Water in airline even with water trap and filter, please help

[daveyw]

Hi I have a 150ltr 3hp compressor and from that I have a 10mtr airline leading to a sealey water trap/lubricator and from that I have my airline connected which is around 10mtrs again. I have been trying to filter out the water and the end of the line if I can so that I can do some painting but I've noticed that there is still like a milky moisture coming out the end if I use a blower. I have a mini filter that is on the bottom of my gun that will help a little but I would like to reduce it as much as poss before that. I'm not able at the moment to hard wire the circuit before the first main water trap which is why I have airline but is there anything else I can do to try and reduce the moisture? Would a longer hose before the trap help? Would I need to buy and fit another trap? I've run out of ideas and would really appreciate some advice. Many thanks in advance.

 

[shenion]

See what you can do to cool the air down as much as possible before it reaches the trap.

On my setup, I will replace the line from the pump to the tank with a long coil of copper pipe. That will allows the air to reach room temp and will then condense in the tank.

The outlet that the regulator uses can matter. If it is in the same manifold as the compressor output, the it will pick up hot air direct from the compressor. If it is a separate outlet on the tank, it will allow the tank to cool the air first.

 

[mike k]

The milky residue is oil and water mix. I have a oil free compressor soley for shooting powder as it seemed more cost effective as the proper oil filters used by spray painters are quite pricey. Just using a moisture trap when spraying is always going to cause contamination issues I would think. Adding drain points helps but I think you will need to add a proper oil filter too. On a side note, oil free compressors are very noisy and you don't want to run them hard so I doubt they would have enough go in them for spray painting. Running any compressor hard will create a lot of moisture and the harder you run a compressor the more oil will be consumed. I'm no expert but that's from my limited experience.

mike

 

[daveyw]

Firstly thanks guys for your response. I can't really afford another compressor as well as this one my missus would probably kill me. How would I create a drain spot? From the compressor I have an airline plugged in which is roughly 10 metres long then that's plugged into my water trap, would it help if I got a longer line between the compressor and water trap to give the air chance to cool? I use it for alsorts, sanding, media blasting, die grinders, drill, and wanting to paint but feel Its not ready for painting just yet until I can reduce the moisture content. Do you guys think a longer line would help or even another water trap after the first. I'm having a garage built later in the year so will be able to hard wire with proper piping and drains but need to be able to work in the mean time. I've a couple of classic cars I'm restoring and want then to be to a good standard. On one of the cars I've seen what looks like paintwork that's been done with exactly this same problem so its good motivation to get it right. It will only be a temporary measure until the garage is built so I have to keep it simple and most importantly cheap so that I can put more into the garage if that makes sense. Any help or tips would be much appreciated.

 

[the snooper]

i notice you say that you have a sealey water trap/lubricator are these 2 items water trap and lubricator or all in 1 if all in 1 which is it a water trap or lubricator it cant be both

 

[daveyw]

Yea it has two containers, on the left is the water trap and on the right is the lubricator. I've actually got the lubricator turned down to zero at the moment so I can solve this issue first. I'll try and find a link to the one I'm using and put it on here.

 

[the snooper]

the only other problem you have is if you have used the lubricator then your airline will be contaminated with oil and no good for spraying paint

 

[daveyw]

Its something similar to this one
http://www.alexshanks.com/air-filter-regulator-p147?gclid=CPXjp878o70CFazHtAodYQIARQ

 

[daveyw]

The air lines are all new and the lubricator is off at the moment so that I can sort this problem before going any further, had thought of that which is why there new

 

[the snooper]

in that case I would buy a dedicated filter to install before your current filter/oiler then just disconnect filter/oiler and plug in a clean airline that you will use for paint only, but if you have white substance coming from air line then it already has oil in it

 

[daveyw]

So buy another water trap and just keep that only for painting? Along with fresh air lines?

 

[brokenbiker]

my father used to do a lot of spraying and had dedicated lines and filters for his guns and then another dirty old line for tools and blow guns

 

[the snooper]

that's what I would do and try to keep the filter as far away as possible so you get cool air into it, if they are too close they warm up due to heat of compressed air and stop working, they work on condensation basis, also fill compressor and open drain just enough for water to drip out and leave over night, seems to drain better slowly

 

[daveyw]

Ok ill give that a whirl and hopefully itll work, didnt realise the filter needed to be further away its mounted quite close to the compressor so by the sounds of it that wont be helping. Yea I've got into the habit of draining it every time I use it and leaving the tap open until next time I use it just in case that was contributing to the problem. Thanks for those tips mate really appreciate it.

 

[rtbcomp]

From the compressor I have an airline plugged in which is roughly 10 metres long

Is this allowed to rest on the ground? If so you could have low spots which allow moisture to accumulate. Try to take it vertically up from the tank and sloping down to the filter unit. Then use a short line from the filter to gun.

 

[brokenbiker]

i think there is something in the paint tutorials about removing moisture by arranging your plumbing better

 

[eil]

It depends what kind of filtration your current filter provides, it might well be a 40 micron or such, which would be a good starting point but you clearly need to add more to your supply to separate the moisture and oil. Have a read through some of the sites that sell them for you to appreciate what's needed for spraying paint for instance, you can start here
http://www.spraygunsdirect.co.uk/products.php?pid=89&id=105&oscsid=2f17s3frhdsl25lsqnnu9krq57
Also don't buy the filters with a inlet/outlet less than 1/2", especially as you are going to hard pipe your system eventually.

 

[daveyw]

Rtbcomp that's a good point, yes it on the ground at the most curled up right next to the compressor and the water trap is on the wall about a foot above the compressor, both of these I now know are a mistake and will work on today. I know that the filters I have are 1/2" inlet outlet port size, I didn't want to restrict flow because I'm probably already pushing my luck with the length of air line I sometimes use as I've used it to do jobs like rub down old bay windows approx 50/60 ft away from compressor and some jobs are even further away. Thanks for that link eil, can you buy just the filter elements separately? I have no idea which filter is fitted inside the one I have how would I be able to check? I've found my filter on the sealey website its this one http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuild...tmicrogroup=&analysiscode=&requiredresults=16
Do you guys think this is up to the job? My biggest problem at the moment is that I've got to try and keep it cheap so that I can put the money into the garage set up when its built. I've a great tip for you guys if your thinking of doing any paintwork but struggling to control the environment, we've been using a cheap pop up gazebo, its clean instantly, should fit inside the average garage without any problems then the only thing that you need to worry about is the floor and we use plastic sheeting from a builder merchant. A fully sealed room in under 20 mins

 

[wizzer.]

I had the same Sealey filter regulator oiler setup as that one. Found it not much good, kept blowing the O ring seal. Ditched it and decided to go for a better quality filter regulator and no oiler.

 

[shenion]

I had the same Sealey filter regulator oiler setup as that one. Found it not much good, kept blowing the O ring seal. Ditched it and decided to go for a better quality filter regulator and no oiler.

I had the same reg but with some unknown name on it. It did not last a year before both the reg and oiler were leaking.

For me, now it is Norgren only.