Good Morning, I have just bought my first compressor sgs 3hp 50L. I'd like to fit it up to some 22mm copper pipe to condense the water out of the lines but im struggling to work out how to connect it to the tank. The compressor has a 1/2 bsp nut on the tank which im going to use instead of the 1/4 bsp on the regulator. Whats the best/cheapest option to connect this to the copper pipe? I'm thinking a 1/2" bsp pcl xf quick release coupler on the tank, then making a 1/2" line up with a pcl hosetail one end and a female 3/4"hosetail the other. Then i should be able to solder up the connectors, piping, drop legs and taps etc. Then at the other end i'll need to attach a 3/4 filter/trap regulator and then i think i'll have to fit a reducer down to 1/2" to fit a pcl xf coupler? Can solder joints take the pressure with the hot air? What about compression fittings? I have only a little experience with compressors and plumbing so any advice and places to buy it all cheaply much appreciated. cheers compressor specs: Engine Size: 3.0 HP Power Consumption: 2.2 kW Voltage: 230 V @ 50 Hz Rated Speed: 2850 rpm Current: 10 A Air Displacement: 14.6 CFM Sound Level: 97dB Discharge Pressure: 115 PSI / 8 bar Restart Pressure: 80 PSI / 0.55MPa Tank Capacity: 50 litres Air Outlet: 1/4" BSP to Euro Coupler. The fitting can be swapped for PCL fittings, please check Fitting & Couplers section. Dimensions: (L) 750 x (W) 380 x (H) 770 mm
In a word yes it is possible but in reality you need experience of soldering correctly as copper heating pipe has a working pressure of around 110 PSI and a small margin of safety if it complies to current standards. Avoid compresion fittings and use correctly soldered joints as compression fittings dont work so well at higher pressures, solder fittings some with a variety of BSP threads on the other end and 1/2" BSP is a common one. If you have a local Toolstation they stock the pipe and fittings, solder and the correct flux along with various brushes for cleaning the insides of solder fittings. I prefer the parallel arrangement of cooling pipes and this means you can use the cheaper and more common 15mm pipe.
Thanks for the reply, i was hoping for a few others to show there setups as I'm sure there are a few using copper pipes coolers. So would it be safer to just connect to the regulator on the tank so i can reduce the pressure to the copper line and just suffer the cfm loss.
the pipe feeding the tank from my pump is in copper the fittings are compression and get red hot . the tee off to unloader is soldered copper . it runs at 125 psi no bother so I wouldt worry . same fittings after 45 years
Are you sure about that pressure rating? Yorkshire copper technical document indicates SWP for 22mm half hard pipe at 100C to be 34 Bar (493 PSI). Table 4.4 here Edit: used 15mm values not 22mm as per OP. Now with 22mm values.
Ive looked into the pressure rating as well, it looks like the old lead solder had a much lower rating than the new lead free modern stuff. Ill just go with my original plan then. Thanks all
After soldering you be left with flux contaminants within the pipe work etc . It will need flushing out as it is corrosive and you don't want any of that in your equipment and paint etc. You could limit the use of fittings buy using a pipe bender .
flush the pipes with hot water you can also do this with a full kettle of boiling water and compressed air you would need to flow each way to get enough of the hot water to wash away the flux be warned do it steadily you dont want compressed air at full pressure jetting that boiling water out the pipe but it can be done to flush the pipes really well as long as you keep the pressure low into the pipe it willl push the water around the pipes release for the water to drop back down again do this along the whole set of pipes you have and it will last years ( its brown in colour not white ) note here try getting the old flux you will find via soldering pcb boards dosnt affect the copper pipes like the acid yellow flux nowadays wickes used to sell non acid flux not so sure it does nowadays havent looked in years
