators and 2 dessicant dryers. Before adding the oil cooler, the first dessicant dryer would need new dessicant every couple of weeks, now it stays dry.
I’m in Central Texas, it’s hot but humidity is fairly low. High humidity for us is 60%, any higher and it’s probably raining. Right now, it’s 97 and 35% in my shop.
I was really surprised at how effective the simple oil cooler drain was. If I was to build another one though, I think I’d probably try to figure out a way to use an AC condenser coil instead, they’re built for higher pressure than an oil cooler and have more cooling surface area.
There was talk that the cooler before the tank was actually hard on the compressors.
I believe this is because instead of the normal 8-12" of line that has to compress to get past the check valve at the top of the tank.
Put the check valve before the cooler then you might see some efficiency.
Putting the cooler after the check valve is the same as after the tank. Which seems easier to me …
Yes it is harder on the compressor I seen that for myself.
How do you figure?
The air gets cooled in the radiator, not in the tank, Thus instant condensation and cooler tank with water dropping out easy.
The problem with the cooler after the check valve is that the separator is always under pressure so the auto drain doesn’t work.
Ultimately, the compressor compresses all the air in the tank, I have a hard time understanding how adding the cooler and some 1/2" line before the check valve really makes much difference.
As long as it comes out it doesn’t matter where as long as you are not adding pressure to the compressor. Even after a check valve the compressor is still pushing through a cooler. Pre tank post check valve you are prone to leaks failures that will shut you down. Post tank it won’t have continuous pressure.