Re-plumbing my air. Need someone smart.

[LizStreithorst]

I'm re-plumbing my air because I'm getting close to the pump's capacity. I know that I could get more air power if I change from 3/4" PVC to 1" (less friction) and if I eliminate the dead ends and plumb everything into a nice loop.

I bought all the stuff today. There are a ton of fittings and 180' of PVC pipe. Then someone suggested to me that I just do the top rack and simply run air hose down to the tanks on the bottom rack. I want to do it this way in the worst way. Doing the bottom racks is going to be a hard back breaking job.

Can I do this the easy way? Won't the long lengths of airline produce friction and be harder on the pump? Would the difference between doing it the easy way and the hard way make a noticeable difference in available air?

[LizStreithorst]

I heard back from my friend. He said that it could be figured out mathematically but he does he doesn't know how to calculate it. Even if he wrote out an equation for me it would not help. I'm feeble minded when it comes to numbers.

I'll try it the easy way first. If I'm not happy with the results I'll hook back up to the old system and break my back plumbing in the bottom rack at my leisure.

[Moon]

Liz
I had 1.5" PVC pipe running on the ceiling and dropped airline tubing to all three levels of the rack. It worked fine for 5 years.

[LizStreithorst]

Thanks Moon. I read somewhere that increasing the diameter of the pipe stops helping. I don't know why I decided that 1" would be best for my application. I think I read it somewhere. It depends on the output of the pump in question. I bought all this 1" stuff. It's what I will use. I have a strong feeling that making a closed loop and using the 1" pipe will more than make up for the longer drop in the air lines. I'll let you know.

[nc0gnet0]

I'm re-plumbing my air because I'm getting close to the pump's capacity. I know that I could get more air power if I change from 3/4" PVC to 1" (less friction) and if I eliminate the dead ends and plumb everything into a nice loop.

I bought all the stuff today. There are a ton of fittings and 180' of PVC pipe. Then someone suggested to me that I just do the top rack and simply run air hose down to the tanks on the bottom rack. I want to do it this way in the worst way. Doing the bottom racks is going to be a hard back breaking job.

Can I do this the easy way? Won't the long lengths of airline produce friction and be harder on the pump? Would the difference between doing it the easy way and the hard way make a noticeable difference in available air?

I think there might be a couple of misconceptions here. Most of what you are saying is correct when dealing with water flow, but in this case, the pipe is acting like a reservoir. I'm not sure a loop will increase the amount of air available for you, at least not significantly, but it will help even out the distribution. In a long dead end run, the taps farthest away from the pump tend to output less air then the ones closer to the pump. Loops will prevent this problem.

In your case increasing pipe diameter might help a little, but there will be a point of diminishing return, and I am not sure you will notice a significant difference going from 3/4" to 1" PVC. It might help a little, but wouldn't it have been easier to buy a bigger pump? I understand cost is a concern, but it sounds like you might have spent almost the cost of a bigger pump on pvc and fittings? At any rate, curious to see your results.

-Rick