Thread: Compressed Air Feedline For Workshop?

IMO budget airline and connectors are asking to be redone at a later stage as they end up leaking and are a false economy.

Get yourself quality nitto fittings and rated air lines if you're going to plumb it up. Alternatively i believe copper piping is also a common option.

If using air tools do not use anything under 3/4" line, any thing less and the air speed gets high enough for the water not to drop out of suspension. A cheap way to make a drier if you want is to find an old fridge, put one of those cheap portable air bottles in it, drill entry and exit holes in the fridge walls and run the air through the bottle, drain when it suits. Turn the fridge on before using the compressor to coll the bottle down. The fridge can also do double duty for water and other beverages so is has two useful purposes.

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

IMO budget airline and connectors are asking to be redone at a later stage as they end up leaking and are a false economy.

Get yourself quality nitto fittings and rated air lines if you're going to plumb it up. Alternatively i believe copper piping is also a common option.

OK - but what exactly are rated air lines and where do I get them? Google lists a bewildering array of choices and tons of "I'm the best!" BS...

Not a cheap option, but is definitely the quickest to setup is blue poly air pipe with compression fittings. Its a semi rigid pipe designed for compressed air.

I see you're in Perth, I get all my ducting and air pipe from these guys, you'll probably get acquainted with them fairly quickly if you're setting up a workshop

Pipe Online - Retic Fittings , Plumbing Fittings, Reticulation Supplies supplied Australia wide

At the Manning mens shed we used 25mm blue striped pipe but same as Tony's suggestion we got it from Pipe-Online. We had to buy a 50m roll of it but it cost only ~$45.
For the amount you need I'd just get the shorter lengths from Bunnings even though they are more expensive it will probably work out cheaper for you.
The compression type fittings that suit the blue striped pipe are really nice to use but are on the exxy side.
However, it sounds like like you don't have many outlets so all up it should not be to bad.

There are a couple of neat install tricks that minimize water throughput - if you are interested them maybe a visit to the manning mens shed might help?

I'm looking into this myself as I'm about to fit out my workshop/shed, and I figure doing stuff like this whilst fitting out is far better and simpler than retro fitting later on.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to compressed air and plumbing it in, so will be watching this thread with interest.

Can't give you product recommendations, but this US based video makes me think there's more to it than whacking in a compressor into the dusty enclosure and running lines everywhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOUsUOZB7hg

I also found this kit, but am a bit dubious on it as it appears to be the only AU offering (and thus, the cynic in me suspects it's cheap and nasty, or a rip off, or possibly both): RapidAir Original - RapidAir Systems Australia - Compressed Air Delivery Systems | a division of Bio-Til p/l

That Rapid air kit is NTP whereas in AU the standard is normally BSP for all the fittings.

They don't say what size hose it is but I feel that it is in fact too small. Good for pumping up tyres but most air tool usage would suffer from air starvation.

All of my piping is a minimum 3/4" gal waterpipe.

Thanks guys - I had a look at a couple of options at Bunnings. 20mm polypipe looks easy to work with and the compression fittings are pretty simple to use. Bit concerned about whether it will be OK with up to 150psi though? The other option seems to be 20mm copper tube. The fittings are cheaper and it looks to be a neater solution - especially when it comes to putting in loops and things to allow water to condense. Getting from 20mm down to a 1/4bsp thread that is on the standard Nitto Couplers is a bit convoluted but should be doable.

I note that the Nitto Couplers (at least the good quality ones) come mostly in 1/4BSP but 3/8 and 1/2 are also available. If I am running 20mm copper or poly is there an advantage to running a 1/2bsp fitting? It potentially lets me avoid using a reducers as I think I can get a 20mm to 1/2 BSP Tee junction in copper.

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

Not a cheap option, but is definitely the quickest to setup is blue poly air pipe with compression fittings. Its a semi rigid pipe designed for compressed air.

I see you're in Perth, I get all my ducting and air pipe from these guys, you'll probably get acquainted with them fairly quickly if you're setting up a workshop

Pipe Online - Retic Fittings , Plumbing Fittings, Reticulation Supplies supplied Australia wide

Thanks Tony - I suspect its going to be easier if I just go to them with my plans and buy it all at the one time. Their pricing seems very reasonable too and the blue 20mm pipe is the proper rated stuff instead of the stuff sold by Bunnings. Cheers!

