Those motorguard filters are good but I just don't like having another "element" to worry about.

I bought two Parker 07F48AC separators off eBay, brand new. Here's what it looks like, the spare one sitting on my desk:




Search eBay for Parker Air Filter and you will see similar, someone always has them for sale. Doesn't have to be my exact part number - just the same style as long as the inlet and outlet sizes meet your requirements (in my case I had to have 3/4" and 250PSI rating).

These are solid units, work great and when they fill up with water they auto-drain. My QC-3 cartridge lasts an entire season now that I have this upstream.

im a newbie to all this stuff and learned real quick with fisheyes in the paint a month or so ago that i couldn't just use the compressor with a couple harbor freight inline filters and 50 foot rubber hose. i was laying down some nice single stage except for a few fisheyes and it almost completely ruined the project.

i also was using a da sander and blaster outside and within a short session would get so much water i had to stop and it would bubble out of the fittings.

i didn't know any better. sadly money is a concern and i had to spend more than my initial purchase to finish this car so we went with pvc to make a climb from compressor and along limited wall space made some up down zig zag runs in 3/4". so we almost got 50 ft of a run and there is a drain at bottom of each of the few zig zag turns. initial run tils back towards compressor.

from this i went into an entry level 3 stage unit with the water/oil seperators with little bowls and drains. then it goes into a moto toilet bowl filter. then a quick disconnect for 25 ft. of 3/8 hose with high flow fittings for everything.

the results have been amazing. we pounded with a da sander, compressor running allot for about a half an hour last week and you could start to see water collect in the first trap, just a mist in the second. so these did not fill up enough to drain based on the water level.

just for the heck of it we immediately opened the drains at the pvc and compressor runs and there were tablespoons of water.

i haven't got a hint of water at my tools and hope i am ok. i was just out blasting and using air until my pressure dipped. i have been wasting so much time getting a car done because i couldn't use the equipment and the messed up paint hurt the most because i got a panel to a nice flat finish before and others with just a hint of orange peel that was easy enough to buff out. but the fisheyes killed it.

the harbor freight inline filters restricted airflow and i assume let things past and the water was probably stuck in my lines it had nowhere to go so a recipe for disaster.

i guess different climates matter as well, and im not sure if i need the toilet bowl but clean air is a must as i learned the hard way. its 100+ during the summer here in cali. i am guessing my pvc isn't the best material because it can't sweat and cool the water/vapor so our run is allowing it some time to get caught up before the filtering.

i am hoping this is enough so i can paint, for whatever reason i haven't had issues with all the primers. i am trying to avoid the end of the line bulb filters at the gun so i don't have crap hanging from there.

Please damac ... as soon as you get the money, swap out the PVC pipe for something metal (copper, galv. steel., black iron, etc.). Running anything that pulses (such as an impact wrench) will cause a fatigue failure of the PVC pipe in short order. PVC isn't good close to the compressor, either, as it is not heat tolerant (it loses strength quickly as temps. go up) and is degraded in some cases by synthetic compressor oils.
Worse, when PVC fails, it shatters - like a grenade. It's a liability. Please be safe and replace it as soon as possible.