Compressor intake from air-conditioned space

[Evil_Fiz]

Would there be any benefit to running a pipe from inside the house, where the air is dry due to it being air-conditioned, and feeding the compressor intake filter from there?

My thinking is that if I'm pulling air that's around 60% relative humidity rather than 80 to 90% relative humidity (North Florida) It would produce less water in the tank. It would also help pull air that's not contaminated with paint fumes into the compressor. I have an after-cooler and water separator on my compressor, between the pump and the tank, which drops the charge down to around room temperature at the tank inlet and removes quite a bit of water. This is in a two-car garage.

Has anyone tried this?
Am I wasting my time?
Is it even worth investigating?

-----
Emil

 

[Dean Jenkins]

I don't have experience in high humidity environment. But it sounds like you have the right gear to handle it already.
I relocated my intake outside the shop to eliminate paint fumes since I use the compressor for my fresh air hood and that works.
Surprising thing is how loud the air intake is. All the motor noise comes through the intake pipe, even with air filter.

 

[Jim C]

Would there be any benefit to running a pipe from inside the house, where the air is dry due to it being air-conditioned, and feeding the compressor intake filter from there?

My thinking is that if I'm pulling air that's around 60% relative humidity rather than 80 to 90% relative humidity (North Florida) It would produce less water in the tank. It would also help pull air that's not contaminated with paint fumes into the compressor. I have an after-cooler and water separator on my compressor, between the pump and the tank, which drops the charge down to around room temperature at the tank inlet and removes quite a bit of water. This is in a two-car garage.

Has anyone tried this?
Am I wasting my time?
Is it even worth investigating?

-----
Emil

what you are proposing is actually done on boats that have dive compressors. the intake air is usually taken from the air conditioned interior of the boat so the tanks are filled with lower moisture air.

 

[aviator8]

what you are proposing is actually done on boats that have dive compressors. the intake air is usually taken from the air conditioned interior of the boat so the tanks are filled with lower moisture air.

Also a big safety issue to intake air around combustion motors for dive ops. Getting carbon monoxide in compressed air, then diving raises the partial pressure of CO to create toxicity and can kill or incapacitate a diver at depth which usually results in death by drowning. The deeper you dive the less CO contamination it takes. Anything over 10ppm is considered unsafe but most divers who check with a CO meter wont accept any air fill that has any ppm CO

 

[Toolin]

Same principle as a refrigerated dryer. Just not anywhere near as effective. I think the only downside would be noise from the compressor intake inside the house. Possibly you could put some sort of muffler on it.

 

[Evil_Fiz]

Thanks for the feedback. I was certain you guys were gonna tell me I was wasting my time but it sounds like it's at least worth investigating. I'll report back once I build it out and test it.

-----
Emil

 

[Julian]

Also a big safety issue to intake air around combustion motors for dive ops. Getting carbon monoxide in compressed air, then diving raises the partial pressure of CO to create toxicity and can kill or incapacitate a diver at depth which usually results in death by drowning. The deeper you dive the less CO contamination it takes. Anything over 10ppm is considered unsafe but most divers who check with a CO meter wont accept any air fill that has any ppm CO

Most Compressors filter systems in Dive Shops contain a desiccant and activated charcoal to filter moisture and CO2 and a majority of moisture is squeezed out of the compressed air as most Compressors have a condensation stage and drain between each stage of the compressor. I had a Shop and ran a Worthington V2A4 compressor that would pump to 6000 PSI.