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

I'm looking into this myself as I'm about to fit out my workshop/shed, and I figure doing stuff like this whilst fitting out is far better and simpler than retro fitting later on.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to compressed air and plumbing it in, so will be watching this thread with interest.

Can't give you product recommendations, but this US based video makes me think there's more to it than whacking in a compressor into the dusty enclosure and running lines everywhere:

I wouldn't locate the compressor in the same enclosure as a DC.
They have done this at the mens shed and they have to clean the comp air filters way more often than would normally be required.

My system uses 1/2" galv pipe - some install details here Shed builders Recommendation Perth
Bear in mind it was some time ago and I'm not using air tools on a regular basis, If you were, I would shoot for bigger pipe and also do it in plastic.
One minor advantage of galv pipe is it can act as a very useful hanging rail so you can hang all manner of stuff from it.

No matter what size pipe you use you will need a heap of adapters to get whatever size pipe down to the small compressed air fittings - usually 1/4" BSP.
I phaphed about making some of my own adapters but finally bought a bundle of brass adapters on line from china

I use real Nitto fittings (see https://www.nitto-australia.com.au/p...ts_423_413.pdf) - there are some very super fancy "no pressure connect" fittings available but they cost Big $$$$ (ie ~$150 per female fitting).
Don't bother with cheap or imitation Nittofittings as they will rust and leak and become a right PITA.
Al fittings will also corrode over time - avoid where possible.
The ones I use are the standard Hi-Cupla fittings - they come in 3 bore sizes (20, 30 and 40) to fit 1/2". 3/8" and 1/2" hoses.
The 20,30,40 series all fit each other externally, however the bigger ones just have a bigger internal flow path.
I try to use the 30 series and 10 mm (3/8") hoses.
Sometimes Supercheapauto have the 30's on special otherwise Blackwoods prices are not that bad.

I now have about a dozen access air points covering about 2/3rds of the shed walls and ceilings. There's also a retractable 20m hose that gets me to the rest of the shed and a fair way outside the shed.

To reduce water transfer from the tank to the pipe and help prevent your tank rusting out I added an auto vent valve to the drain cock of the compressor tank which automatically opens the drain cock for a preset time (in my case 0.5s) and present interval (in my case every 45 min). These things cost about $40 on ebay.

My main uses are in the metal work end of the shed. eg blowing stuff down, plasma cutter and comp air driven mist lube/coolant system for my mill.
Air tool use is minimal, mainly a small die grinder and I also have a small air sander I hardly use.
I also have a small spray booth but haven'y used a spray gun for about 5 years - rattle cans are just too convenient - especially for small jobs.

It depends on what you're doing, using larger fittings often means using larger piping and can be awkward in certain applications, eg Brad nailing inside confined spaces.

Copper pipe is definitely a cheaper option, but you do need to know how to solder and is bit more fiddly to set up, but it is one of those things that once it's set you generally forget about it. One of the advantages of compression fittings is if you change your mind you can easily undo your work and refit.

When I purchased from pipeco you can get them in 3m lengths, unsure if that option is still available.

Cheers Tony - the pricing is pretty reasonable as I don't have a lot of runs so happy to go with the 25mm pipe and the compression fittings. I am sure I will change the configuration multiple times!

Bohdan beat me to it, I had looked at rapidair but the use of NPT ultimately put me off.

For a push-fit system, consider John Guest speedfit which is available from a number of air system vendors. There’s a couple of things in its favour - first, their water trap tees are designed to limit condensate entering the drop legs. Secondly they have brass wingback elbows, much better for connecting threaded fittings to than plastic threaded elbows. I’ve found that the easiest way to get a leak free thread seal is to use a thixotropic thread sealant like Loctite 577 but that needs metal to metal threads. I like to run a filter regulator before the coupler on each drop leg, running parallel to the wall so the combination of push fit and the loctite makes it easy to assemble on the bench, push fit into position and align.

I have the blue poly type setup in my workshop. I have 4-5 drop points. the airline is actually in the ceiling space. easier to do. no need to tie down.

the blue poly stuff is a lot cheaper than gal airline and you can do it yourself, I think there are various brands but the sizes are all the same, 25mm is 25mm.

I bought various second hand blue poly line and fittings from different brand, I mix them up and installed them myself. quick to do, no leaks at all.

I strongly recommend add in a drier, pre and post filter. a clean and dry compressed air is fairly important if you do spray paint and have pneumatics in your workshop.