There are frequent posts here advising people to have a moisture trap between their compressor and airbrush. I’ve always had one and never get moisture out of my brush or tools. Today I was bleeding my compressor down and noticed the amount of water in the trap. I used the compressor for about an hour, and during that time I remember hearing it come on twice. It has a 5 gallon tank and compresses to 140 psi and then runs down to around 120 when the motor comes back on. I don’t know how to calculate the compressibility of air, so I’m not sure how many cubic feet that actually is, but it isn’t a whole lot.
I pulled the moisture trap off and measured the water in it and there were 4 cc of water. That’s only a little over 1/8 ounce of water but if you don’t think that’s quite a bit, fill a 4cc syringe and see how much it is. Then imagine that water coming out of your airbrush while you are painting. Probably not as big a deal if you spray acrylics since they are water soluble, might make it take longer to dry, but for those who spray enamel or laquer it is a big deal.
Bottom line, for less than $20 a moisture trap is very good insurance against a trashed paint job.
We have quite a few larger compressors in my plant and we have to drain them two or three times a day. On a 15 hp compressor it is nothing to get nearly a gallon of water a day! We also have inline water seperators that need to be drained every few hours. Any compressor will generate water like that,even for the smaller compressors used for airbrushes. They may not make as produce as much water as the larger ones in absolute terms but it is all relative. Last time I checked water and oil were only good with garlic and vinegar on a salad…
ciao
Yep, I know what you mean. We did a manufacturing plant one time that had several (don’t remember exactly how many) 150 hp compressors in parallel for the plant air system. They had to have full-time drains on the moisture traps because there was a constant flow of water out of them.
hehehe, down in Texas when I was working in Amarillo on painting planes and stuff, we had a “wand” about 20 inches long. You would attach that to the end of the line and let it rip… you would get massive amounts of water for about 3 minutes… [8D]
The hangers we used to work in held those big Starliner Jets(bombers). [8D]
The runway that I used to work at, was a take off point for nuclear laden B-52’s, now its the 2nd largest run way in the world, and is an emergency stop off point for the space shuttle… [:)]
LOL
My compressor does not have a moisture trap, but I have only encountered moisture twice. I think when I get a tank i’ll just let it sit on the narrower end, and let drain every week or so
The moisture in the compressed air comes from the humidity in the air being compressed. The higher the humidity the more the moisture. I suppose people in Arizona would have less water in their compressed air than someone in a high humidity state compressing the same volume of air.
true, like how i live on the west coast and i dont use a moisture trap… may just get one for a new airbrush