It's not about the air that the compressor intakes, it;s whats in the compressor output. Breathing compressor air without the proper filter is not safe. Oil vapor and other nastiness. Can/will cause a type of pneumonia. Other illness can result as well. I can't remember the setup Dean made so what I said is a generality, And FWIW moisture comes from the air heating as it compresses. When the air cools back down to ambient then it condensates. Yes it helps having drier air entering the compressor but it won't stop water vapor/condensate compltely. Unless your compressor intakes 0% humidity air it is going to create water further downstream.
I agree 100% with your points.
I reason that pulling the air from inside the house will isolate it from paint fumes and give me "LOWER" humidity air in Florida.
I believe I have the moisture under control by doing the following:
- Air leaving the compressor pump goes through an air cooler which brings the air temp down to about 10* F above ambient.
- The air then goes through a water separator before entering the tank.
- The air leaving the tank travels through 40' of 3/4" copper pipe.
- The air then goes through a 10 Micron water trap,
-- a Motor Guard CO4515 .01 micron Coalescing Filter,
-- and a 2 gt Arrow desiccant dryer (the one you posted about a while back).
Under the fresh air hood, I plan to wear a 3M mask with 3M P100 Respirator Cartridges (60923) rated for Organic Vapors, Acid Gases, and Particulates.
- Will the 3M cartridges not protect against oil vapor from the compressor?
Just to clarify the "Dean Jenkins Special."
First, I've located my air compressor intake outside of the shop, so I'm not pulling in paint fumes, etc.
Dean, I blatantly ripped off your fresh air setup. Full credit to you for researching and coming up with the solution. I simply adapted it to what I have available
I'll pull air from inside the house.
Second, the air for my paint gun goes through the Arrow 5-stage filtering system, which includes a "01 micron oil coalescing filter."
My filtration setup is not as fancy as yours but I believe it will function similarly enough.
Third, for breathing, the air goes through another 3-stage filter, which also includes oil filtering.
This is a line that I TEE off of the hose for the air gun and this filter/regulator is worn on a belt.
Again, I ripped off your idea of a TEE and filter but I will be wearing the filter instead. The TEE and a pressure regulator are attached to the hood belt for support.
The output from the belt pack filter goes to a tyvek hood, which has positive pressure air flow and tear off lenses.
I am using the same hood.
Over the last 3 years I've painted 3 vehicles. Means I'm using this setup less than 60-minutes per year. How much time do we actually spend spraying paint?
Would I use it in a production setting every day? No way!
Since I wear a beard, every respirator mask leaks and I can smell paint, a lot.
For a DYI hobbyist like me, this has worked. If I sprayed more, I would invest in a true fresh air hood system.
My thinking as well. I figure the hood and 3M mask replicate your setup. I may also get the same filter setup you are using. How do you feel about the quality now that you have used it for a while?
And now back to my original question...
Should I swap the 1/4" hose for 3/8? I am leaning in that dirrection since I may need more air volume in the future. I found an article on line where the engineer calculated the air flow of 1/4" hose at a theoretical 13.5 CFM. Take 10% to 20% off for friction losses and you are below HVLP limits.
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Emil
