Is this much water normal?

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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 12:21 pm
Worked on a car yesterday spraying plasti dip with my FLG4... Had issues with water for a while. I'm new with this setup so maybe it was just part of the learning curve... I dunno.

I have an 80g Campbell hausfeld, single stage, 155psi max, rated for 19CFM @ 90psi. Coming out of the compressor is 3/4 copper going about 5 feet up to the ceiling, and running 20 feet with a slight grade away from the compressor. It then drops down 5 feet to a T, where it goes down to a drain, and the middle of the T goes to a QC3.

About everytime the compressor cycled, I drained the tank and got a good bit out. The indicator in the QC3 turned white. I got water out of its drain as well as my line drain.

Really wasn't expecting that much water! It was a humid day, but ****!

Any suggestions?



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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 12:28 pm
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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 12:59 pm
What's a "good bit" in your mind may not be what's in my mind. Are we talking teaspoons, ounces, quarts?
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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 1:20 pm
Enough to make a mess of anything in front of it lol. My remedy was to crack all of the valves and let them see me while I was praying. But that just doesn't seem like the right way to do it.

I can tell you that I had water at the gun by the second cycle of the compressor. My indicator on my filter had turned white.

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PostPosted: Mon May 18, 2015 4:29 pm
That sounds like way too much water making it to the QC3 especially if it is turning the indicator to white so quickly. The only real remedy here is to add more copper, you need the air to have a chance to cool and condense inside the pipe instead of making it to the end laden with water.

Also, unless you have a cyclone style water separator before the QC3 I'd consider sloping the copper back toward the compressor. The water has to end up somewhere -- you want it to collect either in the compressor tank where you can drain it periodically, or get separated out of the air and collected before it hits the QC3.



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PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2015 9:10 am
That much water is not normal. You should never get water at the gun with a proper setup.
Chris makes a good point about making sure the air is cool enough to condense out most of the moisture. Copper pipe is good at this - it's an excellent conductor of heat. I've seen guys make a U-shape or a coil of copper pipe and put it in a bucket of cold water to cool down the air. Kind of MacGuyver-ish, but it works in a pinch. Adding length to the piping system before the QC3 works as well, as long as it's not in a hot environment (like an enclosed compressor room in the summer).
Ultimately, you need to remove the liquid water before the air gets to the QC3. A cyclone-style water separator with an automatic timer or a float drain would be ideal ... run the tube from the bottom of this out the wall or down to a drain or bucket so you don't have to remember it every time you spray.
I would also consider putting in a 2-stage filtration system that has both the water separator and the oil coalescer. This will remove moisture and oil vapor and prevent blinding of the desiccant (where the pores in the desiccant get clogged with dirt, oil, etc.)in the QC3. I have used the 2-stage CamAir system with success for this type of application.
Finally, if you did saturate or blind the desiccant in the QC3, you will need to replace it before you see a lot of improvement in your air at the gun.
Hope this helps!



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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2015 3:41 pm
1MechEng wrote:That much water is not normal. You should never get water at the gun with a proper setup.
Chris makes a good point about making sure the air is cool enough to condense out most of the moisture. Copper pipe is good at this - it's an excellent conductor of heat. I've seen guys make a U-shape or a coil of copper pipe and put it in a bucket of cold water to cool down the air. Kind of MacGuyver-ish, but it works in a pinch. Adding length to the piping system before the QC3 works as well, as long as it's not in a hot environment (like an enclosed compressor room in the summer).
Ultimately, you need to remove the liquid water before the air gets to the QC3. A cyclone-style water separator with an automatic timer or a float drain would be ideal ... run the tube from the bottom of this out the wall or down to a drain or bucket so you don't have to remember it every time you spray.
I would also consider putting in a 2-stage filtration system that has both the water separator and the oil coalescer. This will remove moisture and oil vapor and prevent blinding of the desiccant (where the pores in the desiccant get clogged with dirt, oil, etc.)in the QC3. I have used the 2-stage CamAir system with success for this type of application.
Finally, if you did saturate or blind the desiccant in the QC3, you will need to replace it before you see a lot of improvement in your air at the gun.
Hope this helps!


what exactly is a cyclone style water separator? During my research I came to the conclusion that the QC3 would be all I needed. I have about 30 feet of pipe between it and the compressor, it filters air and water, guess I'm just confused at this point.

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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2015 7:27 pm
You are overwhelming the qc3 so something like this, upstream:

http://ph.parker.com/us/en/ws-series-water-separators

There are many companies who make versions of this type of bulk separator.



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PostPosted: Thu May 21, 2015 11:06 pm
chris wrote:You are overwhelming the qc3 so something like this, upstream:

http://ph.parker.com/us/en/ws-series-water-separators

There are many companies who make versions of this type of bulk separator.


Understood. I'll be adding 20 more feet of pipe which should put me over 50' total. Also a few more drains as well as changing the grading of the line to send water away from the filter.

If I still have problems I'll look into the water sepetator.

Fun times!



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PostPosted: Thu Jul 09, 2015 3:34 pm
Well, the extra pipe didnt solve my issue. It bought me a few more hours of use though.

So now I need a water separator and I'm look9ng for recommendations. The Parker mentioned above only has 1 distributor in my state, which tells me parts will be difficult. Are all water separator created equal?

Should I do a water separator or an M-60 upstream from the QC-3?
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