3/8" hoses should be used at a minimum, except for drops, where 1/4" coiled hoses could be used. I sure would not keep my air system powered up overnight and on weekends using hoses of any kind as my distribution system.
We only have it powered up during the day. We turn off the equipment each night.
My shop is piped with 1-1/4" pipe (but I have a large shop) and prior to every air drop, there is a separate filter to insure that no moisture could be discharged when blowing off art.
I would also suggest a separate filter prior to critical drops (where you have an air hose used to blow off artwork or at your fitting station(s).
I believe most of my hoses are 3/8" that are dsitributing the air, until you get to the fitting stations which are using 1/4" tubing. The problem here with filters is that my tubing drops from the ceiling into the middles of a couple of rooms (with one exception). The only place this would be possible would be with my CMC, as it is by a wall.
So you have an air hose coming from an exposed compressor that is discharging air and heat from the compression process in a closet piled floor to ceiling with customer goods? How often do you drain the tank on the compressor? Is it even accessible? And, if you are draining it on a regular basis, you are walking through a closet piled floor to ceiling of customer goods with a jar of oily water on a regular basis?
Yes. I drained the tank yesterday. I'd say I drain it about once a year. It is accesible as the room is long and narrow, but we keep a pathway clear from front to back. We have to be able to get to the customer work, and we have to be able to get to the compressor. The tank has wheels, so I roll it outside to drain it. No oily water around customer work.
What happens if the air hose somehow breaks loose, or blows out? Sort of whips around the room spraying air and whacking things?
Not likely to happen, but I can't say impossible. The hoses we use usually develop pinhole leaks and have to be replaced. I have never seen a catastophic hose failure, but it could be possible. As for the hose whipping around the room should there be such a failure, it cannot. First, we de-pressurize the compressor every day when closing. The lines have very little pressure left in them at night. Second, during the day when the lines are full of pressure, well the line in the room with the artwork is actually tied to metal racks every few feet. Should a hose completely burst in two, there's not a lot of hose that can move. Third, even if a foot of the hose were to become forcefully mobile, we package about 95% of our artwork in padded coverings or boxes which would protect it. All of this reduces the likelihood of hurting a customer's artwork via a hose failure to near zero.
Don't you think there are temperature variations caused in the room (and vibrations) by the running compressor? From the picture, it appears this compressor has wheels. Have you bolted it to the floor or strapped it to a wall? Is it plugged directly into a wall outlet or are you running an extension cord? And if so, what gauge and length?
Temperture variations, definitely. And humidity. We are in and out of that room all day long, but it is not air conditionned. It's usually warmer or colder than the rest of the shop. Vibrations are reduced because the floor is carpeted and the bottom of the compressor has rubber pads on it. The compressor is not bolted or strapped to anything and I don't see why I would need to. We do not use an extension cord.
What happens if the compressor blows up? Overheats and starts a fire?
The same thing that happens when yours does: the shop burns down!
Ok, that was a little bit glib, but I can't take that question very seriously. I've never seen a shop of any kind that wouldn't suffer if it caught on fire. We are all dealing with paper and wood products that are definitely flammable. Every shop that uses electicity has a risk of fire due to electrical failure. Every electrical machine in your shop, including your computers, could burn the place down. Do you make sure no customer work is in a place where, if one of them caught fire at night, nothing would happen to that work?
For me, I actually have some protection for artwork in my shop, more than ANY other shop that I've ever seen. The room with the compressor and the artwork is called "the vault". It used to BE a vault. The walls are lined with concrete blocks all the way to the roof, and the door is made out of steel. If there were a fire in my shop somewhere, that room would suffer the least, and offer the most protection to my customer's art.
Our compressor makes a huge amount of noise when it's running, it can't be in any other room in the shop. And even if we replaced it with one of those quiet ones, there's no physical space for one somewhere else.
I feel pretty good about my setup, Rob.
Except for the danged water getting in my air hoses.
